Day 302: October 29th – Sydney urban birding

A beautiful sunny, warm (70s) day, light breeze

       You never quite know what to expect when you bird a new urban area.  This is different in that we are in the southern hemisphere.  We were surprised at the birds we found last week in Melbourne, but that will today bring.  I walked across the street from our hotel where there is a small park separated from the Sydney Botanical Gardens (which we plan on visiting later this week) by a highway.  We noticed quite a number of Australian white ibises nesting in the palms of this little park from our room.  So, when I walked over to check the area out this morning, I was pretty sure I’d have that bird to include in today’s blog.  And so it was.  High in the tops of the palms, I found the birds roosting.  This one was in pretty good position to capture on the Nikon.  I later found a second on the grass and in much better light.

       The best was yet to come.  I heard a noisy chattering in a nearby tree and went over to investigate.  To my pleasure, I found one of the most colorful songbirds I’ve ever found in an urban setting….the Rainbow lorikeet.  The lorikeet was low enough in the tree to allow me to photograph it in reasonably good light.  Not bad for a city bird.

       Now, we were off to the opera.  We walked with our tour group over to the Sydney Opera House for a walking tour.  We had some of the birds we’ve found quite a bit in the cities of Melbourne and Sydney, but nothing new.  As we continued on our way on our city tour, however, we did find several new birds to record here.  The first was as Willie wagtail which I had to shoot through the window of our bus.  Fortunately, the windows were crystal clear and afforded a pretty decent view.

       We were now scheduled for a boat trip to tour Sydney harbor.  Before we embarked, however, I found a pair of Welcome swallows perched along the wharf.  Yet another new life bird in an unexpected place.

       Our last two birds were those becoming old friends…..the common myna and the Silver gull. 

       Silver gulls are so common as to be seen as “trash birds” to local birders.  One, however, deserved attention in that it was a juvenile and looked considerably different from its elders.  It’s plumage is much more checkered and its legs and bill lack the striking red of the older birds.  

       Tomorrow, it’ll be another day in the city and as we find more and more of these locals, the challenge of finding something new becomes more and more difficult.  We’ll find what we can and report back tomorrow.