It had a been a while since I had been to Sydney Olympic Park, so I decided to make a visit. I caught a train to Strathfield North and then walked down to Mason Park Wetlands. After that I visited Lake Belvedere, then the Bennelong Ponds and the waterbird Refuge at Bicentennial Park, then went to Wentworth Common.
Here are some of what I saw – Continue reading
I was at my niece’s place on Christmas Day at Ellalong (near Cessnock) and wandered to the end of the large block, her and her husband own, looking for birds. Here are some –
Red-browed Finch
Spiny-cheeked Honeyeater Continue reading
I was visiting my sister and brother in law at Hazelbrook, and during the afternoon, I visited the waterfall walk near their place. I had packed my camera. As well as the waterfalls, I was looking out for birds and orchids.
It did not take my long to spot an orchid, a Bonnet Orchid (Cryptosylis erecta), on the way down to Horseshoe Falls. Continue reading
The evening that would have been best to observe to Great Conjunction was completely overcast and raining all night. So no chance to see this spectacle. In Sydney, the two planets Jupiter and Saturn were actually at their closest angular separation at 5:22 am on the morning of the 22 nd December. So the evening before would have been about 8 hours before their closest approach, but this evening was only 16 hours after their closest approach so still should not be too bad.
A check on Stellarium confirmed this. Now would the evening be clear? I checked the cloud forecast and it was not that encouraging. But on twilight – there was a gap in the clouds towards the west. So I kept a watch. The planets should be visible a bit after 8:30 pm and they set just after 10 pm – so I did not have a long window. Continue reading
Thanks to JG who left a comment on my blog about a Black Swan and its cygnet that had turned up at the Boat Harbour earlier that day. I have never seem one along the Cooks River before. So on my way home from Oatley Park, I detrained at Canterbury and walked down to the Boat Harbour.
I saw the Black Swans straight away. They were asleep near the Boat Harbour entrance. Continue reading
I spent a nice day wandering around the tracks at Oatley Park. There was a lot to see plenty of birds, orchids and lots of Water Dragons.
This visit, I walked from Oatley Station, and started off along the lower track to Jew Fish Bay. On the way, I bumped into Allen, who I know from NPA bushwalking. He also had his camera. I then continued on the track around the headland, then made circuit of the road around the headland visiting Websters Lookout and Hills Peak Lookout (where I stopped for lunch), then down the road to Lime Kiln Bay, and from there along the western track to the Lime Kiln Bay Wetlands. Then along the road to Frog Hollow, then up the track and back to the top entrance. Continue reading
Wendy had organised a get together of friends. The plan was to meet at the Royal Hotel at Springwood for dinner, then walk down into Birdwood Gully to look for Fireflies and Glow-worms.
At the dinner were Wendy, Enmoore, Don and his daughter Elata, and Pete and Steph, as well as myself. After a good dinner, Wendy, Enmoore, Don, Elata and myself made out way down the Birdwood Gully track. It was raining lightly which may have stopped to fireflies from coming out, as we didn’t see any. Wendy and Steph had seen plenty a few days before, and told us about them, so that was one of the reasons we had made the visit. But we did see some nice Glow-worms. Continue reading
A Great Conjunction is soon approaching. A conjunction is when two objects in space appear close to each other. In other words their angular separation is small. An example could be if Venus and The Moon appear close to each other. A Great Conjunction is the term reserved for a conjunction between the two planets Jupiter and Saturn. The approaching Great Conjunction will be on 21 December 2020.
Jupiter and Saturn – about 1 lunar diameter apart (17 Dec) – photographed between gaps in the clouds, early evening.
Great Conjunctions occur roughly every twenty years. The time is worked out from the periods of each planet ( = the product of their periods/difference in periods). The approaching Great Conjunction will be one of the closest for many years (the one in 1623 was closer) – I think they will be about 1/5 of a lunar diameter apart at closest approach. This is the first close Great Conjunction that will be viewed by telescope. The 1623 Great Conjunction was closer (about 1/14 of a lunar diameter), but harder to view as the planets were closer to the Sun’s position. And even though the telescope had been invented and used for about twenty years by that time, it does not seem to have been observed through a telescope. Continue reading
I was very fortunate to observe a flock of Swift Parrots on their short term stay at Mt Annan Botanic Gardens last year. In summer they move to Tasmania to breed.
These beautiful birds are critically endangered. One of the reasons is that their nesting habitat in Tasmania is being destroyed. There are large areas of national parks in Tasmania, but these birds move around depending on food sources. And quite often the best food is that provided by flowering Eucalypts in logging areas.
Some people care for the future of these unique birds. One person who does is Bob Brown. He has recently been arrested twice for protesting about their habitat loss. The real crime is that the habitat of the birds is being destroyed.
A wet day was forecast for the mountains. It was the day for a canyoning or bushwalking trip with Bob, so we decided to head up the mountains and then work out what we would do when we were up there and could see what the weather was like. As it turned out, it was a relatively fine day, at least during the period of our visit. We visited two short canyons near Bell.
The first one, Kangaroo Corner Canyon, I had last visited back in 2005. It is not a great canyon, as canyons go, but still a nice creek with some good formation. The canyon lies in a crown land reserve, and this extends to the Darling Causeway – so that is the best access, rather than walking in through private land from the Chifley Road.
On the walk in we found some Horned Orchids – Continue reading
