This was my third trip to the Australian Botanic Gardens at Mt Annan in recent weeks. Some of the birds I had seen there on the other two visits, were not visible this time or had left the area, but there was still plenty of good birds to see.
Again, I took a train to Campbelltown, and then a bus to just outside the entrance to the Gardens. Continue reading
I spent the morning at Sydney Park at St Peters and had a very successful session of bird photography. I managed to observe a Baillon’s Crake foraging close to where I was, and watching it for about 15 minutes – allowing me to get some reasonable photos. And I also observed, briefly a Latham’s Snipe – the first I have seen in the park for number of years.
When I arrived at the park, I looked around the Island Pond – and didn’t see too much. But I heard the loud call of an Australian Reed-Warbler. I soon located the bird – Continue reading
It was a very hot day. I was feeling a bit restless, so decided on a short walk along part of the Cooks River would be OK. It was – but I found conditions were unpleasant.
I was looking to see if any of the local pairs of Tawny Frogmouths were nesting. I checked their locations – but as well as not spotting any nests, I didn’t spot a single Tawny Frogmouth. Continue reading
Valerie joined me for a very interesting and enjoyable day spent on Malabar Headland. The main aim was to look at the resident Peregrine Falcons, but during our visit we saw a lot more.
On my last visit, on the walk out from Malabar, I had spotted two juvenile Black-shouldered Kites perched on an old pole. I was hoping they would be on the same pole, but when I looked there were no birds perched there. But as we were walking up, right on cue, a Black-shouldered Kite landed on the pole. I was one of the juveniles. Continue reading
It was a hot day, so I decided on a morning trip to Sydney Park to see what birds were out. While there, birdwatching friend Michael arrived and we later made a visit to Barton Park and stopped off on the Cooks River to look for Kingfishers.
I joined my friends John and Chuin Nee and their two boys, Jasper and Sebastian for an afternoon of rock climbing at a crag at Dural.
The crag was a short talk along afire road from the end of Quarry Road at Dural. Continue reading
After the trip earlier in the week, I was keen to get back to Mt Annan for some more bird photography.
This time I caught a train to Campbelltown and then a bus to just outside the Botanic Gardens. Like the previous visit, there were a lot of other bird photographers around. Continue reading
Bob and myself decided to undertake a walk in Royal National Park – heading out from Wattamolla, along the Coast Track to Little Marley, then walking around the loop along the Little Marley fire road. We also did a side trip to the Deer Pool. I was keen to see the wild flowers along the coast, and also a nesting pair of Peregrine Falcons on the cliffs. We were also on the lookout for Aboriginal art sites.
As we set out from Wattamolla, we soon found a lot of wild flowers beside the track. Continue reading
I made a morning visit to Barton Park to photograph the birds. This visit the highlight was a foraging Buff-banded Rail – and it was fairly cooperative.
When I arrived, I found the water level in the Landing Lights Wetland fairly low with a lot of exposed mudflats – good conditions for Dotterels. I scanned the mudflats with my binoculars but could not spot and Dotterels. But I did see a Buff-banded Rail up the far end of the pond. By the time I made my way there, it had vanished. But it later returned. Continue reading
I spent an enjoyable morning wandering around Oatley Park. I wanted to see what orchids were about – and I did find a few, but not as many as I was hoping. But I also found a few birds to photograph.
I walked to the park from Oatley Station and entered via the entrance near the primary school. I then set off down a track heading towards Frog Hollow.
I had seen orchids along here previously, but this all I found were some buds. But a lot of birds seemed to be claiming hollows. Continue reading
