People are often interested in their local birds (of the feathered kind), listening to them as they wake up each morning as well as watching them in the bush, and around their farms and towns.
Ivanhoe, too, has its local birds, particularly as it borders the Yarra Valley with its billabongs and diversity of plant communities.
Quite a few birds find their way to the gardens around the Ivanhoe Homes. Residents might see some of the following:
Australian Species
- Eastern Koel
- Red wattle birds (large and bossy honey-eaters)
- White-plumed honey-eaters (smaller; busy in upper foliage)
- Noisy miner (a grey-brown honey-eater)
- Magpies
- Grey butcher birds (smaller; great singers)
- Magpie larks (known as peewees or mudlarks)
- Crows (bringing a well known country sound to the city)
- Willy wagtails (friendly and inquisitive)
- Black faced cuckoo-shrike (large, grey; undulating flight)
- Welcome swallows (nesting around buildings)
- Laughing kookaburra (to brighten our day)
- Rosellas, crimson parrots, galahs and rainbow lorikeets (occasionally providing flashes of colour)
- Seagulls, ibis, ducks, white-faced herons (on their way to nearby feeding grounds and water)
Introduced Species
- Sparrows
- Starlings
- Blackbirds
- Indian Mynahs
- Song thrush
- Spotted turtle dove