Aurora Australis – 15 February 2023

Posted on February 18, 2023 by Dave Noble

In the late evening, I had seen an Aurora alert published on social media. It said an Aurora was visible as far north and Adelaide and the Central Coast of NSW. So about 11:30 pm I went outside with my camera and tripod to see if it was visible in suburban Sydney.

The above photo is the best I could do in the time I had. There does seem to be a faint crimson glow on the lower left side (this is looking south). Photo details – 24 mm, f 1.4, 3.2 seconds, 1600 ISO. I later saw some quite good photos of the Aurora taken from the Central Coast of NSW in a much darker sky location – that showed it was indeed visible that far north.

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Birds at Sydney Park – 15 February 2023

Posted on February 18, 2023 by Dave Noble

I spent a pleasant morning at Sydney Park at St Peters with Valerie looking for birds.

We wandered around the ponds seeing what was present. Continue reading →

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Looking for Fungi at Ferndale Park – 13 February 2023

Posted on February 18, 2023 by Dave Noble

I thought there may be some fungi out at Ferndale Park at Chatswood – as the area had some recent good falls of rain. But the trip turned out to be a waste of time from the fungi point of view.

I did see some old bracket fungi, but the only fresh fungi I could find was the Cyptotrama asprata shown above. Continue reading →

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Photographing Comet C/2022 E3 (ZTF) 10 – 11 February 2023

Posted on February 13, 2023 by Dave Noble

Over the years I have photographed many of the comets that have travelled through the inner solar system. The new comet – Comet C/2022 E3 (ZTF) had been hyped a lot in the media as “The Green Comet”. In my experience many of the comets I have seen have had a green colour – so that was nothing special.

Mars and the Comet – 11 February 2023

Most comets are visible close to either sunrise or sunset. This is when the comet is close to the sun and potentially the brightest intrinsically. This new comet would not be visible to observers in the southern hemisphere until early February, and would be at peak brightness to us at a time of full Moon. Not ideal. As well – a spell of cloudy weather did not help matters. Continue reading →

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Tempe and Cooks River Birds – 11 February 2023

Posted on February 13, 2023 by Dave Noble

I joined the Tempe Birdos for this monthly bird survey. I was in the group surveying the wetlands.

After the survey, I walked home via the Cooks River, and photographed some Tawny Frogmouths at Marrickville Golf Course. Continue reading →

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Sydney Park Birds – 10 February 2023

Posted on February 12, 2023 by Dave Noble

The week before, I had joined Sue on visit to Sydney Park to see the birds. We had decided on another visit – but this time we started earlier. We met at the chimneys at 8:30 and were soon wandering around. A council worker saw our binoculars and my camera, and came over and told us to look out for the new Back Swan cygnets.

Well, we did see the Black Swan cygnets, but we also saw some other interesting birds and behaviour.

In the large pond, an Australasian Darter was busy catching fish – Continue reading →

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Visit to Leacock Regional Park and Casula Powerhouse – 9 February 2023

Posted on February 12, 2023 by Dave Noble

I was able to join Brian Everingham on an activity he had organised for the National Parks Association of NSW to Leacock Regional Park. After that, few visited Casula Powerhouse – the arts hub in the Liverpool district.

I had never been to Leacock Regional Park before, and it turned out to be an interesting place. It is adjacent to Casula Station. As well as Brian, there was Valerie, Sue, Deb, Vivienne, Aurora, Colin and myself.

The Regional Park is nearly 40 hectares in size and is the home to several endangered ecological communities. But it is also the home to many invasive weeds. Continue reading →

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Greenway Bird Survey – 8 February 2023

Posted on February 9, 2023 by Dave Noble

I joined in on the bird survey along The Greenway between Taverners Hill  and Hawthorne Light Rail Stations. The group meets at the Tavernerns Hill Station at 7:30 am.

This survey was unusually poor for photography. We saw lot more birds than I was able to photograph – including Honeyeaters and Spotted Pardalotes. Continue reading →

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Birds at Barton Park – 7 February 2023

Posted on February 9, 2023 by Dave Noble

Since the development work has started, I have not visited Barton Park (and its Landing Lights Wetland) that much. The trips that I have done there have been pretty depressing. But I thought it was time for another look. This was an afternoon visit.

Here are some of the birds I saw – Continue reading →

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Birds at Sydney Olympic Park – 6 February 2023

Posted on February 9, 2023 by Dave Noble

I wanted to visit the Narawang Wetlands again to see if I could get some better photos of the Black-backed Bittern, but also wanted to fit in some other places in Sydney Olympic Park. So I caught a train to Concord West, and first visited the Waterbird Refuge in Sydney Olympic Park. From there, I made my way towards Newington and the Narawang Wetlands.

in the Waterbird Refuge I spotted many of the usual birds. Here is a White-faced Heron – Continue reading →

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