I found a flyer for the Aussie Backyard Bird Count at my library, taking place from 21-27 October. I was pleased to see that I hadn’t got hold of the flyer too late to participate.

The aim of the bird count, run by Birdlife Australia, is to collate a picture of nationwide bird populations. Anyone can participate by providing information about bird numbers in their local area.

The survey seemed relatively easy to undertake. Count the birds you see during a twenty-minute window, don’t count them twice, only count flying birds if you can identify them and include birds you hear if you can identify them too.

The bare statistics don’t really reflect what happened.

Tuesday, 22/10/19

My first survey, taking place from my balcony on Tuesday 22 October between 2.15pm and 2.35pm, revealed the following:

Australian white ibises – 6

Common mynas – 7

Pigeons (aka rock doves) – 3

Australian ravens – 1

Bicycle food-couriers – 1

The ibises favoured a particular roof and kept on sweeping backwards and forwards to a tree eighty metres away. Two of the common mynas kept on flying between a tree near my place and the gutter of a house opposite.

I also saw one white butterfly and one airplane. A white cat with black patches darted across the road from one garden to another as if it didn’t want anyone to see it. I hope it wasn’t after some birds.

When I entered my data on the BirdLife Australia website, I found out that what I thought of as pigeons are in fact called rock doves.

I knew that rainbow lorrikeets, kookaburras, noisy miners also live in my area, but none appeared while I was watching.

Wednesday, 23/10/19

My second survey, taking place from my balcony on Wednesday 23 October between 1.40pm and 2pm, revealed the following:

Common mynas – 11

Australian white ibises – 5

Australian ravens – 4

Australian magpies – 1

Bicycle food-couriers – 1

Three ibises walked down a sloping corrugated iron roof, heads lowered, eating together. Two common mynas landed on the same spot on the gutter as yesterday.

I suspect the mynas I saw on Wednesday were the same ones I saw on Tuesday.

Thursday, 24/10/19

My third survey, taking place in a local park on Thursday 24 October between 2.10pm and 2.30pm, revealed the following:

Australian white ibises – 3

Pigeons (rock doves) – 1

Common mynas – 2

Australian ravens – 2

Australian magpies – 4

Eastern koels – 1

Bicycle food-couriers – 1

As I sat in the park, I heard a bird making a hoowhip call. I couldn’t see the bird and I had no idea what it was. Later on, I identified it as an eastern koel from an audio file of Australian bird calls I found on the internet.

Someone had left a pile of raisin bread and white bread in the park for birds, but none were eating.

This park appears to be a home for a magpie family. I’d seen them there before. One of the magpies managed to harry away an ibis several times its size.

Friday, 25/10/19

My fourth survey, taking place at McNeilly Park in Marrickville on Friday 25 October between 1.30pm and 1.50pm, revealed the following:

Australian white ibis – 3

Pigeons (rock doves) – 31

Noisy miners – 5

Australian magpie – 1

Planes – 4

Bicycle food-couriers – 0

The pigeons ignored the humans who were present. The pigeons congregated at the base of a paperbark tree and on its branches, pecking away. Or they lay on the hot, dry grass, cooing, and spreading out their wings like fans.

A woman walking and talking on her mobile phone told someone, ‘Shut up, something will happen.’

Saturday, 26/10/19

My fifth survey, taking place at Paul Keating Park in Bankstown on Saturday 26 October between 1.00pm and 1.20pm, revealed the following:

Australian white ibises – 9

Pigeons (rock doves) – 55

Australian ravens – 3

Bicycle food-couriers – 0

Two lots of pigeons flew in threes in a scooping formation and ibises wheeled and circled, playing with the air currents, graceful as paper. A plastic bag floated treewards, then vanished.

Pigeons flickered in and out of the wave-point cladding of Bankstown library. Two young women walking through the park scattered pigeons without seeming to notice. Ibises attempted to home in on pigeon territories.

I also saw a phoenix statue, Phoenix-Spirit of Recovery, erected in honour of the staff of Bankstown Council and the residents and friends of the City of Bankstown, who provided help after the loss of the Council’s building from a fire on 1 July 1997. The statue was donated by Bankstown’s sister city, in Suita, Japan.

Sunday, 27/10/19

My sixth survey, taking place at another local park on Friday 27 October between 2.40pm and 3.00pm, revealed the following:

Australian white ibises – 4

Pigeons (rock doves) – 1

Noisy miners – 8

Rainbow lorikeets – 5

Australian magpies – 2

Crested pigeons – 1

Australian ravens – 1

Bicycle food-couriers – 4

Escaped lilac balloons – 1

Four ibises floated high, two leading and two following. At first I only heard the cheerful shrieks of rainbow lorikeets, but then three landed on a ghost gum. I nearly forgot the survey as I watched them chatting to each other in the branches. A colony of noisy miners inhabited several trees. Children playing at the playground sounded like they were imitating magpies.