Despite not being able to go to the Blue Mountains because of lockdown restrictions, I’ve managed to spot some wildlife around where I live and take pleasure in these sightings.

I spotted this male Australian king parrot on Sunday. It was with its mate who was perched on a branch about two metres above. However due to the sun and the green head and back feathers of the female which camouflaged against the foliage, I didn’t manage to take a nice picture of it. The males, however have a completely red head which make them easy to spot. Both sexes have a red belly and a green back, with green wings and a long green tail. They are gorgeous!

I went for a lunch time stroll last Friday to get away from my home office and came across this adorable echidna which had crossed the road into the bush. Echidnas are one of two monotremes in the world. The other is the platypus. Fun fact: male echidnas have four penises. No, I’m not joking.

This was one of four yellow-tailed black cockatoos we spotted on Sunday. There are different species of black cockatoos in Australia but this is one of two species found on the eastern seaboard. They have a lovely yellow patch on their cheeks and yellow panels in their tails. Their cry sounds like a rusty gate and they sound much nicer than the squawking white sulphur crested cockatoos.

I really love spotting them and I’ve become good at identifying their cry before looking out for them gliding across the trees.

It’s so nice to be able to see these lovely animals around and I feel very lucky that such wildlife exists around Sydney. Just this morning, while out on my morning walk, I saw a wallaby hopping across the exact same road where I had spotted the echidna a few days ago. It’s really quite delightful!