In no particular order, newbies included both Little Pied and Little Black Cormorants (alongside Great and Pied), pale-eyed, high-pitched Australian Ravens, like-nothing-else Magpie-larks and Willy Wagtails, rusty-headed Fairy Martins,
Grey Butcherbird (digesting a just-consumed lizard)
Black Swan and White Ibis - wild, native, elegant - and occupying the stinky Feral Pigeon niche with some skill throughout the park
snake-necked Australian Darters, both Superb and Variegated Fairy-wrens, bizarrely-antennaed Crested Pigeons (aptly re-named Unicorn Doves by Amity), Purple Swamp-hens, Aythya representing Hardheads,
Crested Pigeon
Hardhead
Pacific Black Duck
legitimately native (but still bread-scoffing) Black Swans, Dabchick-with-a-meaner-look Australasian Grebes, and arguably the pick of a high quality bunch, the truly other-worldly Yellow-tailed Black-cockatoos.
Eurasian Coot (how we've missed 'em)
So the torrent of new and exotic species continued, and urban birding in Sydney proved as productive as promised; more time within the city limits later in the week produced more quality, but not before unforgettable excursions a little further afield.
(more photos from the park to follow)
