A First Look at Sydney’s Wildlife

At first glance, Sydney, Australia felt like any other big city — tall buildings, lots of people, traffic, and a few green belts. Then we were sitting at a street café and a flock of cockatoos flew by… It took a minute to register that these were wild cockatoos. It was at that moment that I finally realized that we were somewhere special… we were in Australia.

The Rainbow Lorikeet is found everywhere along the east coast of Australia. They are very gregarious and will screech and chatter almost continually.


The Black Swan usually likes more open spaces, but you will find them hanging out in the ponds of the Botanical Gardens.


The Australian Magpie is everywhere, and is as abundant as the Common Crow in the USA.


The Australian White Ibis usually hangs out in Wetlands, but they can be found in all the parks in Sydney begging food off the tourists and picnickers.