Bird Walk with Jade Peace

Friday 1st November 

I’ve never realised I was such a bird person, which is silly considering I was raised in a house full of rescue birds, did multiple reportage projects on falcons, pigeons, and birds of prey, and currently have an ibis count running. So when a friend asked if I’d like to go on a bird watching walk, and I was really excited, I worried I might have to readdress my anti-twitcher mindset.

Walking up at 5am, I traveled across town to Queens Park, where I met with a few other bird-watchers and our host Jade Peace. Jade has been running these tours for just over year, after securing local government funding to educate local

people about the birds that populate the city. As we walked through Queens Park into Centennial Park, binoculars in hand, I got to meet a whole bunch of birds that I have yet to put a name to. Watching a bright green figbird calling from the top of a tree was a real moment, as was spotting a flock of ibis nesting in trees by the water. 

I remember once talking to my good friend and amazing illustrator, Charlotte Ager, after she had done a course in gardening. She told me that having the vocabulary of the vegetation around her, and being able to “read” the landscape through the names she had learnt, had changed how she walked down the street. I am beginning to understand what she meant, more so too with the knowledge of some of the Indigenous names these birds wear, names that mimic and respond to their calls – Peewee for example. One this note, I also begin to reflect on some of my initial thinking on layers of time and narrative throughout this project. When the English colonisers moved to Australia, they named the birds after their English equivalents, despite the vast differences. The magpie, magpie lark, bush turkey, wagtail, all were given ill-fitting, hand-me-down names that harked to the limited understandings of their new domination. 

I didn’t expect to gain quite so much from a bird watching morning, but it was a super insightful – and fun – morning to get some thoughts moving.

Ibis count x 20
Figbird x 1
Countless other cool ones