I spent a pleasant morning catching up with Don, and old friend, who lives at Springwood. We made a short walk down to Birdwood Gully to check out any fungi, wildflowers and birds.
Black-faced Monarch
It was nice to set off in light rain. Pleasant conditions. Continue reading
I spent a pleasant day walking down the Two Valleys Track along Wolli Creek from Bexley North to Tempe, then I continued on the same track up the Cooks River to the Boat Harbour. It had rained recently, and I was on the lookout for fungi and slime moulds, but I also carried my light bird camera.
Not that much fungi was out. I did manage to spot a few species out along Wolli Creek. Here are some – Continue reading
I had not been to the Warriewood Wetlands for a while and thought it may be better than some of the closer wetlands that have dried up due to the drought. Well I found Warriewood Wetlands had largely dried up too. This was perhaps the reason that there were not too many birds around.
I started by walking down a section of Mullet Creek. I was on the lookout for Black Bitterns. No luck today. I did see a pair of Dollar Birds and a White-faced Heron. Continue reading
I cycled out to Landing Lights Wetland at Barton in the afternoon to see what birds were around. I got shock when I arrived as there were virtually no birds! None in the main pond anyway. No ducks, no stilts, no herons or egrets. None around the hinterland. Unlike Tempe Wetlands – the pond was full, but it is filled during periods of high tide. Perhaps the water was too salty for the birds?
The area around the wetlands was very dry. Rain is needed badly. Continue reading
After spending the morning at Westleigh, I thought it would be nice to break my journey home by stopping off at Concord West and having a wander through Bicentennial Park.
It was smoky and fairy quiet at the main bird pond. There were lots of Pied Stilts and Red-necked Avocets around and some if the usual ducks. But I could see no migratory birds. Continue reading
I had seen photos published online of a Boobook Owl and its chick that had been taken in one of the gullies at Westleigh. A friend who had also seen it sent me some location information.
So I set off for the spot, but after a lot of searching around I could not locate either owl. So I continued along the track looking to see what else was out. The track continued through a really nice forest of Blue Gums (Eucalyptus saligna) – I think it possibly the best stand of these trees I have seen. Then I ran into Elizabeth, another bird watcher. She was a local, and was the person who had first spotted the Boobook Owls. So we went back up the track and started looking again. Continue reading
A relatively cool day was forecast, and I used it to complete the last stage for me of the Great West Walk. Last year I had walked from Parramatta to Toongabbie, and then later, with Bob, the stage from Toongabbie to Mt Druitt. So one bit remained – from Mt Druitt to Penrith.
When I originally heard about the Great West Walk, the website recommended doing it over five days. I found the section to Toongabbie really only took half a day. From there to Mt Druitt took longer but was still a comfortable day’s walk. From Mt Druitt to Penrith looked a little longer, but it features no big climbs like the ascent of Rooty Hill. Another motivation for doing this part was that it included the newly opened Wianamatta Regional Park. Continue reading
I joined the Tempe Birdos for their monthly bird survey at Tempe Wetlands and Tempe Reserve. As usual, I was in the group that surveyed Tempe Wetlands. It was a bit of shock to me – the wetlands were completely dry! All three of the ponds. On previous occasions I have seen the top pond dry, but not the lower ones. This meant that a lot of the resident birds had left. There were no ducks or wading birds.
We did see some birds. Willie Wagtails seemed to be doing OK. We saw quite a few. Continue reading
I was home from Tasmania, and was able to join the Greenway Bird Group for one of their monthly bird surveys. This was the one along the Hawthorne Canal between Taverners Hill and Hawthorne light rail stations.
It was a smokey morning, and this may have resulted in it being fairly quiet bird wise. But we did observe some interesting species. Continue reading
As well as doing the bushwalking outlined in earlier posts, I also spent a bit of time doing some Nature photography. Most of this was based on or near my sister and brother in law’s place close to the coast near Ulverstone where I was enjoying their hospitality. But there were some visits to nearby places that provided some great opportunities. Some of these were in the company of my other sister and brother in law that were also visiting during the Christmas period.
