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Bird Spotting Challenge

The eagle-eyed bird watchers of Sydney were so enthusiastic about Centennial Park’s 2013 Bird Watching Challenge that we decided to make the bird spotting register a permanent fixture!

A small army of keen birdwatchers regularly register bird species sightings in the Parklands. We believe that Ern Hoskin sighted 140+ bird species and we’re pretty sure there are species visiting the Parklands that haven't been registered yet.

Our live list is below – it does not include sightings prior to the start of the Bird Watching Challenge on 1 January 2013. You’ll find pictures and information about some of the Parklands’ birds on our Environment pages.

Help us grow Centennial Park’s Bird Watching Register!

Have you spotted an unusual bird during your visit? Let us know via email – there are 130 species on the register as of October 2017 and we’d love to make it to 150!​

The Centennial Parklands Bird Watching Register

Alexandrine Parakeet

Australasian Darter

Australasian Grebe

Australasian Magpie

Australasian Pipit

Australasian Shoveler

Australian Hobby

Australian Pelican

Australian Raven

Australian Reed Warbler

Australian White Ibis

Australian Wood Duck

Barn Owl

Black Swan

Black-faced Cuckoo-Shrike

Black-fronted Dotterel

Black-shouldered Kite

Black-winged stilt

Boobook Owl

Brown Gerygone

Brown Goshawk

Brown Quail

Brown Songlark

Buff-banded Rail

Caspian Tern

Cattle Egret

Channel-billed Cuckoo

Chestnut Teal

Collared Sparrowhawk

Common Myna

Common Starling

Common Tern

Crested Pigeon

Crimson Rosella

Dollarbird

Dusky Moorhen

Dusky Wood Swallow

Eastern Great Egret

Eastern Koel

Eastern Rosella

Eastern Spinebill

Eurasian Coot

Fairy Martin

Fantail Cuckoo

Figbird

Freckled Duck

Galah

Golden Whistler

Great Cormorant

Great Crested Grebe

Grey Butcherbird

Grey Fantail

Grey Goshawk

Grey Teal

Hardhead

Hoary-headed Grebe

Horsfield’s Bronze-Cuckoo

Intermediate Egret

King Parrot

Latham’s Snipe

Laughing Kookaburra

Leaden Flycatcher

Little Black Cormorant

Little Corella

Little Egret

Little Pied Cormorant

Long-billed Corella

Magpie-Lark

Major Mitchell Cockatoo

Masked Lapwing

Mistletoebird

Musk Duck

Musk Lorikeet

Nankeen Kestrel

Nankeen Night-Heron

New Holland Honeyeater

Noisy Friarbird

Noisy Miner

Noisy Pitta

Olive backed Oriole

Pacific Baza

Pacific Black Duck

Pallid Cuckoo

Peregrine Falcon

Pied Cormorant

Pied Currawong

Pink-eared Duck

Plumed Whistling Duck

Powerful Owl

Purple Swamphen

Rainbow Lorikeet

Red Wattle Bird

Rose Robin

Royal Spoonbill

Rufous Fantail

Sacred Kingfisher

Satin Bowerbird

Satin Flycatcher

Scaly-breasted Lorikeet

Sharp-tailed Sandpiper

Shiny Bronze Cuckoo

Silver Gull

Silvereye

Sooty Tern

Spangled Drongo

Spotted Pardalote

Spotted Turtle-dove

Straw-necked Ibis

Striated Heron

Sulphur-crested Cockatoo

Superb Fairy-wren

Tawny Frogmouth

Topknot Pigeon

Tree Martin

Welcome Swallow

Whiskered Tern

Whistling Kite

White-bellied Sea-Eagle

White-browed Scrub Wren

White-faced Heron

White-headed Pigeon

White-necked Heron

White-plumed Honeyeater

White-winged Triller

Willie Wagtail

Yellow Thornbill

Yellow-billed Spoonbill

Yellow-faced Honeyeater

Yellow-rumped Thornbills

Yellow-tailed Black-Cockatoo

Bird watching tips

Centennial Park's Environment Officers have created a list of helpful tips to help beginners make the most of their birding experience.

Birds in Back Yards

Visit the Birds in Backyards website to learn more about the backyard birds of NSW and how to welcome them into your garden. 

Birds of the Parklands

Visit our Environment pages to find out more about the amazing range of birds in the Parklands, their plumage, courting rituals and ideal habitats.