Many decades ago I grew up in Sydney, where I spent a lot of time playing on and under the harbour, and ducks were not something that I remember in that body of water from my childhood. However, on Boxing Day 2021 I was on Sydney Harbour in my trusty Riot Brittany 16.5 blue kayak photographing an Australasian Darter on Shark Island’s rocks when I heard a long splash in the water behind me. In the initial milisecond after hearing the disturbance in the water my mind’s processing of that noise made me think it was a shark but when I quickly looked around I was relieved to see that a pair of Chestnut Teals had just skimmed to a landing on the surface behind my kayak. I was not really expecting to see teals on Sydney Harbour. As I wrote above, I had grown up around the harbour, where I had done a lot of paddling, snorkelling and scuba diving and I don’t recall seeing ducks on the harbour. Now I was back there on a vacation so I was surprised to see the Chestnut Teals calmly swimming past my kayak on the harbour. Those awesome birds were just one example of the natural beauty that can still be found around the busy shore of Sydney Harbour. While the Sydney Harbour Bridge and the Sydney Opera House are the world famous icons of the harbour city, I am glad that the wildlife is still there, surviving among the human activities in a busy harbour. While it was only a few days, I really enjoyed the short time back in Sydney, having an opportunity to kayak on and snorkel in Sydney Harbour. I hope that you enjoy the photographs below.
More of this story is on my blog at https://bit.ly/3ELu6yu
Chestnut Teal male swimming on Sydney Harbour on Boxing Day morning
(Canon EOS 7D Mk II with a Canon EF100-400mm f4.5-5.6L IS II USM [ISO 500, 286mm, f/8.0 and 1/500 SEC])
Sea Cliffs
Late on an overcast Christmas Day, looking south from Diamond Bay to North Bondi with its tower
(Canon EOS 7D Mk II with a Canon EF100-400mm f4.5-5.6L IS II USM [ISO 1000, 100mm, f/11 and 1/400 SEC])
Colour in the sea cliff
(Canon EOS 7D Mk II with a Canon EF100-400mm f4.5-5.6L IS II USM [ISO 2000, 124mm, f/8.0 and 1/400 SEC])
Waves hitting the rocks below the cliffs
(Canon EOS 7D Mk II with a Canon EF100-400mm f4.5-5.6L IS II USM [ISO 3200, 278mm, f/8.0 and 1/1000 SEC])
SOME NATURE AROUND SYDNEY
Laughing Kookaburra using a house antenna as a convenient vantage point
(Canon EOS 7D Mk II with a Canon EF100-400mm f4.5-5.6L IS II USM [ISO 200, 400mm, f/8.0 and 1/400 SEC])
Olive-green Coastal Katydid in my car mirror
(Canon EOS 7D Mk II with a Canon EF100mm f2.8L Macro IS USM [ISO 100, 100mm, f/10 and 1/160 SEC] with Canon 430EX III-RT flash)
Purple flowers growing trough a Golden Cedar shrub
(Canon EOS 7D Mk II with a Canon EF100-400mm f4.5-5.6L IS II USM [ISO 200, 400mm, f/8.0 and 1/400 SEC])
ROCKY SHORE LIFE
Purple Swift-footed Shore Crab hiding in a crevice
(Canon EOS 7D Mk II with a Canon EF100-400mm f4.5-5.6L IS II USM [ISO 1000, 300mm, f/7.1 and 1/400 SEC])
Rose Coloured Barnacle
(Canon EOS 7D Mk II with a Canon EF100mm f2.8L Macro IS USM [ISO 100, 100mm, f/10 and 1/160 SEC] with Canon 430EX III-RT flash)
Small Green Seastar
(Canon EOS 7D Mk II with a Canon EF100mm f2.8L Macro IS USM [ISO 100, 100mm, f/10 and 1/160 SEC] with Canon 430EX III-RT flash)
Snakeskin Chiton in a small rockpool
(Canon EOS 7D Mk II with a Canon EF100-400mm f4.5-5.6L IS II USM [ISO 1000, 400mm, f/8.0 and 1/400 SEC])
Large, single Sydney Rock Oyster
(Canon EOS 7D Mk II with a Canon EF100-400mm f4.5-5.6L IS II USM [ISO 1000, 100mm, f/8.0 and 1/400 SEC])
Mulberry Whelk
(Canon EOS 7D Mk II with a Canon EF100mm f2.8L Macro IS USM [ISO 100, 100mm, f/10 and 1/160 SEC] with Canon 430EX III-RT flash)
Single Little Blue Periwinkle on the burnt end of wooden support beam on a wharf
(Canon EOS 7D Mk II with a Canon EF100mm f2.8L Macro IS USM [ISO 100, 100mm, f/10 and 1/160 SEC] with Canon 430EX III-RT flash)
Marine Slater crawling over concrete path edge
(Canon EOS 7D Mk II with a Canon EF100mm f2.8L Macro IS USM [ISO 160, 100mm, f/10 and 1/160 SEC] with Canon 430EX III-RT flash)
SOME HARBOUR BIRDLIFE
Sooty Oystercatcher on rocks overlooking the water
(Canon EOS 7D Mk II with a Canon EF100-400mm f4.5-5.6L IS II USM [ISO 500, 400mm, f/8.0 and 1/500 SEC])
Australasian Darter male drying its wings on Shark Island
(Canon EOS 7D Mk II with a Canon EF100-400mm f4.5-5.6L IS II USM [ISO 500, 400mm, f/8.0 and 1/500 SEC])
Chestnut Teal swimming in the waters beside Shark Island
(Canon EOS 7D Mk II with a Canon EF100-400mm f4.5-5.6L IS II USM [ISO 500, 286mm, f/8.0 and 1/500 SEC])
SOME HARBOUR FISH
Common Toadfish swimming over oysters on a rock
(Canon EOS 7D Mk II with a Canon EF100mm f2.8L Macro IS USM [ISO 4000, 100mm, f/8.0 and 1/320 SEC] in an Aquatech Elite II sport housing and PD-140 Lens Port)
Bluespotted Goatfish with its yellow whiskers poised to search in the sand for food
(Canon EOS 7D Mk II with a Canon EF100mm f2.8L Macro IS USM [ISO 4000, 100mm, f/8.0 and 1/320 SEC] in an Aquatech Elite II sport housing and PD-140 Lens Port)
Eastern Stripey
(Canon EOS 7D Mk II with a Canon EF100mm f2.8L Macro IS USM [ISO 4000, 100mm, f/8.0 and 1/320 SEC] in an Aquatech Elite II sport housing and PD-140 Lens Port)
Sea Bream
(Canon EOS 7D Mk II with a Canon EF100mm f2.8L Macro IS USM [ISO 4000, 100mm, f/8.0 and 1/320 SEC] in an Aquatech Elite II sport housing and PD-140 Lens Port)
Sydney Cardinalfish under a rock ledge
(Canon EOS 7D Mk II with a Canon EF100mm f2.8L Macro IS USM [ISO 4000, 100mm, f/8.0 and 1/320 SEC] in an Aquatech Elite II sport housing and PD-140 Lens Port)
Confusing mass of Eastern Hulafish
(Canon EOS 7D Mk II with a Canon EF100mm f2.8L Macro IS USM [ISO 4000, 100mm, f/8.0 and 1/320 SEC] in an Aquatech Elite II sport housing and PD-140 Lens Port)
Jellyfish reflecting off the surface and the sun reflecting off an open oyster shell
(Canon EOS 7D Mk II with a Canon EF100mm f2.8L Macro IS USM [ISO 4000, 100mm, f/8.0 and 1/320 SEC] in an Aquatech Elite II sport housing and PD-140 Lens Port)
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Sydney Harbour is a busy, growing harbour where commercial and social enterprises continue to expand. Despite the human driven growth the natural world has been able to exist alongside it, although coexistence has not always been easy. I would not downplay the environmental problems in Sydney Harbour but I think it is marvellous that people can still see wildlife beside, on and under the harbour; animals that help us maintain contact with the natural world. Hopefully, we will continue to cherish these creatures as much as we do the cultural icons of Sydney so that the ecosystem as a whole can also be preserved into the future. The ongoing existence of the wildlife doesn’t just maintain the health of the harbour but makes us better humans because it shows that we value other creatures as much as ourselves.
Thanks for reading this post and thanks also for looking at my photos. I hope you come back again to read more about some of the wonderful natural things that are around. All the best until the next post.
