Backyard Birding

The May/June 2020 edition of my Bird Nerd column in the wonderful Australian Geographic Magazine is called "Backyard Birding". It talks about the movements of the backyard birds that we see from the comfort of our own homes (more so during the restrictions imposed due to the novell Coronavirus Covid-19 pandemic).

While we tend to consider the birds that we see in our gardens as ‘local’ to our area, many of them are actually highly migratory. Some species travel seasonally along set paths within Australia or to and from other countries, while others are nomadic, wandering more sporadically in search of food.

My backyard bird list consists of species that have either visited my Illawarra garden or I have seen from within it. At the time of writing the column's content my backyward bird list was 51 species, by the time it went to print it had risen to 58.

The article discusses the regular migrations of birds like the Flame Robin and Gang-gang Cockatoo, that move from higher altitudes to lower altitudes in the cooler months. The cuckoos, Dollarbird and Rainbow Bee-eater, which travel from the country's tropical north (and places further north) to Australia's southern states. The main species featured in the article is the Silvereye, many of which undertake a regular annual migration from Tasmania to Queensland.

I hope you enjoy the article and, if you want to learn more about the regular migrations undertaken by birds, you might enjoy reading my Australian Geographic article called A Shore Thing. This article was published in Australian Geographic magazine number 149 and talks about the incredible journeys made by some of the world's smallest shorebirds. Undoubtedly the most spectacular migrations of any of the world's bird species.

Pin It on Pinterest

Share This

Share This

If you found this interesting, please share it with your friends