Yesterday my family and I went on a bird-spotting trip with Aussie Bird Tours. Mike Barrow led us on a wonderful half-day tour around the Dee Why Lagoon, Warriewood Wetlands, and Irrawong Reserve. We spotted a large number of birds (40-50 types) and heard others too. Here are the ones that I managed to get a half-decent photo of.

Our tour started at Dee Why Lagoon, where we saw a number of water birds: a darter, cormorants, ducks, a black swan, coots, a Silver Gull, and more. Songbirds were there too. A Magpie-lark strutted over the mud. Welcome Swallows darted across the water. A Willie Wagtail chirped in the distance. An Eastern Whipbird spent many minutes exploring the dense reeds a couple of metres from our feet. We could hear its characteristic chattering, but only saw it when it made a break for the higher foliage.

This male Olive-backed Oriole (Oriolus sagittatus) posed for a profile shot against the blue sky:

On this trip I learned what Olive-backed Orioles sound like (you can hear their call on eBird). I also learned the call of the Darter (hear it on xeno-canto). The latter sounds very like a Dollarbird, and I’ve probably mixed up those two calls in the past.

Our next stop was the Warriewood Wetlands, which is an interesting patch of swampy bushland. A raised path leads you across the reeds and water, with great views of wetlands all round you. The cicadas were out in full force, deafening us while providing food to other creatures. Here, a large spider has caught a cicada in its web and is having a feast:

Discarded cicada husks stuck to tree trunks, shed when the cicada larva emerges from the ground and morphs into the winged insect:

Bell Miners (Manorina melanophrys) have moved into the Warriewood Wetlands in large numbers. The call of these honeyeaters is a clear, single, oft-repeated clink, like the sound of a bell. They’re quite attractive birds, with olive wings and back, and a pale yellow chest:

What with the screeching of the cicadas and the pinging of the Bell Miners, this was a noisy patch of bush!

The noise didn’t seem to bother the Purple Swamphens (Porphyrio porphyrio), who carried out a lively courtship beneath the wooden walkway:

A small water dragon looked on:

A Dusky Moorhen (Gallinula tenebrosa) showed up in bold orange and yellow:

We didn’t see any snakes, though evidently they’re around. We did see a couple of largish skinks, like this one:

Striking dark grass flowers lined the way:

A colony of Flying Foxes (large fruit bats) occupies one corner of the wetlands:

Here’s a close-up of one of these attractive, intriguing mammals. They have a grey face, with a reddish fur collar and back. Their wings are black and leathery, strong enough to support these large bats in their long cross-country flights:

After the Warriewood Wetlands, we visited Irrawong Reserve. A Golden Whistler (Pachycephala pectoralis) carolled in the dense bush. This is the male bird:

As you can see, it’s adept at hiding behind the foliage. Here’s another shot of the same bird, with its tail fanned:

I think the next bird is a female Golden Whistler. They’re harder to identify because of their soft colouring:

The next bird is a first sighting for me: a pretty Rufous Fantail (Rhipidura rufifrons):

This video is rather blurry, but it’s useful because you can hear the characteristic song of the fantail, similar to that of the Grey Fantail and Willie Wagtail:

My last bird of the day is a Brown Gerygone (Gerygone mouki), another first sighting for me:

The photograph of this bird is very similar to the earlier one of the female Golden Whistler. However, the Gerygone has grey markings running from beak to eye. The Gerygone (9-11 cm) is also smaller than the Golden Whistler (16-18 cm), though that’s hard to tell from the photos.