Photographing Birds at the Northern Beaches – 1 August 2019

Posted on August 9, 2019 by Dave Noble

I spent a full and very pleasant day at the Northern Beaches area photographing birds. I travelled up by the B-line bus and then used local buses to move from site to site.

My first stop was at a sporting field, where I wanted to photograph Ospreys at their nest. When I arrived, I could just see one Osprey in the nest. I assumed it was sitting on eggs. I thought it worth waiting a while to see if the other Osprey returned with a fish. While waiting, I started taking some photos of the Welcome Swallows wizzing around looking for fish. Continue reading →

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Fungi at Bola Creek – 31 July 2019

Posted on July 31, 2019 by Dave Noble

It had been a while since I had been to Bola Creek to check out the fungi. Digi Dave had suggested a day out photographing, and Bola Creek fitted the bill.

Bactridium sp.

I was not sure what conditions would be like. The previous visit had been quite good – there had been recent good falls of rain and the ground was quite moist. Good conditions for fungi? Well, reasonable but not brilliant conditions on that visit. We did find some nice fresh fungi – but it was out in some of the drier areas. This new visit turned out to be much poorer. The ground was very dry indeed and we found very little out. But we did spot quite a few red waxcaps – although most of them were a bit dried out. Continue reading →

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Birds at Tempe – 30 July 2019

Posted on July 31, 2019 by Dave Noble

I spent an afternoon at Tempe – visiting the Tempe Wetlands and also Tempe Reserve looking for and photographing birds. The birds did not seem very active, so my photos were a bit limited.

Here are some of my photos – Continue reading →

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Back to Malabar Headland – 29 July 2019

Posted on July 31, 2019 by Dave Noble

This was another very good day of bird photography at Malabar Headland National Park. My main interest was the pair of resident Peregrine Falcons – but they didn’t appear active until close to 2 pm. So I spent the morning looking for whales and other birds.

Whales were poor. I probably saw about ten, but they were all a long way out to sea and none were breaching. I did see two pods of dolphins. One of them was relatively close but there were not many dolphins in the pod, and it was hard to try and predict where a dolphin would appear. Continue reading →

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More Fungi at Ferndale Park and The Lane Cove River – 28 July 2019

Posted on July 31, 2019 by Dave Noble

This was a good trip. It had been very dry, but I found a lot more fungi than I expected. I started off by walking down to Ferndale Park from Chatswood Station.

Gliophorus psitacinus var. psittacinus

I did not find too much fungi out, but I did find some fresh fungi had appeared. Some which I had not see before this season. However some of the fungi was old and quite dried out. I was looking for waxcaps, and in particular the Ferndale Park Green-Pink Waxcap (Humidicutis sp.). I looked carefully  but didn’t find any. But I was pleased to find some fresh Hygrocybe anomola –

Hygrocybe anomola var anomola

I seemed to find both varieties. Hygrocybe anomola var ianthinmarginata and Hygrocybe anomola var anomola.  Continue reading →

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Birds at Barton Park – 27 July 2019

Posted on July 30, 2019 by Dave Noble

During the afternoon of 27 July, I went to Barton Park to see what birds were out. On my previous visits I had seen raptors out hunting in the afternoon. I was hoping to see some this visit.

Brown Honeyeater

When I arrived, I went to the Landing Lights Wetland. I did see quite a few Black-winged Stilts and various ducks. I also saw a Black-fronted Dotterel, but it flew off before I could get a photo. I did manage to photograph a nice White-faced Heron. Continue reading →

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Out With the Dulwich Hill Birdos – 27 July 2019

Posted on July 30, 2019 by Dave Noble

I was able to attend a bird spotting survey with the local bird group at Dulwich Hill. They are part of the Inner West Environment Group. They have two surveys a month – one at the Greenway at Dulwich Hill (Meet at 7:30 am at Davis St, near Waratah Mills Light Rail Station, on the 4th Saturday of the month. The other is on the 2nd Wednesday of the month at Hawthorne Canal, Leichhardt).

Welcome Swallows enjoying the sun

After meeting the group, we set off through local parks, streets and land near the light rail corridor with our binoculars scanning for birds. Continue reading →

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More Birds from the Northern Beaches – 26 July 2019

Posted on July 30, 2019 by Dave Noble

I spent a quite busy day photographing the birds in the Northern Beaches area. I was also fortunate to spot a rather elusive bird – a Black Bittern, that I had been looking for without success on previous visits.

I caught a B-line bus to Warriewood and walked the short distance to the Warriewood Wetlands. The birds in the Wetlands were rather quiet and I had more success in the adjacent Irrawong Reserve. Here are some of the birds, a Brown Cuckoo-dove, a Brush Turkey, a Silvereye, a Laughing Kookaburra and a Brown Thornbill. Continue reading →

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Birds at Nurragingy Reserve – 25 July 2019

Posted on July 30, 2019 by Dave Noble

It had been a while since I had visited Nurragingy Reserve at Doonside. I caught a train to Doonside and then walked the short distance from the station to the Reserve.

Whenever I go to Nurragingy, I always look for the Azure Kingfishers. They are such photogenic birds, but challenging to photograph as they are shy and only seem to appear perched in the darkest places above the pools. On this visit, despite a lot of looking, I could not spot any. But I did find a wide range of other nice birds – but most of them I saw a bit later in the day and for a very short time period. Continue reading →

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Walk to Eagle Rock – 24 July 2019

Posted on July 30, 2019 by Dave Noble

A day walking along the Coastal Track in Royal National Park is always great. I joined Brian Everingham and his party for a walk to Eagle Rock and back from Wottamolla. Brian had organised he walk for the National Parks Association of NSW. As well as Brain and myself, the other walkers were Gary S, Gary L, Sue B, Sue W, Valerie, Esther, Ken and Chloe.

We had a magnificent day – the weather was great. We also saw a lot of wildlife – particularly birds and whales. And the wildflowers…. Continue reading →

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