Native birds in the Melbourne CBD

["Lawrie Conole" <>]

It never ceases to amaze me how birds find the resources they need to make a living.  In years of working in and visiting the Melbourne CBD, it has always struck me how scarce indigenous birds are there.  Common city birds at street level are usually Feral Pigeons and House Sparrows.  The odd Little Raven and Peregrine Falcon zoom overhead, and Magpie-larks frequent some green oases, but there's not much to entice native birds into ground level city life.  Today I was wandering along Swanston Walk and turned up the hill on Little Collins Street.  Just as I noticed that the row of ironbarks (which species I'm not sure, but possibly Eucalyptus tricarpa or E. sideroxylon) were flowering, I also noticed that there were about 6-8 Red Wattlebirds enjoying the blossoms.  Whilst Red Wattlebirds (and Little) are just about ubiquitous in the suburbs, I think this might be the first time I've noted them deep in the CBD.

 

L.

 

CBD = central business district (and Melbourne is the state capital of Victoria for those not from around here)

 

 

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