This week I want to share some great reads highlighting recent research and interesting studies on our Aussie birds. As some of you know I have a Books on Birds page on this website with some of the books I have found helpful. I am currently reading another most interesting book by groundbreaking author Gisela Kaplan, who is Professor at […]

My wife and I enjoyed another walk through our local reserve yesterday, and again it was quiet and the absence or reduction in numbers of small birds, other than Miners noted. We immediately made our way to the Collared Sparrowhawk nest, where we heard the cries of the young Sparrowhawks, now flying and attempting to hunt around the nest area, […]

This week my granddaughter from the country, spent time with us here in the city during her school holiday break. Last month two of my grandsons did likewise. This was an excellent opportunity to introduce her to birding. Thankfully she was already excited about doing one of our birding adventures, as she had heard from her brother how much he […]

Continuing from my last post, and a week of unseasonably cold, wild, wet windy weather like we have not seen this side of Summer, we decided when the sun finally reemerged, to revisit the Collared Sparrowhawk fledglings and see how much they had grown. We managed to sight them feeding high above the track in a eucalypt. It was easy […]

What a better start to our New Year than a New Years Day birding walk in our local Oatley Park Reserve. As we walked along the track we were both aware of an eerie silence – there were no birds calling, no not one. The only sound of the occasional Sulphur-crested Cockatoo screeching, which was normal for them. We noticed […]

As another Christmas comes around in what has been another challenging year for us all, and continues to be for many, it is an opportunity to refresh ourselves as to its true meaning and implication. I had my grandsons come and stay and go out birding with my wife and I this week which was a wonderful experience for both […]

As most of you know my wife and I take a 5 hour journey to the inland country city of Wagga Wagga several times a year to visit her family. While there we always do an early bird walk around the lake, which many locals either run, walk or ride around for exercise. It is a lovely walk which is […]

The decline in migratory shorebird numbers is becoming alarming. The Eastern Curlew is but one of many shorebirds that has a conservation status of: Threatened. Fewer numbers are returning each Spring. In fact some have decided to actually stay over and spend the whole year on our beaches and river tidal flats for they know the journey north has become […]

Being the first days of Summer, we thought it right that we should have a birding date walk and coffee, along the Georges River waterfront to check out the return of our migratory waders, the Bar-tailed Godwit, which appear on our river flats at low tide and should have returned several weeks ago. To our disappointment and concern we saw […]

The weather has not been all that kind for birds here this Spring and many species we have previously seen in Spring have not returned, as I shared last week. So as I took a mindful walk through my local Oatley Park last week, I focused in on some the beautiful common sights and simply appreciated them. As I commenced […]

It was a lovely sunny day for a change after weeks of rain and wild weather so my wife and I took a birding date to Olympic Park Reserve, Sydney. This park was constructed to host, recreate and house the 2000 Olympic Games. It is extensive, having many walking and riding trails through parks, mangroves and around lakes, and is […]

Some of my blog readers will recall in my last post how I mentioned our state government had back-flipped on a Conservation bill to protect Koalas. There is good news ! Three days after my post they flipped back again due to both public petitions and outcries from their own party, where significant numbers of their party threatend to cross […]

During our time away house sitting in Port Macquarie on the Mid-North Coast of NSW we had the privilege of seeing family and friends. We also saw many Koalas, one of Australia’s unique creatures known as marsupial mammals, though this is not altogether correct as they are uniquely Koala, having their own family : Phascolarctidae. While we were there we […]

This week my blog is an educational movie from my YouTube Channel, as I am not blogging for the next month. I hope you enjoy it, and it gives some insight into our bird behaviours. Several of my friends have shared how they have been recently attacked by birds. This is common here in Spring and early Summer as nesting […]

The Sulphur-crested Cockatoo is one noisy, raucous, at times crazy and destructive larrikin of a bird, which can be heard and seen performing its unwelcome, though sometimes humorous antics in most parts of eastern and far northern Australia. In Sydney this bird is found in large flocks which breed and roost not far from us, as the forests provide the […]

On the public holiday in memory of Queen Elizabeth II my wife and I took a walk in Bottle Forest in our local Royal National Park at Heathcote. My wife had been tipped off about an amazing array of Waratah flowers there, one of the legacies of our recent abundant rainfall. The Waratah shrub (which is from the aboriginal word […]