Day 303: October 30th – Featherdale and Royal Botanical Gardens

Sunny, 80, and mild

       We traveled with the tour to Featherdale Wildlife Park this morning and had an enjoyable morning seeing and learning about the avian life indigenous to this vast country.  The entire time we spent relishing in the marvelous weather and beauty of the birds, our thoughts kept returning to our loved ones and homes back in the states as “Super-storm” Sandy pummeled the east coast of the U.S.  We can only pray that everyone will make it through the storm with as little physical and emotional damage as possible.

       As for sightings at the park, while many of the animals are caged,  native birds were seen around the area that were not captive.  Zoos and parks like this are often an attractive site for local birds looking for easy access to food, water, and nice habitat.  We did in fact pick up a few nice new birds today including a couple corvids.  The first was an Australian raven, smaller than our ravens, but similar in size, color, and bill shape.  There are quite a few different species which look similar and you have to check out wing coloration, bill size and shape, and location to get a good handle on what you are looking for. 

       A second black bird was spotted later in the afternoon at the Royal Botanical Gardens.  A Pied currawong was found high in the canopy, but its hooked bill and lighter colored coverts gave it away.

       Meanwhile, back at the wildlife park, a few Cattle egrets had flown in to take roost in the surrounding trees.  The colors of these birds seem so much deeper than their North American cousins and this bird in particular was richly hued.  I followed and photographed the bird for a time and finally caught the bird as it took off for a different location.

      

       I walked back to our hotel through the Royal Botanical Gardens and although I was a bit disappointed with the lack of birds, I did manage to capture yet another shot of the most common bird locally, the Common myna flying in for a bite to eat.  These birds are to the parklands of Australia as the American robin is to our front lawns. 

       Finally, along the waterfront of Sydney Harbour which lies just down the street from our hotel, I captured one last new bird of the day and a new “lifer”, the Australian pelican.  Many of the birds found here which have similar names to our NA species are very similar or in fact are the same as ours back home.  This pelican, however, has a different look to it in its pink bill color and the black primaries, shoulders, rump, tail, and upper wing.  All this and the fact that it is the only pelican found in Australia make it a sure identification.