Bird life with Tony Wellington
The Wompoo Fruit-Dove is a riot of colour, as though a pigeon had been coloured in by a toddler with a new set of crayons.
These birds are not often seen, as they tend to hang about high up in the tree canopy feasting on rainforest fruit such as figs. They are considered to be the largest bird that disperses fruit seeds, and so Wompoo Fruit-Doves play an important role in the regeneration of many rainforest trees.
Wompoos get their name from their distinctive call, which has been more accurately paraphrased as sounding like “bollocks are blue”. This rude call is one way of locating these birds. Another method is to listen for the sound of fruit falling to the ground, because they’re messy eaters.
There is little sexual dimorphism with both male and female birds looking pretty much the same, however, northern birds are much smaller than their cousins in NSW. These are liberated birds, with both parents participating equally in nest construction plus incubation and rearing of their sole offspring.
Tony has worked as a filmmaker, artist, author, photographer and media lecturer. He has also been a Councilor on both the Sunshine Coast and Noosa Councils, as well as Mayor of Noosa.
