I made a second visit to Nepean Weir to photograph the birdlife. Like the first trip, I was looking for Painted Honeyeaters – but had no luck observing any. It was also a hot day, and I left just after lunch.
White-winged Triller
One of the birds I had seen in abundance on the first trip were Dusky Woodswallows. There were plenty this trip too – including a pair feeding young chicks. Continue reading
This was another outstanding day of bird photography in Malabar Headland National Park. I was fortunate to observe some amazing displays of flying from the juvenile Peregrine Falcons. Later they were joined by a pair of Sea Eagles. Incredible to watch.
On the way out, I stopped to photograph a Golden-headed Cisticola makings its call to stake out its territory. Continue reading
In the morning, I had joined the local bird group for a survey along the Greenway. Later in the day, I cycled down to the Cooks River to check the status of the Tawny Frogmouths and then continued on to Landing Lights Wetland at Barton Park.
The nesting pair of Tawny Frogmouths on the Cooks River near Younger St seem unchanged. One is still sitting on the nest and the other was perched nearby. No signs of any chicks that have hatched that I could see – although they may have been hidden under the adult. Last year the pair exhibited the same thing – without any young hatching. Continue reading
I joined the local group for their monthly bird survey along the Greenway near Waratah Mills Light Rail Station.
Here are some of the birds we saw – Continue reading
This was a very pleasant day spent at Nurragingy Reserve at Doonside. At the reserve I met up with Jan, who was there on his first visit. We later met up with Johan for a short while – and we are grateful for him for some tips in photographing a pair of beautiful Azure Kingfishers that were bringing food back to their nest for their chicks.
When I met up with Jan, we spent some time looking for the Azure Kingfishers. We did spot them along the main creek, and managed to get some photos. By seeing where they were flying, we could work out the likely general location of their nest area. But before we could do that, we spotted Johan with his camera. He showed us the best places to wait for the birds to turn up. Patience was now required. You had to wait very still and quiet. One or both of the Kingfishers would perch reasonably close to the nest. They would have small fish in their beaks – good food for their chicks. They would often stay perched for a few minutes, and then often fly to another perch, sometimes further away from their nest area. Sometimes, if we were lucky they would perch on a branch a few metres away from their nest hole, and then after waiting a while fly with the food into the nest. Continue reading
This was a pleasant outing with Bob visiting a nice canyon. It was a warm day, but the canyon was quite cold – particularly the swims.
When we set off from Sydney, the Cumberland Plain was enveloped in a pall of bushfire smoke. Something we have had to endure a lot recently, but minor compared to enduring a bushfire at close hand. When we arrived at Blackheath, the air was clear. We set off down the track to the start of he canyon and soon arrived at the first of three constrictions. Continue reading
I had not visited Nepean Weir before, and thought that since it seems a good birding site, it would be worth a visit. Also – recently, a Painted Honeyeater, a rare visitor to Sydney, had been seen there by other bird watchers.
It was a short, easy walk from Penrith Station to the Reserve. I arrived not long after 8:30 am and followed the path from the picnic area down to the weir and then downstream along the river. At the weir where a few birds – a Great Egret and a few teals and coots. Continue reading
This was another full day spent in the Northern Beaches photographing birds. I set off with several aims on this trip – one of them being to photograph a Crimson Chat that had been seen near Long Reef. On an earlier trip, I had looked for it – but on that visit a lot of dogs were off leash in the area and few birds were around.
I set off early, and caught a B-line bus to Dee Why, and then changed to local bus and went a bit further along Pittwater Road and got off near the Long Reef Surf Club. I walked out past the golf course and looked closer to the beach for the Chat. I was surprised and lucky – I spotted it straight away. I was looking for food and soon found a caterpillar. It then flew off with it. Continue reading
This was a short, but very pleasant walk around part of the Waterfall Circuit on the north side of Lawson. In the part was Wendy, Don, Elata, Pete and Steph.
We first walked down to Dantes Glen and looked at the waterfall – it was hardly flowing. But the location was nice and cool in a deep ravine. Continue reading
This was a pleasant day spent at Oatley Park with Digi Dave. It was more hot weather, so we took it easy, visiting some of the lookouts and then the wetlands in Lime Kiln Bay. Then a short drive to Oatley Hotel for their $9.90 tradies lunch, and then back for a walk around Lime Kiln Bay.
Early on we spotted two Sacred Kingfishers, at separate lookouts. The first was at the lookout above Jewfish Bay. Continue reading
