It has been raining a lot lately in Sydney, and I hoped to get out in the afternoon. The rain radar showed gap, so I decided to visit Sydney Park at St Peters.
I first looked for nesting Tawny Frogmouths, and looked in trees where I had seen them nest the previous two seasons. But I could not spot any. And recently a Powerful Owl had been recoded in the park – but it too seems to have moved on. So I then looked around the ponds. Here are some birds – Continue reading
Bob and myself spent a very interesting day walking in the Blue Mountains near Katoomba.
The main purpose was to have a look at the waterfalls of Bonnie Doon. The waterfalls were a notable omission on my Waterfalls of the Blue Mountains Web Page. I thought it would be a good time to see them after recent good falls of rain. Continue reading
I spent the day observing some local birds. First I visited Barton Park, which was relatively quiet, then I caught a bus to Tempe and walked home via the Cooks River.
At Barton Park, as usual, I first had a look in the Landing Lights Wetland. I saw a White-faced Heron. Continue reading
After my week away at Hay, I was keen to visit Malabar Headland again to check the status of the nesting Peregrine Falcons. On this visit I met up with Sue at Maroubra Beach and we walked out together.
We had an interesting visit. From the behaviour of the Peregrine Falcons, it looks like their eggs have hatched with it great news. Continue reading
I spent a pleasant day at Nurragingy Reserve at Doonside. I had no luck spotting Azure Kingfishers this visit, but I did see quite a few other nice birds. The highlight perhaps was seeing some young Australians Grebe chicks. And at Nurragingy you can see them fairly close.
I made quite a few visits to the pond with the Grebes during my time at the Reserve. I also met two other bird photographers – Lenis, who I know from the Greenway Birdos, and also a friend of hers who I have met before at other venues. Continue reading
I was able to take part in the early Saturday morning bird survey along the Waratah Mills loop on The Greenway. We saw a good range of birds.
The group met outside the Light Rail Station at 7:30 am and while we were there we saw a Brush Turkey – Continue reading
We were on our way home from Hay. The day before we had driven to Harden in bad weather. We spent the night there, and the next day we stopped off a Boorowa for morning tea.
We looked around the showground area for Superb Parrots – without seeing any. But we thought we could hear some. On a previous visit to Boorowa, I had seen Superb Parrots in that general area. Continue reading
This was our last full day in the Hay area and we visited Oolambeyan National Park to the south east of Hay. Like Kalyarr National Park, Oolambeyan was a former grazing property that was purchased to form a national park – this time specifically to protect suitable habitat for a rare bird – the Plains Wanderer.
We did not see any Plains Wanderers on our visit, but we did see a lot of other nice birds and it was certainly an interesting place to visit. Continue reading
On previous days we had visited national parks and wetlands on the hinterlands of Hay. This day we intend to stay in Hay and explore some of the cultural sights and then spend the afternoon walking along the Murrumbidgee River.
We headed into the town and parked near the old Courthouse. Continue reading
This was our second day spent visiting Kalyarr National Park. This time we were going to the Norwood section. Norwood was the former family property that Valerie grew up on. Valerie had been influential in badgering Brian to put on a NPA trip to visit the National Park, and it was great to have her along this day, not only as a friend but also as a very special guide with her knowledge, memories and insights.
As usual, on most mornings in Hay we visited the Murrumbidgee River near the Caravan Park. Continue reading
