Australia Birds

Ibis in Darling Harbor, Sydney, Australia birds

Ibis, Australia birds in central Sydney’s Darling Harbour region.

Some Australia birds you are likely to see

There’s plenty of birdlife in Australia. Sydney, for example, hosts hundreds of bold ibis that are almost as city-cool as pigeons, while its Botanic Gardens are chaotic at dusk as parrots and parakeets chatter to one another and cockatoos raucously fight it out for prime nesting rights. And then the bats unfurl their wings. . .

Cockatoos in Sydney gardens, Australia birds

Sulphur Crested Cockatoos looking for new friends in Sydney’s Royal Botanic Garden. They are a species of parrot.

This may look kind of amusing but the downside is the cockatoo’s claws. The one gripping my shoe demonstrates the bird’s solid barbs while the one on my leg has those barbs firmly embedded in my flesh.

Common Australia birds: Kookaburra

A kookaburra in Sydney, Australia birds

A Kookaburra on a Sydney tree, laughing quietly.

Kookaburras are a kind of kingfisher native to Australia and New Guinea which make a call that sounds uncannily like distant human laughter. Unlike the true kingfisher they don’t necessarily live near water, preferring forest, open plains or suburban areas with tall trees.
Kookaburras look incredibly cute but are actually brutally carnivorous and will eat the young of other birds, insects and small animals.

Common Australia birds: Parrakeets

Parakeets on the Great Ocean Road, Australia

Parakeets on the Great Ocean Road.

Dangerous birds: Cassowary

A Cassowary with chick, Casuarius casuarius, Australia

A Cassowary with chick, Casuarius casuarius, one of the few dangerous Australia birds, especially with a baby in tow… photo in Queensland by Dan Gordon.

Fruit Bats (I know, not birds, mammals!)

Fruit bats can be seen hanging around most city gardens and flying at dusk.