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Lost! Baby Purple Swamphen
A baby Purple Swamphen hops around the lily pads, sticking close to the safety of her mother. But where is her little brother?
I love the baby birds’ tiny little wings. They look like little arms flapping about. At first, I thought that the baby had caught a frog. No, it’s just those little wing stubs.
But where is her brother? Another tiny little Purple Swamphen is lost amongst the reeds! It’s hard to see how such a tiny thing can find his way back to his mother and sister, so far away among the giant lily pads:
I don’t know whether these birds are male or female, so I’ve just picked pronouns at random. Both sexes of Purple Swamphens look after their young, and they’re hard to tell apart.
Mother might not have the most beautiful face, but she offers safety and comfort:
Will the little one find his way back? His sister gazes across the lily pads, as if searching for him:
At last, the wanderer spots his family and hurries across the lily pads. His sister greets him warmly, while mother looks on fondly:
Common name: Purple Swamphen
Scientific name: Porphyrio porphyrio
Approximate length of adult: 50 cm
Date spotted: 5 February 2025 (summer)
Location: Manly Dam Reserve, New South Wales, Australia: 33°46’35.4″S 151°14’49.1″E
A rather shaggy Whipbird
This little whipbird looks as if it hasn’t combed its feathers in a while. Still, it’s a nice-looking bird. It might be a juvenile, still coming into full feather:
Whipbirds spend their time mostly in the low shrubbery, often rustling around in the leaves on the ground. As a result, they’re hard to spot and they usually look dark brown and black in colour. It’s nice to see one with a bit of sunlight on its feathers, bringing out the soft olive green glow on the wings and tail.
The noise that whipbirds make is strange: “eeeuuw-phwit”. It reminds people of a whip whistling and cracking, and that’s what gives the bird its name. I managed to get a good video of them calling, which I published in an earlier post.
Common name: Eastern Whipbird
Scientific name: Psophodes olivaceus
Approximate length: 30 cm
Date spotted: 16 January 2025 (summer)
Location: Dobroyd Head in Sydney Harbour, NSW, Australia: 33°48’34.0″S 151°16’25.3″E
A beautiful orange cormorant
Usually, Little Pied Cormorants have bright white and shiny black feathers. This one, though, has a lovely burnished orange head and chest. This is probably due to staining from natural iron deposits in the water.
Here’s a short video, showing the back of the bird’s head with a neat black stripe between the orange feathers of the bird’s face:
Common name: Little Pied Cormorant
Scientific name: Phalacrocorax melanoleucos
Approximate length: 60 cm
Date spotted: 20 January 2025 (summer)
Location: Manly Dam, Allambie Heights, New South Wales, Australia: 33°46’35.1″S 151°14’48.5″E
Termites and kookaburras
Termites are very active in our area of the world at the moment: the east coast of Australia just north of Sydney. When walking along a road that passes through a park area, it’s common to see low mud tunnels crossing the road. Termites build these tunnels to shelter in when they’re on their travels. Recently, I’ve also seen long trains of termites venturing out without any cover at all.
Here’s a stream of termites crossing the road. They’ve even built themselves a junction so that they can head off in different directions:
Termites’ mud tunnels often go up the outside of a tree:
The termites in this part of Australia build their nests as large mud mounds, stuck high up in a tree:
Termite nests make a handy home for monitor lizards, kookaburras, kingfishers, and other creatures. In an earlier post, I showed pictures of a termite nest that had been adopted by kookaburras as a home for their young family: Baby kookaburras out of their nest.
In the next video, two young kookaburras attack the side of a termite nest, slowly digging a hole in the nest. They’re probably thinking ahead to the next breeding season, when such a home will come in useful:
In the video, you can hear the two kookaburras chattering, and other kookaburras giving the full laughing cackle in the background. There are also cicadas singing, and a butcherbird calls at one time too.
Common name: Laughing Kookaburra
Scientific name: Dacelo novaeguineae
Approximate length: 47 cm
Date spotted: 13 January 2025 (summer)
Location: Manly Dam near Sydney, New South Wales, Australia
Baby kookaburras out of nest
For the past month, I’ve been watching a termite nest that housed two Laughing Kookaburra chicks. The kookaburra parents had set up house in an old termite nest in a dead tree. The sound of the chicks crooning drew me to the tree on November 21st. The chicks were still very young, and it wasn’t possible to see them. But after waiting around a while, I did see the parents bringing food to the nest:
A month later, on December 20th, the chicks were right at the opening of the nest, peering out at the world. This photo shows one of the babies — you can see one eye clearly on the right, then the beak and white bib and the other eye on the left:
Here’s a view of the termite nest at the top of a dead tree. The nest projects from the top the right of the dead trunk, nicely protected by the branches of a living tree:
Here’s one of the parents with a morsel of food — a winged insect of some kind:
By my next visit, on December 23rd, the nest was empty. Both babies were out and about, calling and being fed by the adult birds.
One of the babies was on the ground when I got there, but soon managed to fly up onto a tree branch. The parents were nearby and attentive:
The youngsters are a bit smaller than the adults, and more fluffy. Their feathers aren’t yet fully developed, especially on the head and wings, and the tails are noticeably shorter.
The other youngster was on a nearby branch, also crooning:
This photo shows the youngster’s short tail:
To close off, here’s the same youngster from another angle:
Common name: Laughing Kookaburra
Scientific name: Dacelo novaeguineae
Approximate length (adult): 47 cm
Date spotted: 21 November to 23 December 2024 (summer)
Location: Manly Dam near Sydney, New South Wales, Australia
Pretty Dollarbird near Sydney
Dollarbirds are migratory, which makes it a treat to see the first one of the spring!
They’re pretty birds, with the shades of green-blue in their feathers and the striking orange of their beaks and feet. Their habit is to sit on very high tree branches or power lines, making it tricky to take a photo. This one was in an area of coastal scrub and low trees on the edge of Sydney harbour, which meant that the highest perch the bird could find wasn’t too high, and I could take a near-decent photo.
When Dollarbirds fly, you see the round white circles on the underside of their wings. Those circles reminded people of the old silver Australian dollar coin, hence the bird’s name.
I’ve posted about earlier sightings of Dollarbirds, including a video of a pair courting. It’s worth a watch.
Common name: Dollarbird
Scientific name: Eurystomus orientalis
Approximate length: 27 cm
Date spotted: 10 December 2024 (summer)
Location: Dobroyd Head, Sydney Harbour, NSW, Australia: 33°48’33.8″S 151°16’25.1″E
Story of two nesting Black Swans: Part 1
This is part 1 of a story about a pair of nesting Black Swans. At this point, I’m concerned about the state of the swans’ eggs. I don’t know what part 2 will hold, but I do hope for a happy ending.
These two swans have been sitting on their nest since late August. I first saw them sitting on 23 August, and a park ranger told me that they’d been sitting for at least a few days by then. It’s now 9 December. That’s more than 15 weeks — more than 105 days.
The eggs of Black Swans usually hatch after 39-45 days.
This photo is from the first time that I saw the nest, on 23 August:
(Photo taken on 23 August 2024)
The swan’s nest is a large pile of reeds, positioned in shallow water in the middle of a large reed bed. It’s quite a distance from the shore on both sides, and well screened from entrance on the water too. From the shore, it’s not possible to see into the nest. I’m assuming there are eggs, because the swans are very diligent about sitting on the nest and occasionally it looks as if they gently prod the eggs with their beaks.
Here’s another photo from the early days:
(Photo taken on 24 August 2024)
The setting is tranquil and pretty:
(Photo taken on 2 September 2024)
The nest is near a popular bush walking path, and I’ve walked past it every few days. When the first period of 45 days went by with no cygnets appearing, I thought maybe the parents had decided that their first batch of eggs was infertile and had started again.
But now the second period of 45 days is well and truly passed, and I’m worried.
Both the male and the female swan are still actively looking after the nest. I’ve seen each of them sitting on the nest alone, and occasionally both of them tending the nest together. The nest is never without one of the swans sitting or standing over it.
(Photo taken on 3 October 2024)
The male and female take turns to sit on the nest. The next video shows the changing of the guard. One bird has been sitting all night, the other has arrived for the morning shift. One of the birds grooms itself, and they both do a bit of nest maintenance. If you listen carefully, you can hear the swans’ soft hoots as they chat to each other:
(Video taken on 1 October 2024)
Every now and then, the swans spend quite some time and energy clearing the reeds around the nest and building up the nest:
(Photo taken on 3 October 2024)
Despite the nest’s seclusion, plenty of ducks, coots, and moorhens swim around the nest, keeping the swans company. Every now and then other visitors appear, like this kookaburra:
(Photo taken on 4 October 2024)
And this Eastern Water Dragon:
(Photo taken on 17 November 2024)
On 1 October, a beautiful light-coloured Grey Goshawk made an appearance near the nest, and was chased away by currawongs and cockatoos:
(Photo taken on 1 October 2024. I wrote another post about the goshawk.)
Here’s a nice video of one of the swans seating itself carefully on the nest:
(Video taken on 28 October 2024)
In more recent days, the site of the nest has become less tranquil. Cicadas have crept up from the earth to celebrate the summer full blast, as only cicadas can do. Sulphur-crested Cockatoos collect in the tree tops, high above the nest. The cockatoos squawk and yell, outdoing even the cicadas. It’s a very noisy environment for a nest, but at least it gives the parent swans some company. At this stage, they’d been sitting on the nest for more than 100 days:
(Video taken on 29 November 2024)
When it’s their turn for a break from sitting on the nest, one of the adults heads off to another part of the dam to stretch and feed. Here, a pelican keeps the off-duty swan company:
(Photo taken on 9 September 2024)
It’s good to stretch and preen:
(Photo taken on 9 September 2024)
In the next video, one of the swans comes in close to shore for a good stretch. Eastern Koel cuckoos and cicadas dominate the sound waves. On a rock nearby, an Eastern Water Dragon looks on:
(Video taken on 21 November 2024)
In the next video, a Great Cormorant watches on as the swan preens and fluffs its wings. Cockatoos, Eastern Koels, and Channel-billed cuckoos call in the distance:
(Video taken on 29 November 2024)
As I write this post, December has arrived and the bush has a surfeit of insects. It’s very noisy at the swans’ nest. Two kookaburras dropped by and chatted a bit. Moths flap past, cicadas shriek, and a dead heat beats down on the nest:
(Video taken on 6 December 2024)
The last time I visited the nest was yesterday, 8 December. The swans were still sitting. Two kookaburras dropped by again and the cicadas were still very noisy.
I’ll keep a look out to see what’s happening at the nest next time I pass. I do hope to see the two swans relieved of their nesting duties. It would be wonderful to see some little ones to reward their amazing dedication. Even if there are no cygnets, though, it’d be good to see the adults roaming free again, ready for another go at raising a family next year.
(Photo taken on 8 December 2024)
Good luck, patient swans!
Update on 10 April 2025: Black Swans abandon nest after 8 months (part 2 of story).
Common name: Black Swan
Scientific name: Cygnus atratus
Approximate length: 120 cm
Date spotted: 23 August through to 8 December, 2024 (late winter, through spring, going into early summer)
Approximate location: Manly Dam Park, New South Wales, Australia
Angry duck
This male Hardhead (on the right of the picture) looks like he has something to say. To his left, a Pacific Black Duck seems mildly surprised, or perhaps just living up to his scientific name, Anas superciliosa.
And perhaps the Hardhead thinks that his mate is paying too much attention to his supercilious rival!
This is the first time I’ve photographed a Hardhead. Evidently they’re the only Australian duck that can claim the name of true diving ducks, as they dive deep into the water to feed. The males have white eyes while the females have brown eyes.
Common names: Hardhead and Pacific Black Duck
Scientific names: Aythya australis and Anas superciliosa
Approximate length: 45-60 cm and 48-60 cm
Date spotted: 2 December 2024 (summer)
Location: Manly Dam National Reserve, near Sydney, Australia: 33°46’34.8″S 151°14’49.6″E
Shufflewings earning their name
Black-faced Cuckoo-shrikes are a type of bird with the nickname “Shufflewings” because they like to move their wings up and down while perching on a branch. They do it when they land and, I’ve just seen, also when they want to attract each other’s attention. The wing shuffle is almost like a little dance. This video shows two of the birds shuffling at each other:
Don’t let the official name, Black-faced Cuckoo-shrikes, deceive you. These birds aren’t shrikes or cuckoos. Evidently the reason they were given this name is that their beaks have the same hooked end as a shrike’s and their feathers have similar patterns to some cuckoos.
Check out the other Black-faced Cuckoo-shrikes that I’ve spotted over time.
Common name: Black-faced Cuckoo-shrike, also called a Shufflewing
Scientific name: Coracina novaehollandiae
Approximate length: 35 cm
Date spotted: 27 November 2024 (spring)
Location: Manly Dam Park, New South Wales, Australia: 33°46’32.9″S 151°14’47.7″E
King Parrots amongst Grevillea flowers
On a recent walk in the bush, I came across a pair of King Parrots. In this video, the female bird feeds amongst the white flowers of a Grevillea bush:
In the background of the video, you can hear two types of cuckoos that have arrived in the area for the summer. First an Eastern Koel, then the raucous hoots of a Channel-billed Cuckoo. Just before the parrot flies off, a Peewee (Mud-lark) shrieks in the distance too.
King Parrots are fairly large parrots, most often seen in pairs. The female has a green chest and neck:
The male’s body and head are bright red. In fact, the male and female look so different that for a while, people thought they belonged to different species:
Here’s the male again, peering cheekily at the camera:
Common name: Australian King Parrot
Scientific name: Alisterus scapularis
Approximate length: 44 cm
Date spotted: 21 November 2024 (spring)
Location: Manly Dam reserve, New South Wales, Australia: 33°46’40.6″S 151°14’50.1″E
Sydney Birder 