A final post from the Botanical Gardens - for exotic and outlandish fauna, almost like a zoo (mercifully minus the bars, cruelty and exploitation of course); and a chance to spotlight two of the more entertaining species of the park, Grey-headed Flying Foxes and Sulphur-crested Cockatoos.
A now infamous resident of the park, technically (and poetically) speaking the flying foxes are Megabats, and there are now many thousands in this particular camp. A vulnerable endemic of eastern Australia, they're a wonderfully approachable and entertaining species and we spent plenty of time watching them interact in the winter sunshine.
Rainbow Lorikeets, another colourful park resident
While the Flying Foxes are sadly declining, the park's Sulphur-crested Cockatoos will likely take over Sydney, and then the world, within a few decades. In a pleasing role-reversal of their captive cage-bird trade brethren, these wild, native Australasian Cockatoos simultaneously exploit and mug unweary humans in co-ordinated teams. Respect.
From there, back over the Equator and into the North Pacific....
