Our guest speaker was David Plant, who presented his talk on ‘Birds of the Royal Botanic Gardens’. David has been a garden guide there for over 10 years, and takes part in monthly surveys of girds in the gardens. He has notice changes in the variety and population of birds over the years, and noted that you can see around 30 different species at a time. Surveys have recorded sightings of various species, from 147 when first recorded in 1869, to 107 species in current times.
Some of these are the black swan, darter (aka the snake bird), dusky moorhen, coot and purple swamphen. The varieties of ducks include the Pacific black duck, chestnut teal, hardheads and wood ducks. Generally, males are much prettier and more colourful than the females – this is nature’s way of protecting the females and their young while nesting.
Also found in the gardens are grebes, nankeen night herons, little pied cormorants, white-faced herons, great egrets and silver gulls.
David told us many interesting facts about these birds, including their eating, breeding and nesting habits and ways of protecting and teaching their young.
Birds are not always as faithful as once thought, and swans don’t necessarily mate for life.
There are some very pretty native birds suck as black cockatoos, eastern rosellas, sulphur crested cockatoos, kookaburras, superb fairy wrens and magpies. Rainbow lorikeets were first seen in the gardens in 2002 but are now common. The powerful owl is the star attraction, and when sighted, the visitors’ centre is alerted. These are huge birds, 60cm high, and they eat the possums. As David explained, birds do everything for a purpose, and their songs are a way of marking their territory.
