Beautiful birds during a cold lunch
Crimson Rosella
Sydney Trip Report June 2011
The first day of our trip home was freezing cold. We had altered our route home to avoid the snow closed roads around Bathurst and followed the same route home we’d used on our way over. The sky gradually changed from bright sunshine in Sydney heavy cloud by lunch time. We had a picnic lunch with us and pulled into the Thomas Derrick VC Rest Area, hoping to get a few minutes of sunshine while sitting at one of the picnic tables there. We ended up eating lunch in the car because the wind was still freezing, and it was threatening to rain at any moment.
This rest area, like others in the region, commemorates the brave deeds of some of our soldiers. The “VC” after his name indicates that he was awarded Australia’s highest order for bravery in battle, a Victoria Cross. He was decorated because of his actions against the Japanese in New Guinea and you can read more about his interesting life here.
Thomas Derrick VC Rest Area, NSW
While eating lunch I was able to list a few birds out and about, an once I’d finished I braved the very cold conditions to get a few photos. The most interesting species present was a flock of about 20 Crimson Rosellas. I tried to photograph a family of White-winged Choughs, but they flew off before I could close enough. There were also many Noisy Miners in the picnic ground, but seeing I have plenty of photos of them I didn’t bother chasing them up. Truth be known, it was too cold to spend too much time out of the warmth of the car!
Crimson Rosella
Crimson Rosella
Steam trains and lack of birds
Steam train, Central Station, Sydney
Sydney Trip Report June 2011
On the first weekend of our recent holiday in Sydney, we went as a family for a 75 minute trip on the steam train shown above. It was an excellent treat and my 2.5 year old grandson (who loves trains) thought it was excellent but did admit afterwards, “I liked it but I was a little bit nervous.” (Bless him.)
I didn’t see any birds of note on the train trip but then I wasn’t really focussed on that. Back in Central Station waiting for the train to depart again on its next journey, I did manage this poor photo of a Common Myna (see below). Nothing exciting about that, but it was one of the few birds I saw all day.
Sorry – I forgot about the many Rock Doves actually inside the station building. They are so common in places like that one forgets to take note of them.
Common Myna, Central Railway Station, Sydney
A short stay in Narrandera, New South Wales
Lake Talbot Tourist Park, Narrandera, NSW
Sydney Trip Report June 2011
On our trip to Sydney earlier this year we stopped for the night at the Lake Talbot Tourist Park on the edge of Narrandera in the mid west of New South Wales. It’s a lovely town with beautiful country all around, the kind that makes you decide to make a return visit some day. We had a cabin booked for the night and this was very comfortable and we had a good night’s sleep. I’d recommend this park to any visitors.
Next morning I took out a few minutes to get some photos of the park and the lake. I could hear plenty of birds calling and saw a few in the park but didn’t have time to take any photos of them. Instead, I’ll just list the birds heard or seen as I packed the car.
- Galah
- Australian Raven
- Common Blackbird
- Willie Wagtail
- Sulphur-crested Cockatoo
- Black-faced Cuckoo-shrike
- Weebill
- Australian Magpie
- Noisy Miner
- Laughing Kookaburra
- Little Pied Cormorant
- Black Swan
- Grey Fantail
- White-winged Chough
- Magpie Lark
This area is obviously very good for birding and I’d like to explore the region in more depth someday. When we paid for our stay, the park office had several brochures available about birding places in the district. These pamphlets listed about 6 or 7 good birding spots near the town plus a little further off. It’s good to see that birders are being catered for in this way. It’s certainly a good birding are because this part of the state is a transition zone between birds of the highlands to the east and the much drier plains to the west.
Someday I’ll spend a week or so there.
Good birding.
Lake Talbot, Narrandera, NSW
Lake Talbot, Narrandera, NSW
A bush picnic – but few birds
Bushland nature trail near Walpeup, NW Victoria
Sydney Trip Report June 2011
On the first day of our trip to Sydney earlier this year we stopped for a picnic lunch at a roadside picnic area near the small township of Walpeup. This farming community is between Ouyen in NW Victoria and the South Australian border. This picnic area came with a short nature trail through the native scrub next to the road. Some of the plants were of particular interest to my wife who is an avid grower of Australian native plants.
Despite the day being quite sunny, the weather was most unpleasant. A stiff breeze blew from the south bringing bitterly cold air all the way from the Antarctic – or that’s what it felt like. The birding was very poor and I only heard a handful of individual birds calling. I didn’t actually see anything.
The following is a very short list of birds heard over the 20 minute period we were there:
- Singing Honeyeater
- White-browed Babbler
- Grey Shrike-thrush
- Little Raven
Oh well – you get days like that.
Good birding – and I hope you get a better list than that!
Now here’s a common sight in Australia
Grain silos at Lameroo, South Australia
Sydney Trip Report June 2011
Grain storage silos are a common sight throughout the cereal growing areas of Australia. Almost every small town has some and they make up a prominent feature of the landscape. On our trip to Sydney earlier this year we passed many such structures along the way. They become so commonplace one almost forgets that they are there.
Not me.
I usually give silos more than a quick glance as they flash by, checking out each one for any interesting birds perching on the building or flying nearby. Sadly I’m usually disappointed because the most common inhabitant of these artificial “cliffs” are Rock Doves (feral pigeons), usually in their hundreds. Quite often they are in the company of just as many House Sparrows.
On the odd occasion, however, I have seen Nankeen Kestrels, Black-shouldered Kites, flocks of Galahs and Corellas and even cockatoos. At Lameroo I only managed to see some Rock Doves (see photo below). It’s not a brilliant photo, but considering the silos were some 200 or more metres away, the zoom on my camera is impressive.
Sometimes one has to be content with the common, ordinary species and a not so wonderful photo.
Rock Doves (Feral Pigeons) at Lameroo, South Australia