Inspired by the recent Aussie Bird Count event, I’ve compiled a list of the most common birds I come across when out looking in the Melbourne area. Most of these counts are done in the North Eastern suburbs of Melbourne. This list is compiled from the data I keep after each time I head out with the express purpose of looking for and filming birds.
Not that into reading lists? Check out the video version right here:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=udeCoVMGdqs
10. Superb Fairywren - It’s hard not be smitten by these little beauties. They flit about like they don’t have a care in the world. The males typically take the eye, with their blazing blue feathers but the females aren’t to be forgotten either. When breeding season comes along, things really heat up in the world of the Superb Fairywren.
9. Silver Gull - Most known as the squawking, chip stealing pest that appears in great numbers on beaches and seaside picnic areas. These guys are packed with personality, commandeering their spaces with raucous intent.
8. Kookaburra - One of Australia’s most iconic bird species, the Kookaburra is actually a ruthless predator dressed as an innocent and jovial bush companion. I’ve often seen them perched with a tail or little reptile face disappearing into their beak. Hearing a Laughing Kookaburra always makes me feel like I’m deep in the Australian bush, even if I’m seeing in an urban park or suburban reserve.
7. Grey Fantail - Perhaps not the most exciting or high profile bird on this list, the grey fantail holds some unexpected charms. They are in abundance in my neck of the woods and sometimes it can be easy to dismiss them. However, stopping for a moment or longer to watch them go about their business will often yield some magical moments and great photo opportunities.
6. Galah - The good guys of the bird world, unlike some of the other birds coming up, Galahs are placid and beautiful in nature. They are so ubiquitous, it’s easy to forget just how stunning they are. Industrious as anything when manufacturing their nest hollows, these birds are up there with my favourites.
5. Raven - A constant, looming presence when walking around the suburbs and reserves in Melbourne, the Little Raven is a slightly disconcerting companion. Their glossy black feathers and cold demeanour give them a gothic and otherworldly mystique. Smart and cunning, slightly misunderstood and overlooked.
4. Sulphur-crested cockatoo - Loud-mouthed, brash, iconic. "Cockies" have rockstar personalities with rockstar hair cuts. They inhabit our spaces with squawky domination, moving in large, noisy flocks from grassy spaces, to trees, to street signs and buildings. They sound like they’re constantly at war with the world around them, creating a sometimes deafening and cacophonous wave of noise. Another bird whose beauty is lost on us sometimes, their brilliant yellow crest is surely one of natures most masterful designs.
3. Magpie - The Australian Magpie holds a curious place in our lives. Most of the year, they live among us, relatively unnoticed as they go about their lives in our urban spaces. Come September though, things change decidedly. For some people, magpies turn into black and white demon birds, the Michael Myers of the skies, the most feared creature in the ecosystem. This is, of course, because of the dreaded swooping. Even if it’s a practice deployed by many birds, the magpie is our most high profile exponent of it. Magpies remember faces, so be sure to be nice to the ones you walk past every day - come September, you’ll be glad you did.
2. Noisy Minor - The spiritual inverse of the Galah, the Noisy Minor is the great suburban terroriser. These native honeyeaters live in grand colonies that aim to run anything else with a feather and a pulse from their territory. They fight well out of their weight division as well, I’ve seen them chasing and harassing everything from dogs, goshawks, eagles and owls...and also people. They’ve only just been tipped out for first place on the list.
1. Rainbow Lorikeet - These beguiling parrots are everywhere. It seems surreal that a bird this beautiful could be so common. Yet, they are the bird I see most often. And I ain’t complaining about that. They are noisy without being abrasive, they are a blaze of colour without being garish.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=w6Gg_won-sY