The weather forecast was not that good, so I though an urban walk may be suitable, so decided to catch the ferry to Watsons Bay and then walk south from The Gap and see what birds and whales were out and what the coastal scenery was like.
As it turned out, I saw no whales close to the shore, but I did see quite a few birds- including a fair while watching a Nankeen Kestrel hunting for food. Continue reading
I joined Bob for a walk from Martins Lookout to St Helena and back. St Helena is an interesting volcanic crater in the Blue Labyrinth in the headwaters of Western Creek.
St Helena
We travelled to Springwood, and turned off the highway and went along Burns Road and then farm Road out to Martins Lookout. There are two tracks from the lookout that both go down to Glenbrook Creek. We decided to walk down one and later return via the other. After admiring the view from the lookout, we walked down the western most (upstream) track. This one is not marked on most current maps but is still in very good order and has some great old stone steps. Continue reading
I made another visit to Nurragingy Reserve at Doonside. A fairly quiet day, bird wise. It seemed that many of the birds were a bit shy.
Perhaps the most interesting was watching a Yellow-faced Honeyeater feeding on little bugs on the leaves of the Eucalypts. The honeyeater was picking off the waxy white structures on the leaves – these are the lerps that hold the juvenile psyllids (plant lice). Continue reading
This was another delightful day spent along the Chiltern Trail, at Ingleside in Ku-ring-gai Chase National Park. I made the visit with the aim of photographing the birdlife, but there was also a magnificent display of wildflowers.
As usual, I caught a train to Gordon and then the 197 bus to Ingleside. From the bus stop on Mona Vale Road it is about a 15 minute walk along Chiltern Road to the Chiltern Trail. When I arrived I could not help noticing that one side of the trail had been burnt out by a hazard reduction burn not long before. The fire had revealed a huge number of Spotted Pardalote holes. I hope birds were not nesting in them at the time. Continue reading
A spent a few hours out at Tempe Wetlands photographing birds. The highlight this visit was spotting a beautiful Rose Robin. This is a bird I had not seen in my local area before.
There had been some recent planting of bushes in one section of the wetland – and I think the disturbed soil may have attracted the Robin. I was in this section for a fair period of time and I was able to get some nice photos of it. Continue reading
This was another visit to Malabar Headland National Park. I photographed some of the birdlife and also some of the landscape.
It was on a Sunday, a rare Sunday when the headland part of the park is open to visitors. There were plenty of visitors enjoying the beauty and Nature. On this visit, a lot of the wildflowers were starting to come out – adding a lot of colour. Continue reading
I was still recovering from a cold, and was a bit tired after a bushwalk the day before, but wanted to get out. I thought an easy day spent at the Northern Beaches with some bird photography could be good. It was. I had nice encounter with a Peregrine Falcon – one of a nesting pair. I also saw quite a few other birds.
It was the Peregrine Falcon that was the highlight of my visit. It was close to its nest high in the sea cliffs and when I spotted it, it was circling overhead looking for prey. A few times it came down to give me a look over. I was ready with my camera and this allowed me to get a few bursts of shots as it flew towards me. These birds can fly very fast – and it can be tricky to track them and to make sure the camera settings are correct. They present different challenges to photographing Swallows in flight. But the bird stayed around for at least an hour – so I was able to get a few multiple sequences. Continue reading
Around a month earlier, Bob and myself had walked the western section of Bruce’s Walk between Medlow Bath and Wentworth Falls. We were now keen to visit the eastern section between Wentworth Falls and Lawson.
Lawson Cave Falls
Like the western section, this walk involves a mixture of track and fire road walking. and also some more road walking to get to the start from the station and also back to the station at the end. This part is probably about the same standard as the western section – both in length, difficulty and walking time. All the track sections were on good tracks on both sections – not hard to follow. The eastern section does have four ladders however – but they are short and not dangerous. Continue reading
I’d been taking it easy lately, recovering from a cold, but I was keen to get outdoors, so decided to visit Centennial Park to photograph some of the birds there. A few days before I had been to Bicentennial Park, which also is a good place to photograph birds with many quite different species.
One thing I wanted to see at Centennial Park was the Powerful Owl chick or owlet, which I had heard was now out of the nest. This proved to be correct. It is always hard to spot Powerful Owls when the roost – which is always high up in the trees. I went to the trees close to the nest and there I had seen the two parent birds on my last visit and started looking up. Some other visitors to the park where also present – and with all the eyes looking up the parents and the owlet where soon located. Then it was a matter of waiting to see if the birds would look down. Some patient waiting was rewarded. The chick was amazing – a big ball of downy feathers. Continue reading
A spent a pleasant day at Bicentennial Park at Homebush Bay looking mainly at the birdlife. It was interesting to wander around observing Nature.
It was a quite windy on the day and that may have limited what birds I saw. In the large pool were plenty of the usual birds – Ducks, Avocets, Black Winged Stilts and Black Swans. I also saw one Pelican, an Egret and a Royal Spoonbill. Continue reading
