Wonga Pigeon

The father of Australian ornithology, the eminent naturalist John Gould, when describing this bird gave its first feature as: ‘a great delicacy for the table; its large size and the whiteness of its flesh rendering it in this respect second to no other member of its family’. Indeed, the genus name given the bird, Leucosarcia means white flesh. How things have changed! The species name, picata, means pied (usually black and white but in this case, grey and white?).

The far-carrying, repetitive ‘wonk-wonk-wonk…’ call is more often heard than the bird is seen.

Wongas are strictly ground feeders and often have dedicated pathways through the bush.

Their habitat is wet forest areas down the eastern seaboard, stopping abruptly about here in West Gippsland.

These two, or perhaps it was same bird twice, appeared recently at Rokeby. More information in an earlier post here.