MOST mornings I take our dog Nari to the George Street park, where we lap both ovals.
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Over nearly 50 years (and five dogs!), I have come to appreciate some of the rhythms of nature on display in this very modified landscape.
I have observed around 30 to 40 native birds.
Some are resident like the magpie, peewee, red wattlebird, crested pigeon and the willy wagtail.
OTHER RECENT ECO NEWS COLUMNS:
Most are seasonal or occasional visitors. One of my favourites is the koel, a migratory bird from New Guinea/northern Australia, a cuckoo that lays its eggs in other species' nests.
In Bathurst, it mainly targets the red wattlebird. The hatchling intruder soon pushes out the egg clutch of the host species.
The distinctive call of males and females are first heard around early November and then through to late February-early March before they retrace their flight path to overwinter in warmer climes.
In early spring and late autumn, many native birds are moving through this part of Bathurst.
Where to? No one knows for sure, but some are likely to be seeking a change in altitude or undertaking relatively short migration flights.
Honeyeaters, thornbills and other small bush-birds can be seen in small groups with the occasional bird out of its normal range and habitat - plum-headed finches come to mind, and one somewhat lost white-browed scrub-wren.
Then there are the birds that congregate in late autumn such as the pied currawong; they are scavengers.
They will eat almost anything on offer and can descend on a backyard in large numbers, showing off their extensive repertoire of calls.
An intriguing non-native is the starling. In the early 1970s, they were often in their thousands around George Park in early winter, but now numbers are very much smaller.
Their claim to fame is their flocking flights (murmuration) as though locked together, creating amazing flight patterns in the sky.
A number of parrots visit George Park: yellow-tailed black cockatoos and sulphur-crested white cockatoos often overfly this area. King parrots can usually be heard calling from various backyards.
The only parrots common on the ground are flocks of galahs in winter searching for suitable grass roots to eat and the common red-rumped parrot appears when grasses are seeding.
On the few occasions when the ovals are covered with sheets of water, many water birds and some shore birds magically turn up - on one occasion a pair of magpie geese.
Keep walking, keep observing and stay safe.
