I had been to Sydney Park in the morning for some bird photography, then returned home in time to meet two friends Roger and Digi Dave for a cafe lunch. Something we had not been able to do for a long time. After this pleasant get together, I headed down to Barton Park with Digi Dave to see what birds were out.
It was actually pretty quiet compared to previous visits. By thus stage of the day it was rather warm. Here are some that we saw, mainly at Landing Lights Wetland. Continue reading
I spent an enjoyable morning at Sydney Park photographing some of the birds there. Here is a selection of photos.
At one pond, there were a number of Welcome Swallow juveniles being fed by their parents. Continue reading
I joined Bob for our weekly bushwalk. This time, with an adverse weather forecast (rain), we decided to visit Royal National Park near Bundeena. Our main purpose was to look for Aboriginal art.
We had a most interesting walk, finding a number of art sites. The first area we looked at was an open woodland, and here we examined all the overhangs we could see. Many of these had been used as occupation shelters – there was a lot of evidence of discarded shells, and I think three of them had hand stencils. Continue reading
I started the day with a series of bird counts along the Cooks River for the Aussie Birds in Backyard Bird Count, then after lunch, I headed back down to the River and along to Barton Park for some more bird photography.
On the Cooks River, I walked upstream from the Lang Road Bridge and began my first 20 minute survey a short way upstream on the south bank. Nearby was a Willie Wagtail nest with two chicks. Continue reading
My friend Chuin Nee had requested my aid to help her son Jasper with his school assignment which involved taking part in the Aussie Bird Count. I suggested the Greenway, as I knew the birds along there pretty well and it was close for them to get to.
Jasper did very well, spotting birds and was quick to learn new species. We did 3 twenty minute surveys, one at Taverners Hill Light Rail Station, one on the Greenway Path below the station and one in the park near Hawthorne Canal. Jasper entered all the results into his iPad. Continue reading
One of the places I was keen to visit after the end of the lockdown was Royal National Park. Digi Dave was keen on an outing and I suggested the Curra Moors.
We met at Sutherland and were soon at the Curra Moors carpark. The carpark was pretty full, but we did not see that many people during the day – perhaps the others were all walking around the loop the same way we did? Continue reading
It had been a long time since I had been able to visit Nurragingy Reserve at Doonside. It was on the list of many places I wanted to visit one the lockdown ended. I arrived at the Reserve around 8:30 am and stayed till around 1 Pm. By that time it was starting to get very crowded with picnickers.
When I visit Nurragingy, it is always with the hope that I will see some Azure Kingfishers. This time I did see two of them and was able to photograph one, but they didn’t appear till I was about to leave. More on that to follow. Continue reading
This was quite an unpleasant day – quite windy. I was home in the morning, but felt like getting out in the afternoon for something local. I convinced myself that the wind had eased a bit and set off on my bike for the Cooks River.
This turned out to be a mistake. It was really too windy to enjoy observing and photographing birds. I cycled along the river and out to Barton Park, but didn’t stay long before cycling home. Continue reading
It had been a while since I had photographed the ISS, the International Space Station. It’s a challenging object to photograph, but having a long telephotos lens for bird photography makes it a worthwhile subject when conditions are right.
I use an app on my phone and a NASA website to see when the ISS is passing over. Most of the passes are not worth the effort. A good pass, the ISS needs to be close to its closest possible distance, and a good start is for when it passes almost right overhead. The pass this evening around 8:30 pm was supposed to be at a maximum angle of about 86° – so close to the best possible at 90°. The brightness was forecast to be a magnitude of -4.2. Again pretty good. Continue reading
Another day out on Malabar Headland to photograph the nesting Peregrine Falcons. I had been out only 4 days earlier, but this day had been quite wet and very cold. I was hoping for better conditions this time.
As it turned out, it was a bit wet again, and like the previous visit, I did sit out some showers by sheltering in the sandstone overhangs on the clifftops. But, unlike my last trip, the Peregrine Falcons were a lot more active. Just before I left, I witnessed an amazing display of flying by one of them. Continue reading
