Being a Tourist in Sydney: Centennial Park

Centennial Park is a large public, urban park that occupies 220 hectares in the Eastern Suburbs of Sydney.   The Park forms part of the larger Centennial Parklands which comprises about 360 ha.  Two of the most interesting things for me were the lakes and the variety of water fowl and birds and the immense colony of grey-headed flying fox bats.  These are endemic to the south-eastern forested areas of Australia.  It is the largest bat in Australia with adults having an average wingspan up to 1 m (3.3 ft) and weighing up to 1 kg (2.2 lb). The head and body length averages 253 mm (10.0 in).

One of the things about blogging is the reading that one does when looking up things bout which one is writing.  In this case I became fascinated by the bats because in the evening the sky over parts of Sydney is absolutely filled with these huge creatures as they migrate from their roosts to their eating places - they eat fruit and flowers.  The bats of Sydney even have their own website (perhaps I should say a website devoted to them to be correct).

Immature Moorhen

 Hardhead Duck (back) and Wood Duck (front),   

Australian Wood Duck

Black Swans

Moorhen

Hard Head Duck

Black Swan

Cormorants

Darter

Pied Cormorant

Darter and Pied Cormorant

Ibis

Pied Cormorant nesting colony

Grey Headed Fox Bat (Fruit Bat)

Grey Headed Fox Bat

Grey Headed Fox Bat

Johnathon Livingston Perhaps?

 
"You will begin to touch heaven, Jonathan, in the moment that you touch perfect speed. And that isn't flying a thousand miles an hour, or a million, or flying at the speed of light. Because any number is a limit, and perfection doesn't have limits. Perfect speed, my son, is being there."  Richard Bach, Johnathon Livingston Seagull

Birds

There is so much to say about the birds here. Which is not the opening sentence of a 1950s post card from the seaside. I was wondering how many interesting birds I might see here that you will not see in Europe. In fact many birds here were introduced from Europe. I hope, over the next six months, to show you some examples of the native species. Generally speaking because of New Zealand's equable climate there is no major migration although the native cuckoos migrate to the Pacific Islands and there is evidence of altitudinal migration and movement to good food sources.

Obviously the Country's National Bird is the Kiwi.but there is little chance of me seeing one in the wild, never mind being able to photograph it in the wild. However there are lots more which are interesting too.

The highlight of my bird sightings last year was seeing Albatrosses on the trip between Invercargill and Stewart Island at the very South of South Island. I wonder what it will be this year.

There are, as one would expect, lots of seabirds and I shall probably deal with those separately. Despite living so close to the sea I've never developed a close interest in seabirds. Perhaps this six months will be an opportunity to change that.

I shall keep a list in the sidebar of the Blog of the birds which I have seen and where I have photographs or a Blog posting I'll add the date.