Birds at Wolli Creek – 15 January 2026

I made a short trip to part of Wolli Creek Regional Park to photograph the nesting pair of Sacred Kingfishers and also any other birds nearby.

I waited at the nest area for a while, and this one turned up with a skink.

Friend, and reptile expert, Ken Griffiths, has identified the lizard as a Weasel Skink.

I later saw a Sacred Kingfisher without  skink. Was it the same one? I had not seen the skink being delivered to the nest.

I then moved away from the nest area, a bit worried that my presence may be disturbing the feeding. I was photographing from a fair distance and with a long telephoto lens though.

Here is a Butterfly –

Not to far away was a flock of Variegated Fairy-wrens –

I arrived back at the Sacred Kingfisher nest just in time to see another skink being delivered to the nest hole. This was about an hour later.

But the bird flew back to a perch with the skink.

I now think what happens is probably the male goes off hunting, but the feeding of the chicks is done by the female. It now was delivered –

A bit less than an hour later, another skink arrives.

The bird flies to the nest hole –

But it leaves the nest retains the skink. Perhaps it was looking inside to see if the female was there?

Then, it seems to food was given to the mate –

And it was now delivered.

And before I left, another member of the Kingfisher family – a Laughing Kookaburra –