Having been born and bred in the ‘Queen
Anne’ belt of suburbs in Melbourne, the call of the Spotted
Turtle-dove (STD) is embedded in my brain. I have started
hearing at least one calling from time to time some 100 -200
yards east of my home address at 15 Fairfax Street , O’Connor
intermittently but regularly on odd days in every other week
over the past 6 months or so, but I’ve never heard it so
frequently before in the 15 years or so I have lived at the
same address.* But I’ve yet to record a sight record of this
species for my Garden Bird Survey (GBS) sheet. Its possibly
the same bird I heard a week ago, in someone’s garden in Finn
St, O’Connor, nearby where Finn St meets the local
neighbourhood park. Again, I did not see the bird, but I’m
satisfied it was there!
*A quick check looking at the Atlas of
Living Australia website has shown me there are 42 records of
the STD made by a GBS contributor (H. Nix?) in the years 2010
and 2011 at the intersection of Miller St and Syme Crescent,
O’Connor, but that location is 1 km in a direct line south
east from my home address. Also, there is one record for 2002
attributed to Black Mountain Reserve. This is one more small
piece of evidence, if any were needed, that the STD seems to
be becoming more common and widespread in suburban Canberra.
Ian Baird
