Yeramba Lagoon Walk – 22 November 2021

Posted on November 22, 2021 by Dave Noble

It had been a while since I had been to Yeramba Lagoon in Georges River National Park. That trip back in 2017 was like this one – it was a walk on the program of the National Parks Association of NSW led by Brian Everingham.

We did a complex winding circuit walk through the bush near the lagoon that traversed a wide range of habitats. There seems to be a maze of tracks. Most of the bush we saw was in good condition, although there were some weeds in a few places. Here are some photos from the morning – Continue reading →

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Barton Park and Sydney Park Birds – 20 November 2021

Posted on November 21, 2021 by Dave Noble

with an adverse weather forecast for the afternoon, I decided to do some local bird photography. I intended to make a quick visit to Sydney Park and then visit Barton Park.

In the end, because of bus timetables, I visited Barton Park first, and I almost missed that – the bus started to detour around due to a closed road – and that meant I would miss my usual stop, so got off early and had to walk a little further. Once there, I first went to landing Lights Wetland. Here are some of the birds I saw at the wetland – Continue reading →

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Malabar Headland – 19 November 2021

Posted on November 21, 2021 by Dave Noble

From my previous two trips to the headland, I thought the Peregrine Falcon season was coming to a close. But this trip reversed things. I was able to observe and photograph all three members of the family. The adults were active earlier and the juvenile was very active later on.

At the start of the path from the Malabar end, I spotted  a Black-shouldered Kite. This was in exactly the same place I thought I had seen one on the previous visit – but that had been a Nankeen Kestrel and then a Brown Goshawk. No mistakes this time. Continue reading →

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Brownes Path and Lews Pass Walk – 18 November 2021

Posted on November 21, 2021 by Dave Noble

Bob suggested this walk at Blackheath linking Brownes Path, an easy pass into the Grose Valley, that we had both used before a couple of times (see here and here), and then traversing around to Hat Hill Creek and ascending Lews Pass and then climbing out of Hat Hill Canyon via one of the usual passes.

I think Bob was inspired by one of  Keith Jebb’s blog posts about a trip linking some of these seldom visited Grose Valley passes. That party had first visited Brownes Path but not followed it down very far, then traversed a little further along the tops and descended down the un-named gully pass that Bob and myself had climbed (see the earlier blog post of mine, linked above). They had then traversed just under the cliffs of Bald Hill and dropped down into Hat Hill Creek near Hat Hill Falls.  We knew that the un-named gully was steep and quite unstable – not a nice place to be in, so perhaps it would be better to descend further? Continue reading →

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Central Coast Wetland – 17 November 2021

Posted on November 21, 2021 by Dave Noble

It had been a long time since I had been able to visit the Central Coast Wetland at Wyong. I travelled up by train and spent a great day at the site.

Here are some of the birds I saw. First near the large main pond. A lot of the birds were far away – on the  far side or too far away for photos. I looked for any visitors but did not see any unusual birds. Here are some more common ones – Continue reading →

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Malabar Headland – 16 November 2021

Posted on November 21, 2021 by Dave Noble

Another visit to Malabar Headland with the intention of seeing the Peregrine Falcon family. This time I had invited Sue and Valerie to join me. After my previous visit being relatively quiet, I thought that time to see the juvenile Peregrine Falcon may not be too long before it ranged further away from the nest area.

As it turned out we hardly saw any Peregrine Falcons. We saw the juvenile for a short period of time during our visit, and that was all. But, on this visit, the wind was blowing from the south, which is not common, and so perhaps the birds were not at their usual perches? Continue reading →

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Wolli Creek and Cooks River Walk – 15 November 2021

Posted on November 21, 2021 by Dave Noble

Another windy day was forecast. I had originally intended to do some bird photography at either Emu Plains or the Central Coast Wetlands, but thought strong wind would be no good. I was keen to head out, so decided that the sheltered woodland of Wolli Creek may be better. I caught a bus to Bexley North and then walked down the Two Valleys Trail to the junction with the Cooks River and then followed it upstream along the river back to my home.

I was looking out for birds, but also, at this time of the year, a lot of the Grey-headed Flying Foxes at the Earlwood Camp have babies and I wanted some photos of them flying with babies clinging to them. But before then were some birds. Continue reading →

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Malabar Headland – 14 November 2021

Posted on November 21, 2021 by Dave Noble

Another visit to Malabar Headland to photograph the Peregrine Falcon family. This day started off fairly quiet and remained reasonable quite for most of the time I was there. I did not see that much of any of the Peregrine Falcons, but when I did see them, I was able to take quite a few photos. I also had some good whale and dolphin encounters.

The weather forecast was for it to be windy, but out on the headland the wind was not too bad. I arrived near Boora Point around 10:30 am and it stayed quite quiet for the first 40 minutes or so. I could not spot any of the falcons in their usual perches on the cliffs. Then a pod of dolphins went past. Continue reading →

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Birds at Tempe and Sydney Park – 13 November 2021

Posted on November 16, 2021 by Dave Noble

It was the second Saturday of the month – the time for the Tempe Birdos to conduct their survey of Tempe Wetlands and Tempe Reserve. This was our first survey for a long time due to the lockdown.

I was in the group that surveyed the wetlands, and t was relatively quiet. Here are some of the birds we saw – Continue reading →

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Malabar Headland – 12 November 2021

Posted on November 16, 2021 by Dave Noble

Another visit to see the quickly growing up Peregrine Falcon chick.

The day started off very quiet. I arrived at the nesting area and soon spotted one of the adult Peregrine Falcons perched nearby. I think it was the female. Continue reading →

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