The weather was not the best – with some rain, but I ventured out after the rain stopped for a walk along part of the Cooks River, then I caught a bus to Barton Park. I was on the lookout for birds, but perhaps due to the rain, it was relatively quiet. Certainly quiet compared to other recent visits to these places.
Here are some of the birds I saw along the Cooks River. Continue reading
A wet day was forecast, so I suggested to Bob that rather than head up the mountains, that we do a walk in the Bantry Bay area, and while there we could look for some Aboriginal sites. I knew about an engraving site near the Wakehurst Parkway. Bob did some research and found there were other sites nearby that sounded well worth looking for.
For rock engravings, they are often a lot easier to discern if the rock is wet. Sometimes we have used a water bottle and poured water over part of a rock platform and magically an engraving has appeared. But if it is raining, then you don’t need to add water.
We had light rain for the first part of our walk, then a bit more later on. Continue reading
Sue joined me for another day at Nurragingy Reserve at Doonside. This park has been a very good venue for observing and photographing birds recently. How would this visit go?
Some highlights of previous visits have been Pacific Bazas and Azure Kingfishers. On the previous visit, we had only a brief glimpse of an Azure Kingfisher, but we had been fortunate to observe two Pacific Bazas for a long time. On the visit before that, it had been the opposite – no Bazas, but plenty of Azure Kingfishers. Other birds we had seen here recently have been – Dollarbird, Square-tailed Kite, Blue-faced Honeyeater, Mistltoebird and Scarlet Honeyeater.
This visit started off very quiet, and we were worried that it may turn out to be a dud! Continue reading
I had been invited by John and Chuin Nee to join them on a walk near Galston Gorge before they picked up their son, Jasper, from a school music camp later in the afternoon. The weather was not the best – light rain, so we ended up doing a short walk along the Great North Walk Track from Crosslands. We walked north along Berowra Creek to just past Calna Creek and then returned the same way.
Here we are at an observation deck. Under umbrellas. Continue reading
I took part in the Saturday morning bird survey along the Dulwich Hill section of The Greenway. The group meets outside Waratah Mills Light Rail Station at 7:30 am. The highlights this survey were spotting a Leaden Flycatcher (not photographed) and later a Peregrine Falcon.
The weather was very dull and gloomy – so poor for bird photography.
At the light rail station we spotted three Brush Turkeys. Here is one – Continue reading
I headed up the Blue Mountains with Bob intending to visit some canyons near Bell, but the weather was wet and quite cool, so we changed plans and decided to see the new Lost City Walking Track in the Gardens of Stone State Conservation Area.
The southern access to the track was closed off due to road work, so we headed to the Bungleboori Picnic Area, then turned off to the n northern access point. The road was well signposted and in very good condition. I had been out this way a number of years ago, and there was a maze of rough four wheel drive tracks all in appalling state. Continue reading
A Black Noddy, a rare visitor to Sydney, had been resident at the Curl Curl rock pool for a few days, and I thought it worth a visit. A few years ago, I photographed a Common Noddy (Brown Noddy) at Long Reef. The Black Noddy was probably blown south by Cyclone Alfred.
When I arrived at the Curl Curl rock pool, I saw a pair of Ospreys flying past me and out to sea to hunt. Here is one of them – Continue reading
Sue and Valerie joined me for a morning walk down a section of the Cooks River. We walked down from Illawarra Road to the Princes Highway.
I arrived a bit earlier than the others, and walked down ashore way and spotted a Sacred Kingfisher perched on a tree above the water. Continue reading
I spent an interesting morning at Barton Park photographing birds. Most of the birds I saw were at The Landing Lights Wetland and its hinterland.
Walking up to Landing Light Wetland, I could see a White-faced Heron on top of the sawer vent – Continue reading
Another visit to Nurragingy Reserve at Doonside. Again, I was joined by Sue, and we had a most enjoyable and interesting day.
The day started off fairly quiet. We were looking for Pacific Bazas and Kingfishers. We did spot one Sacred Kingfisher along the perimeter firewood, but it was too fast for a photo. But after lunch things improved a lot.
Here are some of the birds we saw – Continue reading
