Birds in Sydney

Would you like to see more birds in your garden? The birds that will visit your garden depend on where you live and what plants you grow.

You can entice more birds to your garden by growing what they like to eat, keeping your cat indoors and not using poisons.

Birds you could see in your garden

Nectar feeders

The most widespread and noisy bird in Sydney is the rainbow lorikeet, a nectar feeder. 

Sydney is home to many colourful and noisy parrots, which can be divided into nectar feeders and seed eaters.

Other nectar feeders include the scaly-breasted, musk and little lorikeets. These parrots like nectar-rich plants like eucalypts, bottlebrushes, grevilleas, and banksias.

Honeyeaters also feed on nectar.

Common Sydney honeyeaters include the:

• New Holland honeyeater
• noisy miner
• white-plumed honeyeater
• little wattlebirds
• red wattlebirds.

Honeyeaters feed on the same nectar-rich plants as the parrots, but their longer beaks and brush-like tongues allow them to also reach the nectar in tubular or bell-shaped flowers.

Local plants are best, but nectar feeders will feed from exotic plants too.

Insect eaters

Birds that eat insects are much loved by gardeners. These insectivores love a garden filled with shrubs where they can hide from predators and bigger birds in between searching for grubs, aphids and other insects.

Growing different types of plants and avoiding insecticides will increase the diversity of insects in your garden, which will attract different species of birds.

Species you may see include the superb blue wren, silvereye, yellow-rumped and brown thornbills, grey and rufous fantails, willie wagtail and the tiny and very beautiful spotted pardalote.

Gardens rich in insects are also good for migrating species like cuckoos, flycatchers, and the rufous fantail.

Larger birds like the Australian magpie, pied and grey butcherbird, currawong, kookaburra, Australian raven and tawny frogmouth eat larger insects like grasshoppers, moths and cicadas, as well as lizards and frogs. A garden with plenty of places for insects and lizards to breed will provide food for these species.

Seed eaters

If your garden has native grasses, you may have the red-browed finch come to visit. This is the most common finch found in Sydney, but you may also see the rare double-barred finch.

Apart from the rainbow lorikeet, seed-eating parrots are some of the most abundant birds in Sydney. Cockatoos, galahs, corellas, king parrots, and rosellas eat seeds from acacias, conifers, hakeas and eucalypts.

When food is scarce, cockatoos and corellas may visit gardens for the seeds of fruit trees like oranges.

Many of these parrots, as well as red-rumped parrots, may be seen on the ground eating grass seed. The yellow-tailed black cockatoo will eat seeds from she-oaks and pine trees.

Fruit eaters

Trees that produce berries and fruit attract fruit-eating birds such as the Australasian figbird, eastern koel, channel-billed cuckoo, currawong, silvereye, satin bowerbird, pigeons, and mistletoe bird.

Fruit trees also attract insects and insect-eating birds.

Birds of prey

Birds of prey are not common in Sydney, but you might see these larger birds in your neighbourhood. These include:

• owls, like the barn owl or powerful owl
• raptors, such as the peregrine falcon, goshawks, sea eagle and black-shouldered kite.

Check out the 24-hour live eagle cam and watch what sea eagles are up to in their nest at Newington Nature Reserve in Sydney.

Visit Birdlife Australia’s Powerful Owl Project and report your sightings or volunteer.

Common pest birds

The common or Indian myna (Acridotheres tristis), the common or European starling (Sturnus vulgaris) and the noisy miner (Manorina melanocephala) are considered pest birds in New South Wales.

The common myna and common starling are introduced species with well-established populations, whereas the noisy miner is a native Australian species. Although native, the noisy miner is considered a pest because of its aggressive exclusion of other birds from woodlands and forests.

Act now to protect our birds

Birds that breed in hollows are particularly threatened as old trees with hollows are cleared or taken over by introduced animals.

Birds are threatened by habitat loss, insect and rat poisons, and predation by cats and dogs.

There are a range of things you can do or get involved with to help protect our birds:

• Create a garden, no matter how small, with a diverse array of plants.
• Create a haven for small birds.
• Don’t use pesticides and herbicides.
• Keep your cat indoors – especially at night – and put a bell on its collar.
• Protect and create nesting or breeding sites, including hollows in trees.
• Plant trees and other native plants that create natural food.
• Don’t provide seeds or other food.
• Take part in the Aussie Bird Count and help Birdlife Australia learn more about the birds we share our homes with.
• Help scientists learn more about some of the birds and their behavioural adaptations in urban areas using the Big City Birds app or website. The Big City Birds Project focuses on 5 bird species: the sulphur-crested cockatoo, Australian brush-turkey, Australian white ibis, little corella and long-billed corella.
• Map sightings of feral animals in your area.
• Watch the ABC Catalyst program where Dr Ann Jones discovers The Secret Lives of Our Urban Birds. Although filmed in Melbourne, there are lots of similarities with birds in Sydney.

Our disappearing small birds

Have you noticed you don’t get as many small birds visiting your garden anymore? If so, you’re not imagining it.

Small birds are disappearing from our gardens and natural areas. This is partially because of habitat loss, cats and pesticide use. But what we plant has a huge impact.

Nectar-rich natives like the colourful eucalypts and grevilleas entice aggressive nectar eaters into our gardens. These birds are territorial and chase away other birds. The native noisy miner, Manorina melanocephala, is the main culprit and is such a problem for our little birds it has been declared a key threatening process.

You can help small birds by growing more shrubs – dense planting creates habitat for them to be safe, feed and build nests.