With its diverse environment and network of ponds Centennial Park is the perfect place to watch birds.

The range of different landscapes provide food, shelter and nesting places for migratory, nomadic and resident birds species.

The first bird list for Centennial Park, dated 3 March 1929, contains the names of 35 native and nine introduced species. Since then up to 124 native and 18 introduced species of land and water birds have been recorded.

We have an ever-expanding list (including species information and usual sighting locations) on our Birds in the Parklands page.

For the more academically-minded, our Conservation Management Plan from 2001 contains a list of birds sighted in the Parklands. Download the list (PDF, 56 kb).

The Duck Pond in Centennial Park draws its name from the bountiful duck population that has graced its shores since the pond was created in the 1880s. Today more than 15 species of waterbirds frequent this huge pond.

• Find Duck Pond on a map

Part of the upper catchment of the Botany Wetlands, Duck Pond provides important habitat for water birds and aquatic life.

What birds might I see at Duck Pond?

One of the birds you will almost certainly see at the Duck Pond is the Pacific Black Duck (Anas superciliosa). This native duck is found throughout NSW, and is easily the most common waterbird in the Park. It has a beautiful shadow marking across the eye, which looks almost Egyptian. It also has a flash of green/blue colour on the wing. The duck feeds on the surface by up ending – appearing to stand on its head in the water. Males perform a spectacular courtship ritual, dipping their beak quickly into the water, thereby producing an arc of water ripples over its head. A distinctive whistle and grunt accompany the act.

The name of this duck is slightly misleading though. The feathers are not black, but it was called so because of the colour of its flesh when the settlers ate it.

The Pacific Black Duck is remarkable for its ability to inter-breed with the introduced domestic duck, or Mallard (Anas platyrhynchos). It’s one of the few species that I know of that readily interbreeds with another species – that’s why it is illegal to dump Mallards, because they are diluting the strain. You can tell a cross-breed by the orange legs or blending of the feather colours.

Unlike the Black Duck, the Black Swan (Cygnus atratus) does display predominantly black feathers. Often associated with Western Australia, the Black Swan is also native to NSW, and was an oddity to early explorers who were only familiar with white swans.

Black Swans are one of the largest and most elegant of the waterbirds. Common behaviour to look for is the swans putting their putting heads underwater to reach for aquatic plants. You’ll also quite often see them use fairly aggressive behaviour towards each other. In particular, you’ll see young swans fleeing their parents across the water when they reach an independent stage.

Mature Black Swans commonly travel in pairs and probably mate for life. Pairs greet each other with a gentle trumpeting sound. Females have shorter necks than males, and their eyes and bills are lighter in colour.

The Eurasian Coot (Fulica atra) is another regular visitor to the Duck Pond, especially during winter. A highly nomadic species, they have a worldwide distribution including Europe, Africa, India, Asia, New Guinea and Australia. Look for a black bird with a white face and beak and listen for quite a noisy bird making a sharp “kyik” or “kyok” sound.

The Eurasian Coot has unusual ‘semi-webbed’ feet – they have separate webbing that goes around each toe rather than from toe-to-toe. During breeding season you see them using their remarkable toes as they chase each other across the water.

Advanced birdwatchers should look out for the Black-fronted Dotterel (Charadrius melanops), on the Duck Pond’s southern shores. Also known as the Black-fronted Plover or Sandpiper, this pint-sized bird is predominantly mottled brown with a black band across the forehead below a white eyebrow, and a bold black Y on its white breast.

They are found throughout Australia on small bodies of water, running around the edges of lakes and stopping to feed.

The six islands at the Duck Pond are an ideal place to look for nesting birds, especially cormorants – fishing birds with long and flexible necks, and quite long tails.

Regular visitors include: the Great Black Cormorant (Phalacrocorax carbo), the largest of the cormorants, with a wing span of up to 1.5 metres; the Little Black Cormorant (Phalacrocorax sulcirostris) a small slender black cormorant with a dark bill and dark facial skin; the Pied Cormorant (Phalacrocorax various) the largest of the white-breasted black cormorants; and the Little Pied Cormorant (Phalacrocorax melanoleucos), the smallest of the Australian cormorants and also black and white in colour.

Cormorants have got a hook on the end of their top bill that helps them to catch fish. Their beak is incredibly sharp. The cormorants mainly nest on the middle islands.

A White-Breasted Sea-Eagle (Haliaeetus leucogaster) has also been seen frequenting the Duck Pond.

This large white eagle with grey-brown wings has a wingspan of up to 2 metres. The immature bird has darker feathers and a mottled appearance. They soar in majestic circles and are said to resemble a huge butterfly during flight.

Australian Pelicans (Pelecanus conspicillatus) are also known to visit the Duck Pond’s shallow sand island. While you will often see one or two birds – usually on a stopover on their way to the coast or further inland – they visit the Park in large flocks during times of drought.

Just across the road from the Duck Pond lies Randwick Pond, which is special for its variety of vegetation and habitat, combing reeds, islands and lily pads.

• Find Randwick Pond on a map

Also part of the upper catchment of the Botany Wetlands, Randwick Pond provides important habitat for water birds and aquatic life.

What birds might I see at Randwick Pond?

Sacred Ibis (Threskiornis aethiopica) dominate the Pond’s northern island. Commonly associated with ancient Egypt (they symbolised Thoth, the God of Wisdom), ibis are found throughout Africa and south-east Asia.

Ibis adapt extremely well to city life. They are widely viewed as a pest, due to the fact that they can out compete all other native birds on their nesting sites and damage vegetation by sheer weight of numbers and their large nests.

Ibis migrate over large distances and you can see them flying west and returning each day in a v-formation.

They have curved, slender bills that are designed for probing into shallow water, mud or grass, but are equally efficient when it comes to fishing in rubbish bins or making a nuisance of themselves around picnickers. The sad fact is that they are expanding into more areas of Australia because their natural inland habitat is being progressively degraded by agriculture.

The lush reed beds in Randwick Pond, especially on the western shore, provide ideal habitat for the Eastern Swamphen (Porphyrio porphyrio). Closely related to the coot, this is one of a range of native-hens you’ll see in the Park. The bird is also known as the Purple Swamphen due to its rich purple-blue head and body, set off by black upperparts and long red legs.

Swamphens are fairly opportunistic – they’ve been known to eat geese eggs and raid pee wee nests – but they’re mainly vegetarians. They live in groups with a social hierarchy of up to ten birds.

A close relative is the Dusky Moorhen (Gallinula tenebrosa). They’re slow-moving, funny things. They nest on Randwick Pond and you quite often see them flicking their tails to reveal a white rump. During breeding season the skin on their forehead turns from orange to red.

Common to Sydney and NSW, they are also found in Indonesia and New Guinea. They look quite similar to the Eurasian Coot, except their beak is a reddish colour instead of white.

Moorhens are one of a few species that are polyandrous – that is, they set up a breeding relationship of one female with up to three males.

Randwick Pond is also the best place to look for the Musk Duck (Biziura lobata), a species found only in Australia, named after the musky smell given off by males. The male also has a lobe of loose black skin underneath its bill.

The male duck conducts a wacky courtship display, curling its tail over its back and fanning it out like a peacock, kicking the water with its feet, and making a high-pitched whistle – ‘peeew’ – which is totally unlike a duck.

Musk ducks are extremely good swimmers and underwater hunters. They sit incredibly low in the water compared to the normal posture of a duck – probably because they are more designed for underwater than above water work.

Also look for the Maned Duck (Chenonetta jubata) or Wood Duck. This small, dainty bird looks and acts more like a goose than a duck. The male has a dark brown head and the female has similar eye markings to the Pacific Black Duck.

The shape of their head is totally different to most ducks, and they don’t have a long bill,” Colin says. “You very often see them on the land grazing.

Just north of Randwick Pond is the expansive Busby’s Pond, once the primary dam for the Busby’s Bore water supply that carried water from the Park to the city.

A reed-fringed shore, tiny beaches and large nesting islands make Busbys Pond one of the most beautiful in the Parklands.

Many waterfowl live on the pond’s islands and large numbers of little pied cormorants can be seen nesting on the northern most island in the early evenings.

• Find Busbys Pond on a map

What birds might I see at Busbys Pond?

Look for the Darters (Anhinga melanogaster) nesting on the western island. Darters resemble a cormorant, but are much bigger, have a longer neck and smaller head, and are copper to brown in colour (see pic right).

Darters stab like a spear, while cormorants catch like a trap. They’re sometimes called the ‘snake bird’ because they swim with their whole body submerged and only the neck and beak above the water.

When they are threatened they do two things: they regurgitate all of the food in their stomach to make themselves lighter, and then they flop into the water and completely disappear until the threat has left.

For Darters to stay and nest in an urban habitat is quite uncommon, and we regard them as very special. They have a very elegant shape – they sometimes remind people of 1950s American Cadillacs.

Busby’s Pond is also a good place to see introduced Domestic Geese (Anser anser), which come up to the pond’s beaches for feeding. Domestic geese are descended from the Greylag Goose, found naturally in Europe and Asia – one of the first birds ever domesticated. Most of the geese in the Park are the result of dumping.

To complete your journey, walk back to the small, sandstone-edged Lily Pond, just north of the Duck Pond.

The Pond’s central island – a doughnut-shaped area of papyrus with a mud flat centre – serves as a waterbird refuge and nesting habitat. 

Unlike the other ponds in the Parklands that are fed by stormwater, Lily Pond is fed by a natural, underground spring in Lachlan Swamp. The water in this pond is usually clearer than other ponds in the Parklands for two reasons.

Iron pyrites present in the soil oxidise, releasing sulfur dioxide and causing the spring water to be slightly acidic and therefore clearer. The water it is also filtered up to the surface through sand, contributing to its clearer appearance. Its water brims with aquatic invertebrates such as dragonfly nymphs, water boatmen and aquatic earthworms during warmer months.

• Find Lily Pond on a map

What birds might I see at Lily Pond?

At the Lily Pond, listen for the Clamorous Reed Warbler (Acrocephalus stentoreus) – an outstanding native songbird that makes its nest in the papyrus during spring.

This brown, plain little bird is hard to see – you definitely need binoculars – but you may spot it in the stands of papyrus. Listen for the call first, look second. This bird makes one of the best songs in the Park.

If you find a sick or injured bird please do not handle it.

You can call our Parklands Rangers on (02) 9339 6699 during business hours or 0412 718 611 after hours.

Please be ready describe your exact location and provide details on the exact condition you found the injured bird in at the time. This information may be crucial as it may help re-unite a bird family!

If you find a sick or injured bird outside Centennial Parklands, please contact WIRES on 13000 WIRES or 1300 094 737.

WIRES provide a great service in rescuing and helping sick or injured animals throughout Australia. Consider supporting WIRES at: www.wires.org.au

Birdwatching throughout Centennial Parklands and across the seasons can be a very rewarding pastime. It is possible to follow the lifecycle of species such as swans, coots, swamphens and moorhens as they breed.

Consider the following tips to help you enjoy the variety of bird life:

• Walk slowly and stop often;
• Listen and wait for birds to come to you, don’t try to get too close; and
• Visit different ponds to observe a wider range of species.

Always remember, if you love the birds, don't feed them!

Rangers understand that visitors enjoy feeding the birds, however it is not healthy for Centennial Parklands birds, particularly breads and other non-natural food products. As such, we request that you do not feed the birds.

Centennial Parklands' resident expert birdwatcher is Trevor Waller. Trevor (see online bio) has been passionate about birdwatching for over 15 years, and for the last 10 he has conducted regular birdwatching expeditions in Centennial Park.

These are excellent introductory sessions for anyone with an interest in birdwatching, or just learning more in the bird life of Sydney's urban areas. And of course, they include breakfast!

So you can join Trevor this early morning guided tour to spot some of the Parkland’s migratory and resident land and water birds. Bring binoculars.

Find out the date of the next Birdwatcher's Breakfast via our What's On page or contact the Parklands Office on (02) 9339 6699.

Remember, Friends of Centennial Parklands get a discount!

In October 2009 Bird NSW (www.birdingnsw.org.au) launched a new Bird Survey that can be accessed and used by anyone in the community.

Volunteers are now sought to be trained as 'birdwatchers' and to undertake recording of bird species sightings on data sheets for entry into the Birds Australia Bird Atlas.

This is a great fun opportunity to learn a new skill and practice it in your spare time, while making a meaningful contribution to a national project.

Want to volunteer?

The Centennial Parklands volunteer program has a range of opportunities. Find out more about this and other volunteer opportunities by phoning the Parklands Office on (02) 9339 6699 or visiting the Centennial Parklands Foundation website.

The following organisations have an interest in birdlife in Australia and around the world:

• Birds Australia
• Birding NSW
• Birds Queensland
• The United Bird Societies of South Australia Incorporated

The following websites provide information and resources on birds in Australia and around the world:

• www.birdsinbackyards.net
• australianmuseum.net.au/Birds
• www.birds.com
• www.birdsaustralia.com.au/resources/info-sheets.html