In the morning, I had been on a bike ride to Barton Park. I decided to do another ride in the late afternoon – to Sydney Park to see if the Rails were still around.
I arrived around 4pm and things were ver quiet for the start. There was no sign of any Rails at the location I had seen them previously. But around 4:45 pm a Buff-banded Rail appeared. Continue reading
Day 66 of Lockdown. I decided to repeat the trip I had done the previous morning. I set off on my bike down the Cooks River. This time, I spent more time on the Cooks River at the start, photographing two of Sacred Kingfishers I spotted near Gough Whitlam Park.
The Kingfishers are always good to see. Continue reading
Day 65 of Lockdown. I decided to do another morning bike ride along the Cooks River Cycleway to Barton Park and back. And, as usual, I took my camera. It turned out to be a very good day for bird photography.
Here are some of the birds I saw. Continue reading
I thought it was about time I did some macro-photography. I had recently seen some of Steven Axeford’s recent photos of small spiders infected with a cordyceps type of fungus that he had found on the back of leaves. These spiders were all very small – about 2 mm across. And asking him about the leaves he had found them on, it seemed that it is worth looking at all types of leaves – ones still on trees, ones on he ground etc. The important thing is you need to look at a lot of leaves to find the infected spiders.
I did not have too much success finding spiders infected with cordyceps, but I did have an interesting time looking at the amazing ecosystems on the back of leaves. Continue reading
Day 64 of Lockdown. I returned to the Cooks River, with a morning bike ride down to Cahill Park and back. The tide was rising and fairy high when I headed back – so I thought my chances of spotting Kingfishers would be limited. But I did either see one or two Sacred Kingfishers or perhaps, more likely, just the one Kingfisher in three different spots.
On my way down the Cooks River, I keep a look out for Kingfishers but didn’t see any at the usual spots of below Illawarra Road, Gough Whitlam Park or Waterworth Park. I kept going and went to Cahill Park at Wolli Creek. No Kingfishers there, but I did spot a Striated Heron – Continue reading
Day 63 of Lockdown. My exercise this day, was a bike ride to Sydney Park and back. While at Sydney Park, I spent a bit of time observing some Buff-banded Rails and a Lewin’s Rail. One of the Buff-banded Rails was around for a fair while, the second appeared briefly just on dusk. The Lewin’s Rail visit was too brief for me to get a photo.
I think I arrived at the Park around 3 pm, and first photographed some of the other birds. Here are some – Continue reading
Day 62 of Lockdown. This was an afternoon walk down the Cooks River to Tempe and back. As usual I took a camera with me.
Compared to other trips (and there have been a lot lately), I didn’t see too many birds. And no Kingfishers this time. But some of the other birds were nice. Here are some – Continue reading
Day 61 of Lockdown. For exercise, I went on a bike ride down the Cooks River to Tempe and then to Barton Park. As usual, I took a camera.
On the way, I stopped off, just downstream of Illawarra Road, to photograph a Sacred Kingfisher. Continue reading
Another lockdown project completed. This one is a slide show made up of photos of the Central Plateau of Tasmania. The photos were taken in the Walls of Jerusalem National Park and the Central Plateau Conservation Area – both part of the World Heritage Area. The photos were selected from those I took on 17 trips to the Plateau between 1991 and 2020.
In the photos I trying illustrate the wild beauty of the area. The labyrinth of lakes and tarns, the amazing vegetation – including the Pencil Pines, Cushion Plants and Richea scoparia when in flower – creating a truly stunning alpine garden. It is an area that should be cherished. Unfortunately climate change may result in irreversible damage. These alpine plants have no where to go to if it gets hotter. In recent years, bushfires have destroyed a large chunk of Pencil Pine habitat.
If you watch the video – please look at it full screen on a high definition monitor or TV – and at the 4K resolution.
This is the third in a series of slide show videos I have put together recently that showcase wild areas of Tasmania.
Day 60 of Lockdown. There had been spell of wet and windy weather – not nice for outdoor exercise. On this day, the weather had improved in the afternoon, so I got my bike out and cycled upstream along the Cooks River Cycleway.
One of my aims was also to look for some Tawny Frogmouths in the Croydon Park – Campsie area. I had recently seen a photo of a pair perched in a tree in Federation Reserve. I had never been to this reserve as it is on the opposite side of the river to the cycleway. When I checked on the map – it was just within my 5 km radius for exercise and recreation. Continue reading
