Well, we finally have had 4 consecutive clear sky days without rain, with the warm winter sunshine breaking through the cold crisp air, bringing record cold temperatures and now cool westerlies. A time when I remember that the Yellow-tailed Black Cockatoo make their winter visit to the coast to find the many trees laden in pine cones and seed pods […]

Continuing with some of the birds we saw in our recent visit to Taronga Park Zoo, Sydney, we saw a lifer – The Double-eyed Fig Parrot. This was a bird we pursued when we were last in Far North Queensland, but never laid eyes on. It is a resident of New Guinea, but is also found in the forests coastal […]

Since my wife and I are unable to walk the flooded tracks of our local national parks we decided to use our post Covid Entertainment Voucher (courtesy of our state government) to visit our local Taronga Park Zoo, Sydney’s oldest and largest zoo, situated right on Sydney Harbour with stunning views of the harbour and city. Our main reason for […]

Rain, rain and more rain has been the normal here this year, though we had a few perfect days. On one such day my wife and I decided early that morning to fill our Thermoses and gather our gear for a 2 hour drive, heading up to the Southern Highlands, situated on Great Dividing Range south west of Sydney. We […]

We are so thankful for sunny warm autumn days again with clear blue skies, at least for now. However, our birding expeditions have been almost fruitless due to washed out and flooded tracks and the absence of birds, due to the seasonal change and the effect of the rain on bird habitats. On my recent walk in my local nature […]

Last Sunday my wife and I had a birding date in the city of North Wollongong. After a lovely lunch at the popular Diggie’s beach-side cafe we did the Puckey’s Estate Nature Reserve walk past Puckey’s Lagoon. This is a very popular recreation area, well catered for by the local council. Many families were out enjoying the last day of […]

Last weekend my wife and I travelled to Canberra, our nation’s capital, to visit family. While there we took a walk through the National Botanic Gardens, which is another place where my books are sold, in their bookstore. As it was late in the afternoon,, we visited the recently included Banksia Garden area with its own dedicated study buildings. banksia […]