Purple Swamphen (above)
Purple Swamphen
Porphyrio porphyrio
The bright plumage and big feet on these birds make a big impression the first time
you see them. They eat frogs, molluscs and reed stems and with those giant long toes can
sometimes be seen walking on the leaves of water lilies. Surprisingly, for birds with
such long toes, they run really well.
Dusky Moorhen
Gullinula tenebrosa
I used to mistake these for Purple Swamphens. But these birds are smaller and their
beaks are different too. The really young ones look like long-haired black tennis balls
— crazy-cute. I hear the young ones before I see them, and then often spot them
walking among the water lilies.
Darter
Anhinga melanogaster
These birds don’t have water-repellant feathers. This means that after being in the
water they have to stand with their wings out to dry, like in the photo at right. But it
also means they swim underwater really well. This is a fairly big bird that often just
pokes its head out of the water — the rest being submerged. It gives them the
appearance of a snake, which is why some people call them snake birds. They eat fish.
More info here
Egret
Ardea or Egretta species
A very regal-looking bird with a crazy-long skinny neck. I’ll come right out and
say these egrets look pretty much the same to me. Amazingly beautiful, definitely, but
hard to tell apart. In case you’re wondering what I mean, there’s the Great
Egret and the Little Egret. And there’s an intermediate one called the
Intermediate Egret. Now, the Little Egret sometimes hangs around cattle, as does another
type called the Cattle Egret. So I admit I’m not good with egrets, but at least I
can tell them from the cattle. They eat fish and insects.
Wood Duck (or Maned Duck)
Chenonetta jubata
That’s the female on the left, and the male on the right. The male has a cute
brown mane on the back of its head. This bird is just as comfortable on land and among
trees, as long as there’s water somewhere nearby. They feed on some types of grass
and seeds, with a real taste for rice.
Eurasian Coot
Fulica atra
A few of these guys swimming around makes a pleasant, calming scene. But watch a whole
lot of them and you’re likely to end up with a facial tic. These black and white
birds create large floating flocks in a manner which looks chaotic to me, but which
obviously makes sense to the coots. Almost exclusively vegetarian, when it comes to
breeding time these birds sometimes forget to play nice with other species. They’ve
even been known to kill the occasional duckling.
Musk Duck
Biziura lobata
One strange-looking duck, this one. First of all, it often swims half-submerged.
Second, the male has a large lobe of skin hanging under its bill. It distends it during
courtship to look attractive to the female. Beauty in the eye of the beholder, I suppose.
If you should ever find yourself close enough to one, you’ll notice that the lobe
has a strong musky smell. Thus the name. During courtship the male splashes water
behind it during an impressive, noisy display. Sydney is unlikely to see this because
it’s apparently outside of its breeding range.
Hardhead
Aythya australis
If it strikes you as being somehow disrespectful to address these individuals as
‘Hardheads’ then ‘White-eyed Ducks’ should also do it. Speaking of
white eyes, the males have them while the females have brown eyes. Which would make them
brown-eyed White-eyed Ducks, which I guess is why we go back to calling them Hardheads.
Hardheads are good swimmers, both on the water and diving into it. They mainly eat water
plants but also some critters like aquatic beetles and yabbies.
