This is certainly cheating, as I don't cycle or walk to work (though I
do walk to the train station). Most weekdays I travel from Geelong to
Melbourne and back by country train. It's about 75km through flat open
farmland on basalt plains, with a few small wetlands, in southern
Victoria, and the big wide windows on the train are great for bird
observing as we belt along at about 120 km/h. Over the last 5 years or
so I've seen some great birds from the train (Wedge-tailed Eagle, Black
Falcon, Grey (White) Goshawk, Black Kite, Pallid Cuckoo, White-throated
Needletail, Cape Barren Goose, etc.), but the average day is a bit more
mundane. At the moment the return trip is in near darkness, but this
morning's list was:
Australian Magpie
Magpie-lark
Little Raven
Eastern Rosella
Galah
Straw-necked Ibis
Australian White Ibis
White-faced Heron
Australian Pelican
Purple Swamphen
Pacific Black Duck
Australian Wood Duck
Australian Shelduck
Masked Lapwing
Red Wattlebird
Noisy Miner
White-plumed Honeyeater
Willie Wagtail
Welcome Swallow
Brown Falcon
Nankeen Kestrel
Black-shouldered Kite
plus some pestilence (Rock Dove, Spotted Turtle-Dove, House Sparrow,
Common Starling, Common Myna, European Goldfinch, Skylark)
Lawrie Conole
Geelong, Victoria, Australia
" ... night still fills the steep ravines where southbound migrants
descend at day to feed and rest. The golden birds fall from the morning
sun like blowing sparks that drop away and are extinguished in the dark
..."
Peter Matthiessen (1978, "The Snow Leopard")
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