Hello, I had an early walk this morning & saw a few birds I had not seen before, or not in this location. I saw a male Golden Whistler and a Yellow Robin hence the ID of all the nondescript beige ball birds I have been seeing is narrowed down :). All you experts can probably ID them on sight but they are still BBBs most of the time to me. The Golden Whistler posed and pirouetted like a Supermodel but I didn't have a camera with me. I also saw a White-Cheeked Honeyeater, and the regular Grey Fantails. There was a mid-size blackie that could have been a Rufous Fantail as I have seen one here before but it was playing hard-to-get so I could not confirm ID.
Finally to the point - I briefly saw a pigeon-type bird, mostly greyish with distinctive bronze barring across the back of the neck, but I can't find anything like that on BIBY finder. It was around magpie-size or perhaps a little larger. Hmm Wikipedia gives me Bar-Shouldered Dove so that might be he one. I only saw it from the front & saw the barring when it turned it's head. It would fit as I live at Crescent Head, surrounded by Melaleuca wetlands, and we have recently been flooded for weeks ... What do you think?
I must go walking early more often though as it was a good morning for birds!
Hi hakea, sounds like you had a lovely morning. You should always have your camera with you
Half the fun is finding out what bird you saw. Looking forward to see some photos. As for the pigeon with the stripes, did it look like this? A Crested Pigeon? They have stripes on their backs.
M-L
Hello again, I don't have a camera at the moment, only the phone (shock horror). I was looking at the Canon 650D but it's a bit big to carry around on the offchance ... I was thinking of getting something compact like a Lumix that can slip in the handbag or the dog-walking bum-bag. I bought new binoculars last year but realised I made 1 big oversight - I didn't check for a tripod connection (none) and they get heavy & shaky. I'm cautious of spending money on new camera & discovering more oversights ...
Back to the pigeon - I have looked at a few online pics of the Bar-Shouldered Dove & I think that's the one. I didn't see the back of it but the neck looks right. I'm going to put it as a "tentative" ID.
joanne