It was a hot day, and I didn’t want to go too far, andI wanted to be in the shade, so I decided to visit Rookwood again.
It was harder to spot the two juvenile Brown Goshawks this visit. Last time, I mainly found them by listening for their calls. This visit, they did not call so much. Perhaps they had just been fed? Anyway, I wondered around the woodlands where I had seen them last time, listening and looking up into the trees. Continue reading
Sue joined me for a morning visit to Sydney Park to see what birds were around. When we arrived, we first looked in for Tawny Frogmouths in the spots where we had seen them before. But this visit, we had no luck.
Here are some birds we did see in the Park – Continue reading
I spent another interesting and enjoyable day at Long Reef, mainly photographing raptors.
Like my previous visit, there were plenty of Ospreys and also a pair of Nankeen Kestrels hunting near the headland.
However, when I arrived, I spotted a White-bellied Sea Eagle flying with an Osprey – Continue reading
Sue joined me for a day visiting Nurragingy Reserve at Doonside. She had never visited this Reserve and we both enjoyed a very good day.
We caught a train to Doonside, and then walked the short distance into the Reserve. After visiting the coffee cart, we set off to see what birds we could spot. The highlights were Sacred Kingfishers and Pacific Bazas. Here are some photos – Continue reading
Finally, an evening that was relatively free of clouds. during the past few evenings, I had ventured outside around 8:30 pm to see what the south western sky was like to see if it was worth a walk to Dulwich Hill Station an try and photograph Comet C/2024 G3 (ATLAS) again. On the previous successful attempt, I had not seen the comet until I got home and checked photos on the computer. My photo was very disappointing. And that’d been taken just before a big bank of clouds rolled in.
This evening turned out a lot better.
The above photo clearly shows the comet. This is cropped and post processed from a photo like the one below – Continue reading
In the morning, I had been on the local bird survey along The Greenway. I then went home for an early lunch, and then visited Rookwood Necropolis. On my last visit, I had photographed a newly fledged Brown Goshawk chick. I was hoping it would still be around.
On the walk into the Necropolis, I spotted a pair of Eastern Rosellas. Here is one – Continue reading
I joined in on the monthly local bird survey along the Dulwich Hill section of The Greenway. The group meets outside Waratah Mills Light Rail Station at 7:30 am.
Here are some birds we saw – Continue reading
After visiting Putricia, and then the Art Gallery of NSW, I decided to spend the afternoon at Narawang Wetlands, so I caught strain to Strathfield then a bus to Newington. The visit was a bit disappointing. I was on the lookout for the Black-backed Bitterns that I had seen on my previous visit. But this time I failed to observe them.
Here are some birds I did see – Continue reading
Earlier in the year, I had been to the Art Gallery of NSW to see some exhibitions, and after viewing Puticia, the Corpse Flower at the Botanic Gardens, it seemed a good time to visit the nearby Art Gallery. Sue was with me for the first part – seeing some classic Australian paintings, then I visited the Magritte exhibition by myself. It was most interesting.
Here are some well known Australian works of art – Continue reading
I was keen to see the huge Corpse Flower when it opened at the Botanic Gardens in Sydney. The Corpse Flower, Amorphophallus titanum, supposedly has the biggest and smelliest flower in the world, and they only flower, roughly, once per decade. Staff at the Gardens had named this particular flower “Putricia”. The flowers are native to Indonesia and are endangered in the wild.
The interest in the flower was amazing. A lot of people had been watching it during the previous week or so, on a live webcam feed. The previous afternoon, it had slowly opened. But it would only stay open for roughly 24 to 48 hours, so the next day, there was a long queue a the Botanic Gardens entrance an hour before they opened.
I met up with Sue outside the Gardens around 7am, and we joined the queue. Continue reading
