Warriewood Wetlands is a little hidden gem of a bird watching hotspot on Sydney’s Northern Beaches, known mostly to local residents and Sydney birdwatchers. Fed by three creeks (Narrabeen, Fern and Mullet Creeks) and flowing downstream into Narrabeen Lagoon, this 26-hectare freshwater wetland is the largest remaining sand plain wetland in the northern Sydney area.
I only discovered Warriewood l wetlands recently while researching bird watching hotspots in Sydney. To explore the wetlands properly, I stayed at an Airbnb in Mona Vale and turned up at the reserve just before 6 am, as the sun was beginning to rise.
Warriewood Wetlands Wildlife
For its small size, Warriewood wetlands pack an amazing diversity of habitats, including the reedy swamp, swam mahogany forest, sclerophyll forest, casuarina woodland and several ponds.
This diversity of forests and wetlands provides habitat for an incredible abundance of urban birds, mammals, reptiles and amphibians. According to eBird, 193 bird species have been spotted in Warriewood Wetlands.
Early in the morning, bird activity was superb. The swamp and the surrounding forest were ringing with bird calls. The boardwalk over the swamp was practically buzzing with activity. In the woodland, swamp wallabies and rabbits were browsing near the trails, and flying foxes squabbled above.
By 8.30 am, the birds had settled down, mammals moved into thicker areas, and reptiles emerged onto the trails. The abundance and diversity of wildlife in the wetlands is incredible.
Below, I describe the walking trails to help you plan your own adventure in Warriewood Wetlands.
Warriewood Wetlands Walk Map
The Warriewood Wetland Walk is a 2.4-kilometre circuit that starts and finishes at Katoa Reserve, accessed from Garden Street or Jacksons Road.
Warriewood Wetlands Walk
The wetlands walk is not long; if you were to stroll from start to finish without stopping, it would take less than an hour. The trails are signposted and well-maintained. But if you are a keen birdwatcher and visit early in the morning when birds are active, plan to spend a couple of hours here. Once you are back at Katoa Reserve playground, return to the swamp boardwalk for a chance to pick up a few more species you may have missed on the first go.
From the playground at Katoa Reserve, follow the sign for the Swamp Forest Walk. The walk starts with a short stroll through the casuarina forest (keep an eye out for Brush turkeys) and emerges onto a wooden boardwalk over an open swamp.
This is one of the best bird watching spots in Warriewood wetlands. The open habitat of reeds, sedges, and grasses and the forest edges of casuarina and mahogany woodlands create a safe environment for woodland birds to have their morning drink.
There were Superb and Variegated fairy-wrens, Eastern whipbirds, a Willy wag-tail, and a Crested pigeon. In the water, Dusky moorhens, Australasian swamphens, Pacific black ducks, Australian ibises, a Royal spoonbill, and a White-faced heron were busy squawking, honking and quacking among themselves.
The forest edge along the trail was dominated by Bell miners but only in a relatively small patch. The swamp mahogany forest, which represents the last significant stand of swamp mahogany in the area, was alive with loud whistles of Eastern whipbirds. There were so many whipbirds. These birds are more often heard than seen, but here, they are so plentiful and so active early in the morning that they are quite easy to see. It must be the best place to see whipbirds in Sydney.
While I was sneaking up on whipbirds, trying to catch one sitting still long enough to be photographed, an Eastern yellow robin flew in, and then a flock of Red-browed firetails arrived. While fairy-wrens and White-browed scrubwrens were hopping in the grass along the trail.
The last part of the Swamp forest trail meanders through an atmospheric patch of swamp sclerophyll forest with characteristic tree ferns and cabbage palms before emerging onto Garden Street.
Don’t worry; just a few hundred meters ahead, the trail ducks back into the forest and follows Angus Gordon Walkway. To re-join the trail, turn right on Garden Street 170 meters and then turn right onto Watergum Drive. Follow the road past some houses for another 170 meters, and you are back in Warriewood Wetlands Reserve.
This particular section of the reserve is called Shearwater Estate. It’s made up of several ponds and wetland areas, which were constructed to mimic the wetland’s natural capacity to filter and cleanse water and minimize stormwater runoff.
Once I walked past the first few ponds inhabited by ducks, swamphens and ibises, I came across the cutest little rabbit. I know we are thought to despise introduced species (apart from ourselves), but I love all animals, and the cute little rabbit was downright adorable.
More ponds followed, along with more ducks, swamphens, Eurasian coots, and Ibises. According to the Northern Beaches Council, these wetlands are part of a wildlife corridor that connects Ku-ring-gai National Park to Narrabeen Lagoon via Ingleside Escarpment.
There is another elevated wooden boardwalk in this section of the wetlands, and at the end of it, I came across a surprised Swamp wallaby browsing contentedly by the side of the trail.
By now, Sulphur-crested cockatoos and Rainbow lorikeets were noisily flying overhead.
After the boardwalk, you come across the Flying Fox camp, one of several on the Northern Beaches. The colony of grey-headed flying foxes is not as large as that at Centennial Park, but it is still fairly sizable.
It took me about an hour and a half to complete the walk, and since the birds were still active, I returned to the boardwalk at the Swamp Forest, and it turned out to be a good decision.
While the wrens and whipbirds were still out in force, there were a few new species around. A pair of Red-whiskered bulbuls, a Black-faced cuckooshrike, a Dollarbird, a few Brown hornbills, and Silvereyes fluttered high up in the canopy.
By 8.30 am, most of the birds went quiet, and reptiles emerged in their places. There are some magnificent Eastern water dragons in Warriewood wetlands who are so accustomed to people that they would not even move from the trail as you walk by.
My bucket list bird for Warriewood wetlands was the Spotted pardalote. I had no such luck. But before I left, I spotted two Pacific bazas chasing one another above the swamp. One of them had prey in its talons, a cicada by the looks of it, which it proceeded to tear apart once it perched high up in a tree. The second bird circled around a few times and then disappeared out of view.
I took it as my queue to leave and headed to Long Reef to find the local Ospreys and visiting migratory waders.
How to get to Warriewood Wetlands
If you are driving, there is some (limited) off street parking at Katoa Reserve.
The wetlands can also be visited by public transport. The B1 express bus from Wynyard station in the city stops in Warriewood. It’s about a 10-minute walk from the bus stop on Pittwater Road to Katoa Reserve. More local buses link the reserve to different parts of the Northern Beaches.
More Nature Adventures in Sydney
- Guide to Spotting Parrots in Sydney
- Warriewood Wetlands – A Bird Watching Hotspot in Sydney
- Migratory Waders and Other Birds in Sydney Olympic Park
- Wildlife in Sydney – Wildlife Watching Guide to Sydney
- Top 40 Birds in Sydney – A Guide for Birdwatching Enthusiasts
- Heathcote National Park – Your Best Chance of Spotting a Wild Koala in Sydney
- Weekend Getaway to Palm Beach from Sydney
- Finding Fireflies and Glow Worms in the Blue Mountains
- Kangaroos, cockatoos and a riverside walk at Euroka campground
- Spotting Wildlife in the Watagans
