I was able to join the Mudlarks – the Cooks River Bird Group for the monthly survey. The group meets at the Lang Road bridge at 7:30 am during winter, and on this month we surveyed the area downstream.
We found a good selection of birds, and 32 differs species were recorded. Here are some of them – Continue reading
Showers were forecast for this day, but I was keen to get outdoors. So I carefully checked various weather forecasts. I often use the Norwegian Weather Forecast – as you can get hour by hour forecasts for specific locations such as towns or lakes etc (For anywhere in the world), and have found it reasonable accurate. It looked like the rain would arrive at the Central Coast town of Wyong later than it would arrive in Sydney, so I headed to the Central Coast Wetlands.
Southern Emu-wren
I arrived at the Wetlands a little after 9 am and stayed till around 2 pm and enjoyed fine weather the whole time. During my visit, I periodically checked the rain radar and could see a large storm over southern Sydney quite early on. It was slowly moving North. Continue reading
I was able to join the Tempe Birdos for their monthly bird survey. This time I joined the group surveying the wetlands. It was fairly quiet bird wise. There were few waterbirds and waders and we didn’t spot any honeyeaters.
There was a large flock of Silvereyes. Here is one – Continue reading
It was pleasant to join Digi Dave for a day of photography in Royal National Park. We started off at Bola Creek looking to see what fungi was out, and were prepared to spend the day there if the fungi was good. But we found little, and what we did find was dry and poor quality. So we left before lunch and then spent the rest fo the day at Audley photographing birds.
Here is some of the fungi that we found at Bola Creek – Continue reading
This was a half day walk to a new area. It was organised by Brian Everingham for the National Parks Association of NSW. Warrangarree Drive Reserve is a council bushland reserve on the Woronora Plateau. It stretches from the top of the plateau down to the Woronora River.
In the party were Brian, Deb, John, Jeffrey, Sophie, Ross, Ada, Claire, Sue, Annette and myself. This was a pleasant excursion. We first descended on steep firetrail to the river. Then we followed a dark upstream to an old campsite. Along the way there was aa lot to see and appreciate.
I had not been to this birding site before. It is at Emu Plains, and lies between the Nepean River and the foot of the Blue Mountains. I walked there from Emu Plains Station – about a 20 minute walk. I found it a nice place to wander around and there were a range of birds to be seen.
Emu Green itself is a small park. Next to it is a lane that goes for about 1 km to the Nepean River. On one side is an open field that is part of a Prison Farm. At the end of the lane, on the left is a field used by the Penrith Electric Model Aircraft Club. While I was there, they were flying planes in the morning – and the places were remarkable quiet and didn’t seem to bother any nearby birds. Continue reading
Like previous recent trips, where I have photographed the fungi at Chatswood, I have spent the afternoon nearby on the Lane Cove River photographing some of the birds. In particular, I wanted to photograph the nesting pair of Ospreys.
It turned out to be fairly quiet visit. One the walk down the river, I photographed this Laughing Kookaburra at the Golf Course – Continue reading
It had been quite wet about a week before, so I was hoping some late season fungi may be out at Ferndale Park and Blue Gum Reserve at Chatswood.
I started out at Ferndale Park, then walk to Blue Gum Reserve. I was a bit disappointed with the fungi I found. There was a not a lot out and little of what I found was fresh. Continue reading
Enmoore organised this walk. It was one I had suggested a while back as being well worth doing. This was after doing it back in 2017. In the party were Enmoore, Wendy, Martin, Steffy and myself. And special thanks to Wendy for picking me up at Queens Road after an overnight bushwalk.
We started out at Delmonte Avenue at Medlow Bath, and then followed the fire road that leaves he avenue about 100 m from the highway down towards an old flying fox. On the way, we turned off and followed a track to The Three Brothers. Our plan was to descend to the half way ledge and then follow that to Blacks Ladders in the new Ngula Bulgarabang Regional Park. Continue reading
On our overnight bushwalk to Lawson Castle, I took advantage of the clear skies of the early evening to look for and photograph Comet C/2020 F3 (NEOWISE). Like my attempt a few days earlier from Sydney, I could not see the comet with the naked eye. Nor could Don with his binoculars. The sky was a lot darker up in the mountains compared to the light polluted sky of Sydney. But the nearby almost full Moon was a bit overpowering making it hard to see faint objects.
But the camera easily picked it up. I took a few photos. The red lines in the photo above mark the position of the comet. It has the same green colour that it had when I photographed it from Sydney. Here the details are – 85 mm f 1.8, 4 seconds, 1600 ISO. Continue reading
