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When I was in Sydney last week I photographed a Little Corella Cacatua sanguinea (a common species endemic to Eastern, North-western and Northern Australia) in Centennial Park. I first saw the bird from behind and was surprised how approachable it was: it wasn’t until it flew up to a tree and turned around that […]

Fantastic birding in Malaysia and Singapore is only part of the story when I’m on a trip that also involves visiting Sydney, Australia of course - even if said “visiting” amounts to little more than having the day I arrive after an eight hour flight available, plus the following morning before flying back to Singapore […]

Purple Swamphen Porphyrio porphyrio melanotus
Cetennial Park, Sydney. March 2006 and March 2008
 
Worldwide there are, depending on the authority, six or more subspecies of the large and rather primitive-looking Purple Swamphen Porphyrio porphyrio - a bird breeding in reed beds across southernmost Europe, Africa, tropical Asia, and Australasia - which differ mainly in the plumage colours. […]

Crested Pigeon Ocyphaps lophotes
Centennial Park, Sydney, Australia. March 2008
 
The beautiful Crested Pigeon is endemic to Australia and is common in lightly wooded grasslands, watercourses, pastoral areas, sports grounds/golf courses and parks in both rural and urban areas throughout most of the mainland. It is usually found in the vicinity of water, as it has to […]

Masked Lapwing, Sydney, Australia
Various dates

The Masked Lapwing Vanellus miles (once more-widely known as the Masked Plover) is common throughout northern, central and eastern Australia. It inhabits marshes, mudflats, beaches and grasslands and is often seen in urban areas and parks. Where this species is used to human presence, it may allow a close approach (the […]

Sydney Botanic Gardens, Australia, 26 February 2006
 

 
I only get down to Australia once or twice a year, so why - it would be reasonable to ask - would I bother spending time in a Botanic Gardens I’ve been to many times before?

Well, I may get to Australia twice a year, but I only get to […]

Sulphur-crested Cockatoos Cacatua galerita, one of the largest parrots in the world, are common and very familiar in parts of Australia. Their range extends throughout the northern and eastern mainland and Tasmania. A small population has become established around Perth, Western Australia. The species also occurs in New Guinea and the Aru Islands, and has […]

This has absolutely nothing to with birds whatsoever, but I read the report below (which I’ve edited down slightly) yesterday. It concerns the demise of a fish called the orange roughy, a deep-sea species with bad skin and jaws that could crack walnuts, and it really struck a chord.

In the mid-1990s, when I […]

Rockwarbler Origma solitaria
Royal National Park, Sydney, Australia
 
The Rockwarbler Origma solitaria (or Origma) is restricted to the sandstone formations around the Sydney region of New South Wales. It is a dark brown-grey bird with a cinnamon-tinged face and forehead, a dull white throat speckled black (which often appears quite dark in the field), reddish-brown […]

Eastern Yellow Robin Eopsaltria australis
Royal National Park, Sydney, and Sherbrooke Forest, Melbourne, Australia

The Eastern Yellow Robin Eopsaltria australis is distributed from the extreme southeast corner of South Australia through most of Victoria and the western half of New South Wales and north as far as Cooktown. Tropical northern Queensland birds are mainly restricted to the […]

Royal National Park, Sydney, Australia
14 October 2005
 

Bridge over the Hacking River, Royal National Park, near Sydney

 
The wonderful Royal National Park, an expansive area of rainforest and heath covering some 15000ha, is just off the Prince’s Highway and only 15 miles (22km) from Sydney International Airport. Dedicated in 1879, it’s Australia’s oldest NP (and the second […]

Magpie-larks Grallina cyanoleuca
Melbourne, Australia, 12 August 2005
 
The Magpie-lark Grallina cyanoleuca is a conspicuous Australian bird of small to medium size, also known as the Mudlark in Victoria, South Australia and Western Australia, and as the Peewee in New South Wales and Queensland. It is common and widespread, occupying the entire continent except for Tasmania and […]

I and the Bird #5: 01 September 2005. Hosted by John at A DC Birding Blog
 

Melbourne Botanic Gardens, Australia
12 August 2005
 

 
We’re in Melbourne, Australia today, and I managed just a few hours birding in between heavy rain showers…

Sadly our crew lay-over in Melbourne doesn’t really give me enough time to hire a car […]