The Duck Pond in Sydney’s Centennial Park is a city haven for its water birds and its visitors from the bush in times of drought. It is fed from storm-water runoff and is part of a catchment which feeds the Botany Wetlands extending six kilometers downstream.
The Duck Pond is home to numerous Hardhead ducks, Eurasian Coots, Black Swans, Australian White Ibis, Pacific Black Ducks, Dusky Moorhens, Darters, Great, Pied, Little Black and Little Pied Cormorants, White-faced Herons, Nankeen Night-Herons and Purple Swamphens with total numbers often exceeding 200 birds. Occasional visitors include Black-fronted Dotterel, Royal Spoonbills, Freckled and Pink-eared Ducks, Shovelers and a recent Shelduck.
The pond is also home to European Carp, considered a pest but also food for the water birds. This Great Cormorant has chosen a rather large fish for lunch however managed it well as seen in the photos below.
