Sydney 10/4-10/5--13 Life Birds, 1 Year Bird

SULFUR-CRESTED COCKATOO, Royal Botanic Gardens

We left Newark around 2 PM October 2nd, and after approximately 21 hours of flying, arrived in Sydney around 7 AM October 4th. The 3rd, because of the international dateline, we lost. It was raining hard when we landed, a weather condition that persisted through the first 2 days of our stay there. 

We were picked up at the airport and as we drove from the airport into Sydney we looked for birds, but with the rain and dark skies, all we saw were unidentifiable silhouettes. We were wondering what our first bird would be and our driver said it would be an ibis, "because they're scavengers and they're everywhere." That didn't sound right to me; ibises don't scavenge in North America. 

We arrived at our hotel where, since it was so early, we planned to drop off our bags and start to explore, despite the inclement weather. A few minutes later Lon & Peg arrived and we had a happy reunion. Then, after a little while, we set out to see Sydney in the rain. 

Sydney Opera House on the Circular Quay

On the reasons Shari & Peg picked our hotel was its proximity to the Sydney Opera House as well as the Circular Quay, so we four set out for the famous site.  It was a few blocks walk in the rain and under they gray skies the Opera House roof looked dingy. We were experiencing what I call "Eiffel Tower/Peggy Lee Syndrome" where the famous site never looks as spectacular as you expect. For one thing, the building is never lit as perfectly as it is in the postcards or promotional brochures. There is no triumphant music, no curtain is pulled away. The building is just there and you say, as Peggy Lee once did, "Is that all there is?" And then you're on to the next site. 

AUSTRALIAN IBIS

We still hadn't seen any birds until the walk back, which skirted the Royal Botanic Gardens, when, as predicted by our driver, we came upon an AUSTRALIAN IBIS, grazing along the grass fringe. This one was behaving as I would expect an ibis to behave; but our driver wasn't making up stories--they are scavengers. We saw them everywhere, picking up trash in a busy square above a train station in the Central Business District, dumpster diving outside Port Hervey, and, later in the trip, while eating lunch in the Royal Botanic Gardens, making a nuisance of themselves, right along with the currawongs and kookaburras:

Still, a great first bird for a lifer. 

Sulfur-crested Cockatoo, Royal Botanic Gardens

The 2nd bird we found a NOISY MINER, one of the many, many species of honeyeaters we were to come upon over the next 3 weeks. We also easily picked up SILVER GULL, the ubiquitous gull of Australia. Gulling in Australia is easy; there are only really 3 and Silver Gull is by the far the most numerous. We also saw our first SULFUR-CRESTED COCKATOOS. Later, Shari & I walked in the Gardens (across the street from our hotel) when the rain had gone from drenching to only steady and I managed to get one decent picture of the cockatoo with its crest erect. But we soon got used to seeing 20 or 30 cockatoos at a time picking at seeds in the grass. As Mike observed later in the trip, there's just something wrong with a city when the cockatoos outnumber the pigeons. 

SILVER GULLS, Circular Quay

NOISY MINER, Royal Botanic Garden

The other amazing street bird in Sydney is the aptly named RAINBOW LORIKEET, which again, would not seem amazing in a rain forest, but on a restaurant awning appears, to the North American eye, totally incongruous.

RAINBOW LORIKEETS in the Sydney Central Business District

Bondi Beach

The second day there the rain was, if anything, worse. Yet, how many times were we going to be in Sydney? Shari asked, and besides, we'd already paid for two days of the hop-on/hop-off bus, so out to Bondi Beach we went. Bondi Beach is billed as the most beautiful beach in the world. Maybe, but we'd never know looking at it in a gale. The only bird we saw out there was a Common Myna, not even a native bird. I did glean one factoid walking around waiting for the bus to return: in Australia, Burger King is called Hungry Jack's. Mike speculated that they can't use "king" in a commonwealth country.

I was pretty tired of rain by then, but Shari was determined to walk in the Gardens again. And to do those birders who say there is no such thing as bad weather, just bad equipment, I give you the raspberries, because you can wear all the rain gear you want, that still doesn't prevent your binoculars from getting wet letting you see life birds speckled with rain drops. However, we did add a few cool birds, including MANED DUCK with ducklings (which in our field guides was call Australian Wood Duck, as it appears close to our Wood Duck in the taxonomic order), DUSKY MOORHEN, EURASIAN COOT, MASKED LAPWING, and PIED CURRAWONG.

MANED DUCK

DUSKY MOORHEN

MASKED LAPWING

PIED CURRAWONG

Shari & I did a little more exploring, but Sydney as a city, didn't interest me much, as most cities don't any longer. The next day we would begin to bird in earnest (actually in Royal National Park).

Species                First Sighting

MANED DUCK     Royal Botanic Gardens

Rock Pigeon     Sydney

DUSKY MOORHEN     Royal Botanic Gardens

MASKED LAPWING     Royal Botanic Gardens

SILVER GULL     Circular Quay

LITTLE BLACK CORMORANT     Circular Quay

PIED CORMORANT     Circular Quay

AUSTRALIAN IBIS     Circular Quay

SULPHUR-CRESTED COCKATOO     Royal Botanic Gardens

RAINBOW LORIKEET     Sydney

NOISY MINER     Circular Quay

AUSTRALIAN MAGPIE     Circular Quay

PIED CURRAWONG     Royal Botanic Gardens

WELCOME SWALLOW     Royal Botanic Gardens