You may have seen them on a bush track aiming a camera with a long lens, or on a quiet roadside with binoculars raised: birdwatchers in search of the Hawkesbury’s Birds.

A recently released report from Tourism Research Australia, widely covered by media organisations like the ABC revealed that birdwatching is not just an an increasingly popular activity for many people – it is also worth billions of dollars to the

Australian economy. The numbers were impressive – international visitors to Australia in the year to June 2024 spent $2.6 billion on travel included birdwatching, and domestic travels including birdwatching came in at $636 million.

As a significant destination for Sydney region birders and visitors, the Hawkesbury economy and local small businesses also benefit. The reason is simple – the Hawkesbury is renowned as a birdwatching destination, with over 300 species of birds recorded – and it is easily accessed for Sydney

residents and visitors.

On any day of the week, at any time of year, birders will be travelling to Hawkesbury hotspots in search of birds. Many are familiar with the key sites and might have several mapped out for the day. Others might be focussing on one location. And

some of the more serious enthusiasts, including bird photographers, may even be focussing their efforts on finding a single species.

Based on bird lists logged on the popular online database eBird, where many birders record their sightings, the most popular Hawkesbury birdwatching sites in 2025 so far include Scheyville National Park, Mitchell Park (part of Cattai National Park), the

Richmond Lowlands and Pughs Lagoon, and Bushell’s Lagoon near Wilberforce.

Photo Credit: Perspectives by Peter Haynes - Great Egret

Pitt Town Nature Reserve is probably the most popular single birdwatching site in the Hawkesbury, and for good reason. Just below Pitt Town town centre itself, the lagoon here is a magnet for a wide variety of wetland birds. Around 240 species of birds have been recorded at this little 50 hectare site, and the number and variety of birds vary enormously depending on water levels. When water levels are very high, bird diversity and numbers are often low. They can be even lower when the lagoon dries up completely in dry periods. When water levels are low and dropping, the lagoon

can be a spectacular sight, as migratory birds from the Northern Hemisphere and nomads from inland Australia flock on the mudflats, rafts of ducks feed in the shallows, and herons, pelicans and spoonbills forage.

With a very wide variety of habitats and some of the Sydney region’s most significant surviving woodlands, floodplains and larger wetlands, the Hawkesbury has a history of attracting special bird species. News spreads quickly through the birding

community when rarer visitors arrive.

In early January this year, a birder visiting Scheyville National Park noticed a boldly- marked black and white bird – the first Hooded Robin seen in its former Sydney habitat for about half a century. Once a resident in Cumberland Plain woodland in western Sydney, its habitat fell victim to development for farming and housing. Hundreds of birdwatchers have made the trip to Scheyville to see the bird, which has now been present for about six weeks.

In late 2023, the discovery of a pair of Australian Painted-snipe in the Richmond Lowlands led to even greater excitement amongst the birding community. Australian Painted-snipe are a beautifully plumaged bird that rely on shallow wetland areas where they use their long beaks to probe for invertebrates in muddy ground. 

This is Australia’s rarest wetland bird, with an estimated total population of just a few hundred. Its movements are still poorly understood, with a current research project tracking the movements of a number of tagged birds revealing some complex movements involving huge areas of inland Australia. Hundreds of birders including interstate visitors came to Richmond to see the birds in October and November 2023 – on one morning when I visited, there were probably around twenty birders/photographers present. (It’s probably fair to assume that many of these visitors also spent dollars at local cafes, pubs, bakeries, farm stalls, and other local businesses).

It’s worth noting that the habitats in which both of these rare visitors were seen are key features of the Hawkesbury environment: eucalypt woodland, and floodplain. Sadly, both of these habitats have been heavily impacted by human activity, both farming and urban development.

Since the 1970s, around a dozen species have disappeared from their former Hawkesbury haunts. As a teenage birder in the 1980s, I remember watching the beautiful Turquoise Parrot at Ebenezer and Yarramundi, and Black-chinned Honeyeaters feeding on eucalypt blossom at Scheyville. Both of these formerly common woodland birds are now either locally extinct or at best rare visitors to the areas they once occupied in good numbers.

For those wanting to learn more about birds or join a bird-watching outing locally, the following organisations run a range of activities and are a great way to learn more about the Hawkesbury’s incredible birdlife.

Cumberland Bird Observers Club https://www.cboc.org.au/

Hawkesbury Environment Network https://www.hen.org.au/