Sydney

 

 Peregrine Falcon, Sydney

The morning of the 16th started very nicely, with this fantastic Peregrine Falcon perched on top of a building opposite our highrise apartment accommodation. It really is remarkable how widespread the Peregrine is, found in every continent (except Antarctica) and in virtually every country. This was my first of the species in Australia, and not one that I was expecting to see before leaving my hotel room!

Not many other birds of any real note were seen on the 16th, other than a Collared Sparrowhawk, which was a nice new bird for me and a group of three Yellow-tailed Black Cockatoos, which flew past us as we ate lunch.

On the 17th, we visited the Sydney Opera House, and then on to the Royal Botanical Gardens. The gardens were not as bird-filled as those in Melbourne, but there was a great number of Australian White Ibises, Sulphur-crested Cockatoos, Rainbow Lorikeets, Silver Gulls and Noisy Miners around the grassy parkland.

Australian White Ibis, Sydney

 Sulphur-crested Cockatoo, Sydney

Noisy Miner, Sydney

I hoped to find some more birds around the ponds in the middle of the gardens, but sadly there was not a great deal here. There was a small colony of Little Black Cormorants on one of the pond's islands, which gave the area a really rather pungent stench of guano. Dozens of Dusky Moorhens fed around the ponds, with several Masked Lapwings among them, but surprisngly only one duck was present- a single male Chestnut Teal.

 Little Black Cormorants, Sydney

 

 Masked Lapwing, Sydney

 Chestnut Teal, Sydney

Nearby were several Australian Magpies and a great number of Pied Currawongs, making their fantastic call which would be far more suitable ringing out of a remote and wild rainforest than this neatly-manicured suburban park. As always, it was fantastic to see a Laughing Kookaburra, undoubtedly one of the coolest birds I have seen. Every time I see one am I surprised by its size- they are huge!

 Laughing Kookaburra, Sydney

I had read online that the gardens are home to a resident Powerful Owl, so I decided to ask one of the gardens' wardens if he knew where it may be roosting. Unfortunately the bird's current whereabouts were unknown and a search of its favoured roosting tree proved to be forlorn, but the warden did tell me where I could find one of Australia's most awesome birds.

He had found one of these beasts roosting in a pine tree in the gardens earlier in the morning and I literally sprinted the length of the gardens to where it was. This extraordinary crepuscular bird had been spending its day in the 'wishing tree,' right in the middle of the gardens, completely immune to the large number of people wandering about and loud traffic noise in the background. Even though the tree was small, it took me some time to find the bird, so perfect is its camouflage.

WOW!!!!!!!! A Tawny Frogmouth!!!!!!

This is another reason why Australia is such an awesome place- a Tawny Frogmouth right in the middle of its biggest city! This bird is in the Nightjar family, but is very much larger than the European Nightjar found in Britain- it is actually bigger than a Tawny Owl at half a metre in length. This bird is one that I have wanted to see ever since I learned of its existence. Its extraordinary camouflage, huge size and its secretive nature make it a very special bird indeed, and its fantastically charismatic and really rather hilarious facial expressions (when it is awake- sadly I wasn't able to witness it in that state!) combine to make this, in my opinion, one of the world's greatest birds. They are carnivorous, feeding on large insects by dusk, as well as mice and small lizards, which it kills by forcefully bashing against a branch. What an incredible bird- one of my favourite species I have seen. 

I could have spent the entire day watching this beast, but sadly I had to leave after what was an incredible half-an-hour. We then went to Bondi Beach, an incredibly-nice beach to have right in the middle of Sydney. I could see a large number of birds just offshore, the majority of which were Silver Gulls, but among them were dozens of Australasian Gannets and... FOUR Black-browed Albatrosses!!!! A Frogmouth and four Albatrosses on one day is a pretty enjoyable experience- and I had this in the middle of a city today. What an awesome place!