Local wildlife watch

Seen an uncommon native animal in the local area? We encourage you to report your sighting.

Colourful black white and yellow bird sitting on tall grass

Seen an interesting native animal?

Help us build a picture of wildlife in the City of Sydney. We’ve built a map of all the reports the community has made so far. Have a look and explore an area – perhaps you might add some of your own observations.

Urban ecology coordinator

Make an enquiry about urban ecology issues, such as habitat for local animals. If you’re concerned about an animal you’ve seen, report it to WIRES.

WIRES

Report a wildlife rescue now.

Have you spotted an uncommon native animal? A blue-tongue lizard? Or a tawny frogmouth, often mistaken for an owl? Maybe even a bandicoot? Or something you haven’t seen before?

We encourage you to report your sighting so we can build our database of native wildlife and better understand how to support animals living in our city.

Reported sightings help us understand how animals behave in different seasons. For example, what time of the year are migratory birds feeding in our wetlands?

With sightings of some animals becoming less and less common, knowing more about how rare native animals move around and use our local areas will give us the best chance to help them survive and thrive.

Better information helps create an environment where native wildlife can flourish. Your reported sightings will also help us identify if we are meeting targets in our urban ecology strategic action plan, and will also contribute to other initiatives, such as the Atlas of Living Australia.

Report your sighting

If you’re concerned about the animal you’ve seen, or their habitat, you can contact our urban ecology coordinator.

What animals might you see?

Once you start looking, there are actually many native animals living in our communities. If you’re really lucky, you may see some that are especially rare:

  • Peregrine falcon
  • Barking owl
  • Eastern dwarf frog
  • Peron’s tree frogs
  • Powerful owl
  • Superb fairy wren
  • Spotted pardolote
  • New Holland honeyeater
  • Black-winged stilt
  • Great egrets
  • Green and golden bell frog
  • Eastern water dragon
  • Blue-tongue lizards, and
  • Long-nosed bandicoots

These are just some of the uncommon animals living in our area.

We’d love to hear from you if you see a rare native animal.