It was World Wetlands Day. I was on my way home from a meeting, and decided to call into the Tempe Wetlands to see what birds were around.
I was pleased to see a pair of Nankeen Night Herons. I have not seen these type of herons very often at the Wetlands (only on one prior occasion). It was hard to get good photos of them however. Continue reading
I wandered out to Bicentennial Park to photograph the birdlife. The forecast was for hot weather, but conditions were quite pleasant near the foreshore of the bay where there was a cool sea breeze. However, further away, it was hot and still – with lots of mosquitoes.
Striated Heron
I walked into the park from Concord West Station, and was soon at the waterbird pools. The usual birds were around. Here are some photos – Continue reading
Another very hot day was forecast. It was the day to head up to the mountains with Bob for a walk or canyon. After some discussion, we decided to visit Water Dragon Canyon. It is a small tributary of Wollangambe Canyon and joins it near Mt Wilson.
We set off from the RFS at Mt Wilson and walked down the exit track from the Tourist Section of Wollangambe Canyon. We were soon on the creek, but did not stop long. We climbed up the far side. It was quite hot, so we stopped for a break part way up. At the crest of the ridge, we walked a short way and turned off the track at a cairn. We then followed a fainter track down to a small side creek. We followed this downstream, and it soon merged with a larger creek, and then not far down that was our canyon. Continue reading
More hot weather! I was keen to get outdoors, but didn’t want to do anything too strenuous, so though a short walk from Heathcote to Lake Eckersley on the Woronora River may be nice.
I certainly did have a pleasant day. After catching a train to Heathcote, I walked down the street and through the Scout Camp to the Friendly Track. I followed this down to the Pipeline Access Road. Continue reading
This was a fairly quiet day spent in Malabar Headland National Park. The weather was fine and very hot, and I think this was why I did not see too much wildlife.
It was windy, and I thought that the Peregrine Falcon may be flying around. When I arrived at its roosting site, I met some guys there that were taking steps to set up a highline right over the nesting and roosting site of the Peregrine Falcons. I was concerned that this may be very detrimental to the birds and asked them not to do this. They were unaware of the area being a Peregrine Falcon nesting site, and they readily agreed to halt their activities. I explained that the birds were not nesting at that time, but that one of the pair uses the cliffs next to the nest site for roosting, resting and eating food. We all agreed to do some research to see if we could find more information about whether their activity would be detrimental to the birds. Continue reading
The weather forecast for the long weekend was for more heat wave conditions. Too hot for walking to and from remote canyons. So a group of us decided on visiting some canyons that didn’t requite too much effort to reach.
On Saturday, we visited one of the lower sections of Wollangambe Canyon. My previous visit to this section was on an overnight trip back in 2009. This time, we planned to not go as far downstream. The party was Enmoore, Wendy, Keith and myself. Continue reading
Time to head back to the Carmarthen Canyons. This trip I was with Bob and we visited Claustral Canyon. It was a warm day, but not super hot. Conditions were overcast and quite humid. There was a forecast chance of showers but no thunderstorms. The afternoon before there had been quiet severe thunderstorms in the Blue Mountains and west, but it appears not that much rain had fallen over the Mt Tomah area.
We set of from the carpark around 9:30 am, and were soon in the creek. About an hour after starting we were abseiling down Calcutta Falls. No other cars were at the carpark, so we knew we would not be held up by other parties in front. Continue reading
I spent couple of hours at Tempe Wetlands and the nearby Tempe Reserve wandering around with my camera. It was hot, and not many birds were active.
Channel-billed Cuckoo
At Tempe Reserve, I heard a few birds flying overhead, and though there may be a raptor about, being harassed by other birds. That was what it sounded like. I did see a larger birds being encouraged to leave the area, but it was not a raptor, but rather a Channel-billed Cuckoo. It was the first one I have seen in the area. Continue reading
I was keen to escape from the heat, so thought a short walk down to the great swimming hole that I had been to last week may be nice. The pool proved to be a great refuge.
On the way down, I was on the lookout for birds and orchids. This time I spotted a nice Bearded Orchid. There were also the usual Hyacinth Orchids. Continue reading
Hot weather was forecast, so I dint want to do anything to strenuous. I thought a wander around Centennial Park may be good.
There were lots of birds to see. One thing that I hadn’t seen there before were all the Darters. They seemed to be almost finished their nesting, as there were lots of juveniles. Here are some photos of the Darters – Continue reading
