Birds of Bombay NSW
I spend a lot of time laying in the garden watching the cloud rolls by, watching the patterns, meditating and processing whatever puzzle my biological computer is working on. Then right when I’m at my most blissed, I hear a new bird nearby. The birds of Bombay NSW are amazing and most folks don’t even know they are here.
In 2023 we dedicated the entire calendar year to watching and documenting the birds in our garden. The sightings were many and varied and have taught us a lot about our woodland ecosystem. This takes considerable energy and focus and therefore is not something we do every year. But spotting birds is something we do daily because its fun, and also for the tuning into nature that occurs.
I encourage you to start noting the birds that visit your garden, and work towards inviting more to visit or stay. The benefits to your backyard Ecosystem will be immeasurable and you might learn a thing or two about yourself in the process.
Get yourself a quality field guide to Australian birds (don’t be scared to write in it), maybe get some binoculars, and dedicate some time in the early mornings to sitting quietly to see and hear the commotion that goes on in the bird world. If you have a keen ear you may even learn to talk bird.
Rules of Engagement
The rules of the game were simple. We both needed to hear or spy the bird. If it was unfamiliar, we would cross reference books and make at least two sighting and both be confident before listing it. Some birds remain unidentified.
This is the list as they appear in our field guide grouped in species.
- Wood Duck
- Brown Quail
- Pied Cormorant
- White Faced Heron
- White Necked Heron
- Wedgetail Eagle
- Nakeen Kestrel
- Painted Button Quail
- Masked Lapwing
- Common Bronzewing
- Yellow Tailed Black Cockatoo
- Gang Gang
- Galah
- Sulphur Crested Cockatoo
- King Parrot
- Crimson Rosella
- Eastern Rosella
- Barking Owl
- Southern Boobook Owl
- Pacific Barn Owl
- Tawny Frogmouth
- Owlet Night Jar
- White Throated Needletail
- Kookaburra
- Sacred King Fisher
- White throated Tree Creeper
- Red Browed Treecreeper
- Brown Treecreeper
- Superb Fairy Wren
- Striated Pardalote
- White Browed Scrub Wren
- Chestnut Rumped Heath Wren
- Brown Gerygone
- White Throated Gerygone
- Brown Thornbill
- Buff Rumped Thornbill
- Yellow Rumped Thornbill
- Striated Thornbill
- Yellow Thornbill
- Red Wattlebird
- Little Friarbird
- Noisy Friar
- Yellow Faced Honeyeater
- White Eared Honeyeater
- Brown Headed Honeyeater
- Eastern Spinebill
- Jackie Winter
- Scarlett Robin
- Flame Robin
- Rose Robin
- White Browed Babbler
- Rufous Whistler
- Golden Whistler
- Grey Shrike Thrush
- Satin Flycatcher
- Rufous Fantail
- Grey Fantail
- Black Faced Cuckoo Shrike
- White Bellied Cuckoo Shrike
- Magpie
- Grey Currawong
- Pied Currawong
- Australian Raven
- White Winged Chough
- Red Browed Finch
- Tree Martin
Long Term Omissions
Our long term observations include another 16 birds that could have been sighted in our Big Year, but didn’t make the list, because they obviously didn’t say hi.
Grey Goshawk, Powerful Owl, Glossy Black Cockatoo, Stubble Quail, Spotted Turtle Dove, Shining Bronze Cuckoo, White Throated Night Jar, Fork Tailed Swift, Azure Kingfisher, Hooded Robin, Willy Wagtail, Masked Wood Swallow, Pied Butcher Bird, Magpie Lark (Pee Wee), Fairy Martin
Some of these birds have been absent since the fire. Their particular piece of the ecosystem was damaged and perhaps they found better areas to live. There have also been new birds spotted since the fires as our ecosystem repairs and evolves. Our vegetable garden has certainly given new spaces for little birds to thrive and a somewhat open space for us to view them in while the wilds outside gets its groove on again.
What birds have you spied in your garden and how do they interact with it?
Stay Awesome
The Gordon Gnohm