I’m calling time on my pigeon-centric 2026. I still love the dove, but I don’t think that the limitations I set for myself are the best way to achieve my birdwatching goals.

The purpose of twenty-dovety-six was to slow my birdwatching down after a year that, I felt, had been too scattered and too listy. I wanted to travel less and patch bird more; become more familiar with the residents of particular places and learn more about the species and the habitats that support them.

This, I think, has been largely achieved. Far more of my birding has been in my local spots this year than last. I haven’t had a lifer since mid-March; tomorrow is August. Starting a PhD has given me an endless pile of journalism-related reading that I have to do, but I’ve been able to justify including environmental water-related reading among that. Since moving to Canberra I’ve been attending the terrific talks that the local ornithology group hosts and have learned quite a bit about, for example, movement patterns of superb parrots in the Riverina.

Rose-crowned glasses

The goal with my photography was to improve my shots by practising on familiar subjects while being more conscious about learning the potential of my gear, adjusting for conditions and prioritising capturing action, not just field guide poses.

When I made that commitment, I thought that I’d be spending my photography time with birds that are harder to find around Melbourne. I had a trip booked to East Gippsland in mid-January, where I was certain I’d get white-headed pigeon and wonga pigeon shots, possibly even topknot pigeon. In March I’d be driving to South Australia and have opportunities for brush bronzewings and peaceful doves. Best case scenario then, I’d have a chance with those five species; add another four easily found in the city – common bronzewing, crested pigeon, spotted dove and rock pigeon – and I’d potentially make it through the first half of the year spending time shooting and learning about different species.

Of course, that’s not how things played out.

My East Gippsland trip was cancelled when the accommodation was threatened by bushfire – thankfully not affected, but nonetheless unavailable. By the time the threat had passed, my window to make that trip had also closed, and so white-headed and topknot pigeons both slipped out of reach.

Wonga pigeon I was able to take a few trips to see out in the Yarra Valley. I spent an hour one morning sitting on the ground, camera pointed at a perfect, clean log perch in lovely dappled light, directly underneath a pigeon that was incredibly curious about me but also perfectly happy to sit up high and preen. The resulting photo is okay, but not quite what I would hope for.

The trip to Murray Bridge in South Australia was terrific, but I spent very little time in brush bronzewing country, and found the birds to be just as shy and difficult to see (let alone shoot) as the individuals I’ve previously attempted to stake out around Bendigo. I tried for them in Bendigo again, too, in April, and had no luck – Jonathan T and I spent a long morning flushing them from low mallee, only realising they were present when they noisily flapped off to another part of the national park.

Peaceful dove I was able to shoot in South Australia, but again, not to a high quality – the absolute dullest light imaginable, with a single bird sat strangely in the dirt. I got about one shot off before it scuttled away. When we visited Chiltern in May, Jono had a brief opportunity with a pair on a clean perch as well. Sadly I was somewhere else entirely.

Time and budget won’t allow me to return to the Northern Territory this year, meaning another half-dozen dove species are out of reach, and my dream of getting after the flock bronzewings and spinifex pigeons in western Queensland will remain unrealised in 2026.

All this has meant that I’ve spent most of the year shooting rock pigeons, crested pigeons and spotted doves. And I’ll admit: I was way too optimistic about my patience for shooting this same three species again and again and again and again.

I had also flagged in December that I’d be interested in shooting rock pigeons in urban environments and developing a better understanding of street photography. I gave it a go – I threw a 30mm lens on my camera and sat around the State Library of Victoria lawn for an hour. It wasn’t super pleasant – it turns out I do not want to spend precious birdwatching time in the middle of a noisy, crowded city. Who could’ve predicted that!

My biggest mistake was on Instagram. I committed to posting a pigeon photo on the last day of each month, taken during that month. Not having the time or species variety to always get something interesting, I was pretty quickly compromising and posting older photos or shots that, in ordinary circumstances, wouldn’t make it to the grid.

There were certainly some shots that I liked. This female common bronzewing picture is among the best photos that I’ve taken of this species. I like it all the more because it was in Yarra Bend and in difficult light conditions due to it being what Santana ft. Rob Thomas might describe as “a hot one”.1 The circumstances there were not ideal and I was careful not to stress her or spend more than a couple of minutes nearby, but the result is quite good.

There have also been a few photos of non-pigeons that I’ve not been able to post, which has been a bit dispiriting! Dramatic sunsets in The Coorong and the residents I’ve been meeting at my new local patch here in Canberra both would have been fun series to share.

In November I’m making my first trip to Aotearoa New Zealand, and a certain very large white-aproned columbeauty is a big target for me, but it’s far from the only one. I do want to give myself the freedom to post a photo if I’m lucky enough to say hi hi to a hihi or cooee to a kiwi or kia ora to a kea or how’s it goin bro to a kōkako.

Coo story bro

The short version is that I’ve achieved what I think I can achieve in the short term, and I’d like to give myself permission to focus on other things, so I’m lifting the limitation. I still think pigeons rock; I just don’t feel quite as compelled to focus on them exclusively going forward.

  1. Smooth (1999) lyrics by Rob Thomas and Itaal Shur, as performed by Thomas, Shur, Carlos Santana, Benny Rietveld, Chester Thompson, Rodney Holmes, Raul Rekow, Karl Perazzo, Jeff Cressman, Jose Abel Figueroa, Javier Melendez, William Ortiz, production by Matt Serletic, David Thoener, Steve Fontano, Andy Haller, Mark Dobson and Stephen Marcussen. ↩︎