A visit to a royal place
No Comments »11th October, 2007; Category: Trip reports
2007 New South Wales trip report #27
We left Artarmon a little later than we had planned. I was sad leaving our son and daughter in law; we see them so infrequently. We took the Harbour Tunnel and then the eastern distributor motorway, passed the airport and headed south towards Wollongong.
I didn’t take much notice of the birds along the way; I was too busy navigating for my wife who was driving. Being from a relatively small country town we are not used to driving in large cities like Sydney.
We turned off into the Royal National Park as planned. The last time we had visited this park was in 2000, and that visit was only for an hour or so. Again we were not able to stay very long. We drove into Audley and had morning tea in one of the many picnic areas by the Hacking River. I was soon adding a list of species to my bird note book. One of the first birds I heard was a Fan-tailed Cuckoo calling incessantly all through morning tea. I failed to catch sight of the bird in question. Sulphur-crested Cockatoos seemed to be everywhere, but not in huge numbers.
Sulphur Crested Cockatoo
A number of Australian Wood Ducks and Pacific Black Ducks were either on the river or approaching us for some little scrap to eat. They were unlucky. Dusky Moorhens frolicked in the water and a lone Purple Swamphen was seen strutting around the picnic table of another group of visitors to the park. I heard a Willie Wagtail but didn’t see it; strange. Another bird heard but not seen was an Eastern Whipbird, once only metres from where we stood.
Royal National Park, south of Sydney
Along the river we saw both Little Pied and Little Black Cormorants resting on fallen branches over the water. Several Laughing Kookaburras were seen and heard in the picnic grounds but these were more polite and didn’t sit eyeing off our food like so many others of this species we had seen in recent days. Welcome Swallows were seen swooping low over the water in the river and then soaring high over the tall eucalypts.
Royal National Park, south of Sydney
Bathurst to Lithgow
No Comments »3rd October, 2007; Category: Trip reports
2007 New South Wales trip report #20
The bird life along the road to Bathurst turned up nothing new. We saw plenty of Australian Magpies, Australian Ravens, Crested Pigeons, Galahs and a large flock of Sulphur-crested Cockatoos feeding in a paddock. We stopped briefly at Bathurst to refuel before heading off to Lithgow. We had hoped to take an alternative route but must have missed the turnoff.
A few minutes out of Bathurst we took a side road through some farming country and found a nice spot for morning tea well away from the noise of the traffic. We saw several Australian Wood Ducks, Masked Lapwings, Red-rumped Parrots and more Galahs. Several Striated Pardalotes called from the nearby gum trees.
Near Bathurst, New South Wales
Further along we saw more Crimson Rosellas, Crested Pigeons and saw Yellow-tailed Black Cockatoos for the first time on the trip. Also added for the first time was a Myna. I wasn’t aware this pest introduced species had spread so far from Sydney.
Probably the most distressing sight along this stretch of road was a dead Wombat on the side of the road. Another sad victim of road kill.
Just out of Lithgow we stopped at the railway station of the unique Zig – Zig railway. This railway was built by early convicts to take the railway line over a very steep mountain range. We would have liked a ride on the train but were running out of time. We found a spot nearby for lunch. During our lunch break I added White-eared Honeyeater to the trip list.
A visit to Gum Swamp Forbes NSW
No Comments »29th September, 2007; Category: Trip reports
2007 New South Wales trip report #16
One of the places I wanted to visit on this trip was Gum Swamp several kilometres south of the town of Forbes. I had previously visited this popular birding spot three years ago. It has a bird hide a few steps from the car park. Not that one actually needs a hide; the birds seem to ignore you anyway.
On the way there I commented to my wife that I hadn’t taken the recent dry conditions into account when planning to stop here. I shouldn’t have worried. The swamp was at near full capacity and the birdlife just as prolific as I had remembered it from three years ago.
Gum Swamp, Forbes, New South Wales
Over a twenty minute period I added the following species to my rapidly growing Trip List:
- Fairy Martin (gathering mud for nesting, as were the Welcome Swallows)
- Grey Teal
- Chestnut Teal
- Pacific Black Duck
- Pink-eared Duck
- Hardhead (White-eyed Duck)
- Australian Wood Duck
- Dusky Moorhen
- Eurasian Coot
- Australasian Grebe
- Black Swan
Probably the best sighting of all was quite unexpected; a single White-bellied Sea-eagle. I tried to get a photo but even with 12x zoom he is but a small white dot in the distance. A better photo will have to wait. Meanwhile you could have a look at a close up photo I took of one in the Taronga Park Zoo last year – click here.
White-Bellied Sea-Eagle
Birding in Loxton, South Australia
6 Comments »19th August, 2007; Category: General
On my trip to Loxton last Monday I made time for a little birding along the river front near the caravan park. I only had about a half hour late in the afternoon. Loxton in the Riverland region of South Australia is about three hours by road north east of Adelaide.
Australian Pelican, River Murray, Loxton
The visit was rushed and not very productive as far as birds were concerned. I did manage to get the above photo of an Australian Pelican cruising the shallows near where I parked. Other birds seen in the vicinity include:
- Australian Wood Duck
- Pacific Black Duck
- Little Raven
- Galah
- Yellow Rosella
- Little Corella
- Little Black Cormorant
- Silver Gull
- Unidentified Tern (possibly Gull-Billed Tern)
- Crested Pigeon
- Rock Dove
- Australian Magpie
- Australian Magpie Lark
- White Plumed Honeyeater
- Red Wattlebird
- Noisy Miner
- House Sparrow
- Common Starling
- Welcome Swallow
- Striated Pardalote
- Wren (heard – possibly a Superb Blue)
River Murray at Loxton, South Australia
This photo shows the low level of water in the Murray River at present. The reeds in the middle right of the photo are normally quite green and in the water. The whole river system needs several years of above average rainfall and snowfalls in the catchment areas to replenish the water to its normal levels.
Birding while travelling
When we travel I enjoy watching out for the birds we see during our journey. Concentrating on driving is the highest priority of course, but it is still amazing what one can see as you go along. For me, it certainly lessens the boredom, keeping me more alert and that has to be a good thing.
Several days ago I wrote about a short break we had in Clare, staying in our daughter’s house. I commented that I didn’t see all that many birds on the way, nothing out of the ordinary anyway. Yesterday afternoon we returned home to Murray Bridge. This time we took a different route. It was a little longer and this didn’t matter as we didn’t have a deadline.
Again we saw the usual species as we travelled. By far the most common were Australian Magpies and Little Ravens. In several places we saw flocks of Feral Pigeons and Common Starlings, especially in the vineyards of the Barossa Valley, arguably Australia’s premier wine growing region. I saw a few Red Wattlebirds, the occasional Crested Pigeon and a few House Sparrows, especially in the towns we drove through and near farm houses.
On our journey to Clare last week I commented on the total absence of birds of prey. They were conspicuous by their absence again today. I only saw two; a lone Nankeen Kestral and a single Brown Falcon, each sitting high atop a power pole.
The highlight of the trip was afternoon tea – no, not the food and the cuppa, though that was very enjoyable and relaxing. We stopped at a park in the old copper mining town of Kapunda, just over an hour’s drive north of Adelaide. My father grew up only a few kilometres from the town.
This park has a number of lawned areas, a barbecue for public use and a number of picnic tables and seats. It also features a small artificial lake. We hadn’t even sat down to pour our cuppa and the stream of ducks was heading our way. It was a fruitless exercise on their part. Also joining the picnic was a family of six baby Eurasian Coots, all fluffy and downy and noisy, begging mother for food while trying not to get too much under our feet.
Naturally I had to race back to the car for the camera. I managed quite a few lovely shots plus a simply lovely photo of a White Faced Heron. Also seen were many Australian Wood Ducks, several Pacific Black Ducks, a single Dusky Moorhen, dozens of White Plumed Honeyeaters and an army of domestic ducks, mostly Muscovy Ducks.
In the nearby trees I heard some Magpie Larks, Rainbow Lorikeets and Adelaide Rosella parrots. I also saw a single New Holland Honeyeater as we drove off.
I am not able to show the photos I took this afternoon. Since the WordPress update we are having trouble uploading photos from our photo gallery to this blog. As soon as this is rectified I will update this post.