Cooks River and Barton Park Bike Ride – 16 August 2021

Day 51 of lockdown. The rules have changed. My area for exercise and recreation has been reduced to roughly one quarter. I can still go anywhere in my Local Government Area (Inner West) or a distance 5 km from my residence. This radius was earlier 10 km which allowed me to reach the Waterbird Refuge at Bicentennial Park and also Centennial Park. A 5km radius will still allow me to reach Wolli Creek Regional Park – the only bushland remnant close by, and also I can still visit Barton Park and Sydney Park. But there seemed to be some confusion about whether I could visit places within LGA’s of concern even if they were within the 5 km radius. It turned out I can. I can certainly exercise in those locations, like Wolli Ck (walking) but could I also undertake recreation (eg bird photography)? I am still not sure. People that live in those LGA’s of concern are restricted to exercise only.

So, on the first day of the reduced area, I decided to ride out to Barton Park and back as a morning bike ride.

Again, on the way, along the Cooks River, I was looking out for Sacred Kingfishers, and with the tide being low, I did expect to see some. I did. Here is one I saw near Illawarra Road –

And I a second one at Cahill Park –

It flew into the mangroves, so I resumed my ride. At Barton Park, I first had a look at Landing Lights Wetland. Here are some Pied Stilts ( I counted 24) –

Near the Wetlands were quite a few small birds. Here is a Yellow-rumped Thornbill –

A Superb Fairy-wren –

And a Grey Fantail –

And a Yellow Thornbill –

Then all the Pied Stilts took to the air. They flew around in a few circles and then landed again.

I looked around for a cause of this. A raptor perhaps? I could not see any, but I did see a Silver Gull fly over.

I then walked up to the higher area of Barton Park near the old stadium. Here is a New Holland Honeyeater –

Otherwise, it was fairly quiet, so I returned to the wetland. More Pied Stilts –

Here is a Pied Stilt and a Little Egret –

I then started cycling home. At Gough Whitlam Park, I saw this Little Pied Cormorant is the Billabong.

it was hunting for small fish.

And near Illawarra Road, there was a Sacred Kingfisher. It looked like the same one I had seen a couple of hours earlier. By now the tide was at mid level.

Above,  yuo can see it looking at me, but it is not too worried. Then it scans below for crabs.

But there are other birds around, like some pesky Noisy Miners. It keeps a lookout.

About to take-off? No, it is just stretching its wings.

in my experience, if these birds settle in one perch for more than a few minutes, it often means they are about to cough up a pellet. This is what happened next.

And as soon as they have done this, they resume their hunting for crabs. When they dive, they move very quickly, with no warning, so it is hard to get photos. Here, I missed the dive, but was able to photograph the birds on the ground and then taking off.

I don’t now whether the Kingfisher caught crab and swallowed it on the ground or if the dive was unsuccessful. They do often eat small crabs while on the ground. Larger ones they take to a perch and then stun it by banging it on the branch.

Then more watching.

I could not spot the Kingfisher after this, so I kept on my ride.

It was still early, so I cycled up to look for the Tawny Frogmouths. At Younger Avenue, the nest is still abandoned and I could not spot any birds.

At the Boat Harbour, I soon spotted both of the Tawny Frogmouths. They were easy to see and even a bit restless. Here is the female –

In the photo above, it look like there nest is ready – just above the bird.

Here is the male –

Back to the female –