Waterbirds are birds that live on or around water. The common species would be:

• Ducks
• Swans
• Grebe
• Cormorant
• Egrets
• Heron
• Ibis
• Waterhens
• Lapwings

Most of these species have a common diet of invertebrates (insects), fish and frogs.

The different types of feeding are: (please press on the link to go to the different feeding types). 

• General information
• Granivores
• Nectivores
• Lorikeet
• Insectivores
• Birds of Prey

Bread is one of the unhealthiest foods to feed waterbirds. (as well as crackers and popcorn). It does not contain any kind of nutrition for them. It also pollutes waterways and attracts pests (such as rodents). 

Fortunately, there are many treats that you can feed water birds that are nice and nutritious for them. Here is a list of healthy food to offer any waterbirds:

• Bird Seeds
• Chopped lettuce (or any other greens, or salad)
• Corn and Peas (defrosted)
• Duck feed pellets
• Earthworms
• Mealworms
• Oats (uncooked, rolled)
• Rice (Cooked)
• Vegetables peels

Scientific Name: Anas superciliosa

Lifespan: 2 years

Weight: M: 1114 g – F: 1025 g

Length: 54-61 cm

Clutch Size: 7-12 eggs

Appearance:

The Pacific Black Duck is mostly mid-brown in colour, with each feather edged buff. The head pattern is characteristic, with a dark brown line through the eye, bordered with cream above and below and a dark brown crown.

Distribution:

They can be found in areas of waterways in Indonesia, New Guinea, Australia, New Zealand, and many islands in the southwestern Pacific. 

Diet:

mainly vegetarian, feeding on seeds of aquatic plants. This diet is supplemented with small crustaceans, molluscs and aquatic insects.  

Scientific Name: Egretta novaehollandiae

Lifespan: 15-20 years

Weight: 500 g

Length: 58-66cm

Clutch Size: 2-4

Appearance:

The White Faced Heron is a slender, medium-sized heron and easily identified, with its blue-grey body and white face. It also is white on the front of the neck. It has long, lance-shaped feathers on the lower neck, chest, and back.. 

Call:

include a ‘graaw’ or ‘graak’, when flying, typically during aggressive interactions. They also make a ‘gow, gow, gow’ sound on returning to their nest, and the alarm call is a high-pitched ‘wrank’.. 

Distribution:

It can be found in most habitats, other than the driest areas.  

Diet:

They mainly eat fish, crustaceans, and worms. They will also eat rats, mice, small reptiles, frogs, eels, grasshoppers, spiders, beetles, caterpillars, flies, and aquatic insects, as well as their larvae. In summer, they will eat large amounts of crickets from pastures and farmland.

Other Name: Masked Lapwing

Scientific Name: Vanellus miles

Lifespan: 16 years

Weight: 200-400g

Length: 30-37cm

Clutch Size: 3-5 eggs

Appearance:

It has a conspicuous yellow spur on the carpal joint of each wing. The subspecies from northern Australia and New Guinea (V. m. miles ) have an all-white neck and large yellow wattles with the male having a distinctive mask and larger wattles. The subspecies found in the southern and eastern states of Australia and in New Zealand (V. m. novaehollandiae ), and often locally called the Spur-winged plover, has a black neck-stripe and smaller wattles. 

Distribution:

These birds don’t migrate and prefer to live on the edges of wetlands, and in other moist, open environments. However, they are adaptable and can often be found in surprisingly arid areas, pasturelands, and urban areas. 

Diet:

Their diet consists mainly of insects and larvae, and earthworms, but they will also eat crustaceans and other invertebrates..  

1. Many birds, including species of gulls, raptors and ducks, undergo a change in eye colour as they age from juvenile to adult. This is likely an adaptation that helps these birds recognise maturity and therefore suitability of a potential mate.
2. Cormorants are excellent hunters. They are able to dive as deep as 45m. They are able to hear underwater and have less buoyant feathers.
3. Many species of gull crack open mollusks (calms, scallops), by flying them up to great heights and dropping them on hard surfaces.