Barton Park has been a good place to see a wide range of birds recently, and this visit was no exception, despite a fair bit of rain. I travelled down with some of the Greenway Birdos – Michael and Lennis, and we later met up with Georgy and Simin.
Here are some of the birds we saw on our visit – Continue reading
Here are some photos from the local Greenway Bird Survey – this time the Waratah Mills loop. It was nice to see some Musk Lorikeets amongst the usual Rainbow Lorikeets at the start of the survey near Waratah Mills Light Rail Station.
Musk Lorikeet
A little further, Michael, in the group saw some Spotted Pardalotes. Continue reading
The run of wet weather was continuing. With this in mind, I headed to Sydney Olympic Park – where the paths would not be bogs and where there is also some shelter. This worked out well.
I started at the Mason Park Wetlands. Here are some birds I saw there – Continue reading
I was hoping for better weather. The forecast was not the best – showers. And that was how it turned out. I had made my way to Barton Park again – after a recent very good trip. I ended up spending a fair bit of time, under shelter, sitting out rain – at various places in the park. But I also saw a fair range of birds. And many of the birds I saw were different to those I had seen on recent trips.
When I arrived I spotted Royal Spoonbill in the Spring St Canal. As I approached, it took off and flew away. Continue reading
My previous trip to Malabar Headland had also been in bad weather and the bird life had been pretty disappointing. I can recall vowing then, not to return on wet, cold, windy days. Since that time, the east side of the National Park has been closed due to shooting at the adjacent rifle range. And it seems that since that time I had forgotten my vow.
This trip turned out to be very quiet. I saw no signs of the Peregrine Falcons, and few other birds were around except for a pair of White-bellied Sea Eagles who made a very brief visit. Continue reading
It was nice to join Brian Everingham and others in the National Parks Association of NSW for a very pleasant walk in Royal National Park. In the party were Brian, Ross, John, Valerie, Sue, Deb, Suzanne, Lydia and myself. The weather was fine.
After meeting at the carpark, we headed down to the lower area and checked out the flood damage to the fence above the lagoon. On the way we saw this Grey Butcherbird – Continue reading
My friend Enmoore had been wanting to do a traverse of Mt Banks for a fair while and we had planned to do it this day, but strong winds were forecast, so we adopted Keith’s suggestion for a walk in the Gardens of Stone State Conservation Area instead. This turned out to be very good – we travelled through very interesting country and the wind there was lot more moderate.
We also found a number of Aboriginal art sites in some of the overhangs in the valleys. In the party was Enmoore, Keith, Phil, Marshall and myself. Continue reading
I spent a very interesting morning with members of the Sydney Fungal Studies Group Inc at Coachwood Glen on the Megalong Road at Blackheath. We found wide range of fungi. A lot of area was very wet – waterlogged by recent rain and consequently a lot of the fungi we found was growing on logs.
Thuemenidium sp. “Australasia”
Here is selection – Continue reading
This was a full day spent at Barton Park, and I was fortunate to see good range of birds including a Sacred Kingfisher, a Jacky Winter, a Buff-banded Rail, an Osprey and a Swamp Harrier.
First, was a Welcome Swallow – Continue reading
Bob and myself travelled up the Blue Mountains and then set off down a creek looking for Aboriginal sites. There was a track down the creek, which we followed, and we also left it quite often to check out overhangs for any art or tools.
We investigated a lot of overhangs without finding any definite art. The creaked we were following joined up with a larger creek, and in an overhang a short way down, Bob found some shaped pieces of hard rock – old stone tools. Continue reading
