Introducing the Birds of Wolli Creek

By Justin Cahill

This is a short, up-to-date account to the birds found along Wolli Creek, the last substantial remnant of the natural environment in Sydney's inner south-west. It is written for those new to the Valley and interested in its natural history.

During my time in the Valley, I lived near the Creek at Bexley North, Bardwell Park and Turrella, giving me many opportunities to observe its wildlife. This work draws on a regular column I wrote for a local newspaper about the birds and other animals I found there, which I have updated to include recent changes in the Valley's birdlife.

• Language: English
• Publisher: Justin Cahill
• Release date: Jan 15, 2014
• ISBN: 9781311733979

Justin Cahill

Welcome to my Smashwords profile.I am a New Zealand-born writer, based in Sydney. My main interests are nature and history.My thesis was on the negotiations between the British and Chinese governments over the return of Hong Kong to China in 1997. It was used as a source in Dr John Wong’s Deadly Dreams: Opium, Imperialism and the Arrow War (1856-1860) in China, Cambridge University Press, Cambridge, 1998, the standard work on that conflict.I wrote a column on the natural history of the Wolli Creek Valley for the Earlwood News (sadly, now defunct) between 1992 and 1998.My short biography of the leading Australian ornithologist, Alfred North (1855-1917), was published in 1998.I write regular reviews on books about history for my blog,’ Justin Cahill Reviews’ and Booktopia. I’m also a regular contributor to the Sydney Morning Herald's 'Heckler' column.My current projects include completing the first history of European settlement in Australia and New Zealand told from the perspective of ordinary people and a study of the extinction of Sydney’s native birds.After much thought, I decided to make my work available on Smashwords. Australia and New Zealand both have reasonably healthy print publishing industries. But, like it or not, the future lies with digital publishing.So I’m grateful to Mark Coker for having the vision to establish Smashwords and for the opportunity to distribute my work on it.

Book preview

Introducing the birds of Wolli Creek

A short guide to the birds found along Sydney’s Wolli Creek

Justin Cahill

Smashwords Edition

Copyright 2014 Justin Cahill

Smashwords Edition, License Notes

This ebook is licensed for your personal enjoyment only. This ebook may not be re-sold or given away to other people. If you would like to share this book with another person, please purchase an additional copy for each recipient. If you’re reading this book and did not purchase it, or it was not purchased for your use only, then please return to Smashwords.com and purchase your own copy. Thank you for respecting the hard work of this author.

Part of the proceeds of all sales will go to the Canterbury Earlwood Caring Association Ltd to support its work in maintaining community life, especially for the district’s senior citizens.

Discover other titles by Justin Cahill at Smashwords.com

Please direct all inquiries to Justin Cahill at

PO Box 108, Lindfield, 2070

New South Wales, Australia

or e-mail to [e-mail]

For Kathy

Contents

Preface

I. A backyard in Shaw Street

II. Summer migrants

III. East to Girrawheen Park

IV. Turrella Reserve and beyond

V. Fairy-wrens

VI. Fruit Pigeons

VII. Yellow-tailed Black Cockatoos

VIII. Mistletoebirds

IX. Fantails

X. Raptors

XI. Kingfishers

XII. Herons and egrets

XIII. Waterbirds

XIV. Persian Nightingales

XV. Honeyeaters

XVI. Pardalotes

XVII. Winter migrants

XVIII. Robins

XIX. Scrubwrens

XX. Owls

XXI.Farewell ?

Notes

Preface

This is a short guide to the birds found along Wolli Creek. The Creek runs through a valley between Beverly Hills and Undercliffe in inner south-western Sydney. From high above the Valley looks like a thin, green island hemmed in on all sides by suburbia. And it is an island in the real sense too, being the last substantial remnants of the district’s natural environment. Even though it is quite small, the Valley has a wide range of habitats, including tidal mudflats, saltmarsh and mangroves, reed-lands, open woodland and even fragments of rainforest. Thanks to this variety of habitats, the Valley supports a diverse bird-life.

There are two guides to the Valley’s bird-life are available. They include the late Neil Rankin’s Birds of Wolli Creek, first printed in 1989 and updated and printed as Neil Rankin’s Birds of Wolli Valley in 2006. There is also my Birds of Western Wolli Creek, published on-line on Smashwords in 2013.

But those with a passing interest in birds or new to the Valley may prefer a shorter account they can down-load to their kindle, i-phone or similar. It is based on the ‘Wolli Valley Bird Update’, a column I wrote for the Earlwood Community News in the mid 1990s. Back then there was no internet, no facebook and no Twitter. The Handbook of Australian, New Zealand and Antarctic Birds, now the standard reference, was not complete and available only in major libraries. So I have taken the opportunity to edit the articles and add notes on subsequent developments.

Revising my work has been a sharp, but happy, reminder of the halcyon days when I had few responsibilities, no profession and no mortgage. It all began at a meeting