WILD LIFE Sydney Zoo

Our eight-year-old critic Bill Blake goes on an adventure in Darling Harbour

First published on 19 Oct 2008. Updated on 20 May 2013.

The best thing about WILD LIFE Sydney Zoo is handling the animals. I loved it when Terry the black cockatoo sat on my shoulder. He was unusually heavy and he nibbled my cheek! He is a red-tailed black cockatoo. While he was sitting on my shoulder my brother Thom ran up and scared him away and he was very reluctant to get back on again.

So I got to hold a tawny frogmouth instead. He was extremely heavy on the end of my arm. I learned that he is not an owl, like Hedwig in Harry Potter, although he does look a bit like Hedwig. But he’s not white. He has very big eyes and he’s nocturnal. I learned that owls hunt with their feet and tawny frogmouths hunt with their beaks. They have a very big mouth.

I had a guided tour with Ben. He was a dude. But he was very nice. First of all, he showed my brother and I some short-neck turtles and some whistling ducks. It was very hot in the butterfly house. My favourite was a big blue one that Ben said was called a Ulysses butterfly. Ulysses is the name of an ancient Greek guy. The butterfly doesn’t look particularly Greek but it is very nice.

I saw some squishy things stuck on some glass. Ben told me they were white-lipped tree frogs that swallow using their eyeballs. Ewwww. That’s weird.

I was amazed when Ben started whistling to attract a bush stone-curlew. He was whistling for about five minutes and suddenly a bird came out, it looked a bit like a big furry Ibis. He started whistling back. It was pretty amazing.

Ben said the bird thought he was another bush stone-curlew and they are very territorial so it was trying to scare us off. When I got home, I tried to practise whistling like Ben. I can almost do it. Next time I go to WILD LIFE Sydney Zoo, I’m going to try to call out one of those birds.

Then we looked at Monty, a five-metre scrub python. It cuddles you to death. But really it eats rabbits. I saw lots of different snakes: eastern black snake, tiger snake, red bellied black snake and a diamond python. Bill Blake, 8

Exhibits at WILD LIFE Sydney Zoo include:

Devil's Den

Koala Encounters

Kangaroo Walk-About

Butterfly Tropics

Daintree Rainforest

Wallaby Cliffs

Kakadoo Gorge

Bugs Garden

Editor's tip: book online for big savings on ticket prices.

Words by Bill Blake |

Follow @sydneytimeout