The migrant turtle dove

Click here to see the whole image at 1000 pixels wide.

Turtle doves are found all over Australia -- they're one of Mama Nature's greatest survivors. They can stand the weather (both summer and winter), and they eat ... well, everything. In fact, they're so prolific and numerous, it comes as a surprise when you learn that they're not native to the country. In fact, they originated in India, and would have come to Australia with migrants, probably some time in the late 19th century ... and I have a feeling it would have been British migrants who were partial to pigeon pie! This is a telephoto shot at6MP, cropped at top and bottom, and resized. I didn't touch the color or contrast, but I did tweak the color saturation a tiny bit. The camera was the Fuji 6500, which is great at capturing birds that are not too far away, and/or not too small -- it has a 10:1 optical zoom, and the 6MP feature gives you plenty to crop into. Photo by Jade, 2007.