In the history of where I live, I doubt wandering bush turkeys, or any variation of them was as plentiful as they are on the streets of Gold Coast, Australia. No bird specialist am it, but it only takes a few minutes of walking along the shore of Gold Coast, Australia, to conclude that they’ve got lots more types of birds than we do here in Los Angeles.
We were having a great time, enjoying our Australian family while bugging our eyes out at what they consider run-of-the-mill critters. Our vacation covered Auckland / Rotorua / New Zealand’s Redwoods / Huka Falls / Craters of the Moon / Waitomo Glowworms Caves / Taupo / Pirongia / Hamilton Gardens / met family in Gold Coast, Australia / and established in Part 1 of 2 Birds of Australia that theirs love to dress up in color.
For instance, whereas here we have white swans (when we have them), over there black swans such as these are abundant. Wikipedia describes them: “…a large waterbird… Within Australia, they are nomadic, with erratic migration patterns dependent upon climatic conditions… They are monogamous breeders, and are unusual in that one-quarter of all pairings are homosexual, mostly between males. Both partners share incubation and cygnet rearing duties.”
We have pigeons — they have ibis! Now, this is one impressive bird! Its pate is bald yet pleated and striped, it’s long bill curves, and it’s feet and legs are as sturdy as avian appendages come.
As natural habitats for ibis continue to recede, they move to cities — and thrive. They’re made for dredging their live food out of deep mud, which doesn’t tend to impress city humans (who mock them as ‘bin chickens’ and ‘trash turkeys’) when the birds dig through garbage.
One evening, around twilight, when bugs come out, we happened by an extraordinarily noisy tree. Australian rainbow lorikeets are so picturesque that they hardly seem real — until they make this loud of a racket…
A resident Australian magpie …
What bird do you wish you saw every day?
