Musk Duck male
With further lifting of restrictions in our state, my wife and I decided to enjoy 2 birding dates in the one weekend, where our main focus was on freshwater birds. I had prepared the night before having just launched my new promo video for my book with the help and expertise of my son David, who works as an editor for a Sydney TV station. You can view the new promo here.
Leaving early Friday morning we arrived at Leura in the Blue Mountains for breakfast which we thoroughly enjoyed and now recommend Leura Cafe. The service was excellent and very caring, which reflected their boss. My wife enjoyed it so much she took the above photo. They complied strictly to the Covid rules, unlike some of the other shops in town. I had planned to also engage 2 new booksellers in the Blue Mountains region west of Sydney, while we passed through to Lake Wallace. You can see why they call them the BLUE Mountains. The blue haze is created by the eucalyptus vapour from the millions of eucalypt trees in the mountains.
how blue are these mountains
Fire damaged forest
sheer rising walls of stone
Evidence of the recent horrific bushfires is seen in the centre photo above way down in the Grose Valley. I managed to plant my book in one bookshop in Lithgow and a clothing boutique in Blackheath. I already have established markets in other towns nearby there.
Musk Duck male
Musk Duck female
Musk Duck female
Musk Duck immature
Musk Duck male
Musk Duck (mum and 2 kids)
Musk Duck immature x 2
2 immature Musk Duck
Musk Duck male tail submerging
Musk Duck tail submerging
The Blue-billed Ducks we usually see here were not found, but a Musk Duck family were there Dad, Mum and 2 kids. Blue-bills are often found with their Musk cousins, in fact the females of both species look almost identical. These are one of the most difficult birds to photograph due to their black shiny plumage. Similar to the Blue-bills, they are a diving duck which spend almost all their life on water, sleeping afloat also. Their body lies low in the water. The male has a very unique flesh protrusion hanging from his throat. He gets his name from the musk like odour he emits to attract the female.
The only other waterbird was this Great Crested Grebe, alone far out on the lake. Another bird who lies low in the water.
Also we saw the usual Australian Swamphen and occasional Dusky Moorhen.
Australian Swamphen
Australian Swamphen
Of the passerines an adult male Australian Magpie and his two youngsters came begging when my wife and I sat by the lake to have our morning coffee and Anzac bickies, I had baked the day before. They were soon joined by an aggressive Red Wattlebird who also wanted a piece of the action.
Magpie family
Red Wattlebird
Other small passerines included Fairy-wrens and this White-browed Scrubwren.
Last of all this Galah
Afterwards we drove back to Leura for lunch (a gourmet pie from the bakery) and shopping, then off home. Another wonderful birding date enjoyed, for which we were truly thankful. I will share our following Birding Date next week.
I have recently established an aussiebirder YouTube channel where you can view videos such as the one above. You might like to subscribe. It is in its early stages as I add more to it. The above video displays the amazing provision that our Creator has provided for the birds through Intelligent Design.
Have a wonderful relaxing weekend and Stay Safe!
W. A. Hewson (Adv. Dip. Counselling & Family Therapy).
NOTE: All photos, videos and music used on this website are photographed, composed, performed by the site owner and remains his copyrighted property, unless otherwise stated. The use of any material that is not original material of the site owner is duly acknowledged as such. © W. A. Hewson 2015, 2016, 2017, 2018, 2019, 2020.
PS, sorry to say I missed saying, Would have loved to share a pie with you.
Goodonya
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Well done for being able to be out and about. There are certainly so many amazing adventures to be had locally, but its nice to stretch the feet a bit further.
We are back home for at least 6 weeks. I don’t see much changing over that time. At least the weather is less than average, so I’m not looking out the window wondering, ‘what if’.
I don’t want to add to the problems, so am being an obedient citizen as a committee of one.
May the good weather and the places to go continue to give you much to share with us.
All good
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Thanks David, yes things are not good in your state at the moment, and now ours is affected by the few who got away before they closed the border. It is now back in our town again, and possibly in many other towns up the coast as they make a mad dash to the warmer non infected areas. It is just so contagious. At least as you say it is Winter and with the current weather bursts, it is not as bad as say restrictions in Spring. Your committee at least is staying safe and keeping away from the rebellious party goers who are infecting everyone. They fined several clubs, pubs for breaking the rules. It was these clubs and pubs that put so much pressure on the Gov to reopen, yet church gatherings, obeying the rules to the letter, have to distance with so much more stricter rules and can’t even sing. Now for the sake of the few many will suffer, due to poor judgement. Things are turning bad quickly here now as we face our 2nd wave, after doing so well, and book sales have only just started getting back to normal after months of lock down. This is all part of the adventure that will go down in history as the the Winter of the Covid. Oh and yes we will have that pie together one day when the smoke clears and the new normal emerges 🙂
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Awesome birding date with your honey, Ashley! I love to hear of birding mates. 🙂 The Musk Duck (say that fast three times lol) is uniquely interesting, I liked seeing all the photos and video. Gorgeous Red Wattlebird capture and the Cleaning the Nest video is incredible! Superb new promo video, congrats on your sales, much success!
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Thanks Donna,
Ha, Ha, yes it is a bit of a twist to say quickly 🙂 Thanks also for your encouraging kind comments, much appreciated dear friend 🙂
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Hello Ashley,
What a wonderful trip! I am so happy you and Mrs. H could spend some quality time with our avian friends in nature. I will take a look at your YouTube channel soon. I will also make another visit tomorrow to the post office and get the latest update on the status of international outbound mail from Japan. All our best as always.
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Thanks Takami, yes we are enjoying more freedom again to get out and about. My wife enjoys having Friday’s off now so we can both have a birding date, free of the busy weekend crowds. I hope things get better for you and your people soon, it has been such different year, where so much has been cancelled or postponed. Wishing you and your hubby all the best also, thank you for your kind well wishes 🙂
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Some nice finds in the gorgeous Blue Mountains, lovely photos. Great promo for your latest book Ashley, hope it does even better than your first book. And good luck with the YouTube channel! I have already subscribed. 🙂
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Thanks Sue, The Covid has certainly changed how things were planned, book sales are moving forward slowly without school talks. Thanks for subscribing to YouTube, this is all a bit new to me and has be interesting navigating my way through it all. 🙂
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Thank you dear Ashley for once again displaying God’s manifold glory. What details, even in ‘housekeeping’ the family nest!
It so encourages me to remember how the Lord has sight of all the details in our lives.
Glad to see and subscribe to YouTube channel – press on brother!
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Thanks so much dear Lisa Beth, it always delights my soul and lifts my spirit to read your worshipful appreciation of our Lord’s glorious creation, and we can see that there is no way all of this could have happened by accident, or random event, only Intelligent Design by a Master Architect. Have an enjoyable weekend dear sister 🙂
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