It’s a standard birder story–caught in a metropolis in your strategy to one other metropolis with time to hen however little preparation on the place to hen. I used to be on this state of affairs two years in the past, sitting in an airport resort in Sydney, Australia, on my means early the subsequent morning to Darwin. I used to be in Australia and wished badly to see birds NOW, regardless of the jetlag, regardless of the pouring rain. A fast perusal of eBird confirmed that there was a park, Centennial Park, a couple of 20 minutes drive away and that there have been birds there, so I put my digital camera collectively and grabbed my bins and known as an Uber. The primary query was the place to inform the Uber driver to go and I had no thought. Centennial is a really massive park and the eBird experiences didn’t specify a selected place (not like Central Park in NYC, the place each few steps is a unique hotspot). I spied some ponds within the southwest of the park and directed the driving force there.
This turned out to be a sensible choice. There are a variety of ponds, notably the Duck Pond, the place you could find geese (Pacific Black Geese, Hardhead, Chestnut Teal, Australian Wooden Duck often known as Maned Duck), cormorants (Little Pied Comorant, just like the one above, Little Black, generally even Pied Cormorant), and lots of different water birds (Black Swan, Australian Pelican, Australasian Grebe, Australasian Swamphen, Australasian Darter, Dusky Moorhen, Eurasian Coot, and, when you’re luck, a rail). The rain had let up a bit, and I used to be capable of take some photographs, although when you look carefully you may see some drops, like with the Silver Gull under. I hoped that the photographs would assist me establish the birds as a result of, being me, I had not completed as a lot finding out as I ought to have and what I had completed didn’t stick.
It was quick getting darkish and the rain was gearing up once more to pouring standing and I had no thought how I’d get again to my resort (for some purpose, Uber was telling me the park was outdoors its jurisdiction), however I couldn’t go away the park as a result of the white noisy birds had been descending quick–Sulpher-crested Cockatoos and Corellas, Lengthy-billed and Little–and I needed to see them. My photographs bought grainer and murkier, however I used to be in heaven. (And, with the assistance of my resort, I did finally go away safely.)
Two years later, simply final month, I traveled to Sydney for an extended go to. I used to be capable of get pleasure from Centennial Park within the solar and uncover extra of its avian pleasures. I found with the assistance of Andrew Patrick, a neighborhood hen information, Lachlan Swamp, simply north of the Duck Pond. How did I miss this on my first go to? Lachlan Swamp is thought for 2 issues: Flying Foxes and Tawny Frogmouths.
The flying fox colony was surprisingly energetic once I visited early one morning. It’s made up of each Grey-Headed Flying Foxes (the vast majority of residents, numbering 5,000 to 45,000 in keeping with the Centennial Parklands web site) and Black Flying Foxes, a extra tropical species (lower than 1,000). The colony has been there since 2010, in keeping with the web site, and is signed and guarded by park workers. It’s commonplace to see flying fox colonies in Australian parks, however to my North American eyes, this was magic. Leaving the park after nightfall on one other day (my AirBnb was shut by, so no Uber worries), I noticed the sky stuffed with their massive silhouettes as they flew out from the swamp.
The second treasure in Lachlan Swamp was a nesting Tawny Frogmouth. That’s the nest, with a mum or dad and pretty grown chick, on the duvet photograph. I went to see the Frogmouths a number of occasions throughout my go to, and every time they had been in a unique place, seen from the roped off entry strategy to the wooded part of the swamp, however seemingly not bothered by their admirers (which included a college group one afternoon). One early night, the nest regarded empty, however from the surface path I noticed a candy Frogmouth nestled within the criminal of a department, most likely ready for full darkness so it might hunt. Frogmouths had been one in all my most wished Australian species, and although I noticed a number of on my 2022 journey, I used to be thrilled to see them once more.
Frogmouths are members of the Podargidae household, comprised of 16 species present in Australasia and Asia. (They had been previously grouped with nightjars and potoos, which appears proper, and I imagine these are nonetheless thought-about their closest kinfolk. Let me know if this has modified, please!) Tawny Frogmouth is one in all three members of the genus Podargus, present in Australia and New Guinea; the opposite two are Marbled Frogmouth and Papuan Frogmouth (I noticed the latter later in my Australia journey, because of Vent chief Scott Baker and Daintree River guru Murray Hunt). I used to be shocked at what number of Tawny Frogmouths I noticed throughout each of my Australia journeys, they apparently don’t have any drawback nesting in public locations accessible to everybody, the trick is to see them. Hooray for cryptic coloring!
However wait! There’s extra. A neighborhood birder warned me towards viewing the Tawny Frogmouth nest, telling me there was a Grey Butcherbird nesting close by that was attacking him. I discovered the nest simply by watching the Butcherbird fly to it, however the hen didn’t appear bothered in any respect by my presence. In truth, he properly posed for me later. Regardless of their highly effective payments, topped off with a hook like our Shrikes, Grey Butcherbirds have apparently adopted to city and suburban areas .After I bumped into this native birder once more and advised him the hen was fairly pleasant, he concluded that the assault was private.
Being the center of October, spring, there have been many nesting birds within the park. Here’s a Magpie-lark on a beautiful bowl nest in a tree overlooking one of many smaller ponds. Not a Magpie and never a Lark, Magpie-Larks are thought-about a part of the monarch flycatcher household, however they’ve an insouciance all their very own. I generally noticed them in different parks attempting to find meals scraps on the meals bars, reminding me of the warblers in New York Metropolis’s Bryant Park. This nesting pair periodically switched off incubation responsibility and although they’re identified, like their namesakes, for attacking folks close to their nest, they beautiful a lot ignored me and my native birder good friend (I assume it’s solely the Butcherbird that assaults him).
Different birds had been engaged on the nesting. My good friend identified an Australasian Grebe couple I had noticed collectively on the tip of a small piece of land jutting into the pond close to the Magpie-larks. He thought their nest had failed. I wasn’t fairly certain, they gave the impression to be doing one thing at that tip of land. Birdlife Australia says that Australasian Grebes could elevate as much as three broods in a season; their nests are floating mounds of vegetation anchored to a submerged department. So possibly there’s hope.
There have been two birds I had seen on eBird lists that I used to be anxious to see–Latham’s Snipe and Buff-banded Rail. Each can be life birds and funky birds to look at even when I had already seen them. A younger, enthusiastic hen photographer named Nik gave me essential location data, whereas exhibiting me his glorious pictures of the rail, which, he advised me, he had initially discovered. And whereas my commentary of the snipe needed to wait for an additional location and day, Nik’s instructions allowed me to look at one of many two grownup Rails, and possibly a child–not likely certain, it was there after which it wasn’t–that morning and later once more within the late afternoon, once I bought this {photograph}. What a gorgeous rail! Like others of its household, it’s identified for its skulky, secretive marsh hen habits, however there are sufficient eBird entries and pictures on social media that I feel seeing it’s attainable with somewhat effort (and inside information if you may get it, which shouldn’t be laborious, Aussie birders are very pleasant).
Centennial Park is a part of the Centennial Parklands complicated and although the parks are full of individuals with bicycles, canines, kids, and different distractions (virtually 31 million folks a 12 months, the web site says), it’s additionally good birding. Technically, the park is in a suburb of Sydney (these it’s near the enterprise district and the airport); when you’re in search of eBird experiences, search for Centennial Park in Randwick, New South Wales. My expertise is that the nice birding is on the south finish, across the ponds. The park is surrounded by very busy streets, so search for buses that cease throughout the street from one of many south entrances and go away time to cross Darley Street. In case you’re driving, there’s parking within the park; the Centennial Parklands web site offers data on that and different logistics.
So, when you’re on layover or passing by means of Sydney, I like to recommend a morning or afternoon birding at Centennial Park. Some for the Tawny Frogmouths, say howdy to the Excellent Fairywrens!
Autor Donna
