Today (3/7/04), I was among a small group of fortunate birdos (Phil Hansboro, Andy
Burton, Ian McAllan et al) with the legendary Kurtis Lindsay to connect with the Superb Fruit-dove at
Sheldon Forest in Turramurra (approx 20-30 km NW of Sydney
CBD).
The female Fruit-dove was showing well in about the same
location Kurtis described about a week ago and was
happily indulging on the many privet berries with 2 Brown Cuckoo-doves close
by. I managed to take a few pictures amongst the tangles of vines but missed
what could have been a good shot when it perched a few metres
above us. We did get some good looks of this nice and mainly green bird (with a
purple spot on the head) out in the sun and I heard it call at least twice (a
short “Oooo…oooo”
which I think this may be the call only given by the female (can anyone confirm
this?) rather than the other “whoo..whoop..woop..whoop..woop” call. We
were lucky to observe the fruit-dove for over an hour.
Though I have seen a few of the Superb Fruit-doves in Cairns before
(including the more stunning adult male), this was certainly a nice Sydney tick after
several unsuccessful attempts in chasing this bird in Sydney. I wonder
how many of these Fruit-doves do get missed in being seen each year in Sydney, especially
being a small and fairly quite bird. There are probably more out there than we
suspect.
Thanks a lot to Kurtis for sharing
his wonderful sighting with us.
Edwin Vella
