As my granddaughter is spending a few days with us during her school vacation, so I will share a brief post of Australia’s only endemic crane which is known as the Brolga, which we saw on several occasions during our adventure north on the Cape. This name is derived from the Indigenous Gamilaraay word burralga for this bird. We were […]
We continue our exploration of Far North Queensland in Cairns before leaving on our journey northward. We saw juvenile and adult Nankeen Night Heron walking around at night with the Bush-stone Curlew. Click on images to enlarge them. The most common raptor we saw circling over us most of the time up here was the Black Kite and the occasional […]
We have been away up Far North Queensland on a tour of the Cape York Peninsula right to the very Tip of the Australian mainland. We even went further to the Torres Strait Islands with a premium touring company called Outback Spirit which we have toured with on previous occasions. My wife was hoping to see the Palm Cockatoo, which […]
Last weekend we spent the morning with a younger couple of ‘novice’ birders as they described themselves. This was our second outing together, and focused on Mt Annan Botanic Gardens in the hope that the endangered Swift Parrot flock, wintering here, which I had posted several weeks ago, were still present in the eucalypts of this park. Before we got […]
Finally a blue sky and a chance to walk again, though much damage had been done to tracks still filled with puddles of water from the intense rain in the recent week. I thought I would check out the nesting hole again where the resident Southern Bookbook Owl had been lodging, preventing the resident Powerful Owl from nesting again as […]
As the cold days of rain continue into weeks and now months with the occasional break birding has become challenging to say the least. However on a recent weekend we did have an afternoon of sunshine to explore our local bird reserve along the bay in search of the birds that Winter-over every year. These include the Bar-tailed Godwit and […]
This post explores more birds from our Mt Annan bird dates. It is interesting how varied particular bird species nesting seasons are, especially for the Rainbow Lorikeet which may nest in Spring Summer or Winter Spring depending on the present food supply and prevailing weather conditions. We found several nests in old eucalypt trees near areas of flowering Grevillea ‘Superb’ […]
Last week my wife and I travelled to South Bruny Island, Tasmania in search of the tiny, rare endangered Forty-spotted Pardalote which is now only found in small groups in the far south-west of Tasmania, Australia’s island state. After catching the car ferry across from Kettering, south of Hobart we drove from the North Island onto the South Island to […]
It was a cold clear morning about 10° C when I took a solo walk and talk with God along the track of our local Nature Reserve. I was curious to see if the Powerful Owl had shown up again and whether the Southern Boobook I posted last week was remaining in the nesting hole., and it was, but the […]
A cool brisk sunny Winter’s morning and we went for a walk in our local Nature Reserve to check out the activity at the owl nesting hole, as this year there appears to have been some disruption to the Powerful Owl (Australia’s largest owl) having its usual nesting hole now inhabited by the Southern Boobook (Australia’s smallest owl). It was […]
Now that the massive deluge has passed and many thousands of people on the mid north coast of our state are in recovery mode, counting their losses from flood and rain damage which includes loss of human lives, many farm cattle as well as pets and wildlife, washed out to sea – then – the sun came out and the […]
Finally, there came a day when I could walk in our favorite reserve after days of rain. While it was still overcast and my wife was busy teaching English for Living, I decided to take a walk alone and chat with God in the quietness of our Autumn forest, which is characteristically the most bird few month of the year, […]
This week following our Federal Elections we learn how important team work is to achieving our goals. I have previously referred to the excellency of the male Australian Wood Duck as a father and how he stays with the one female to breed and live for a lifetime. And how he faithfully remains with her throughout the life long process, […]
Several of Australia’s endemic birds are known for their boldness, opportunism and ability to learn techniques often copied from other birds they have observed to steal food from the hands of unsuspecting picnicers. This has been our experience here and that of many others. So this is my topic for this post. We took my second grandson while he was […]
This is the quiet time of the year for the birds in our local nature reserve as they either migrate back to the warmer regions further north or just become quieter since they are out of their active exciting breeding seasons. However, some birds continue to breed into our winter months as it stays warmer now longer. This Rainbow Lorikeet […]
Last weekend my wife and I travelled to Canberra our nation’s capital city to visit family and visit the Pompey Exhibition in the National Museum. Canberra is a completely man made city constructed on sheep grazing areas half way between Sydney and Melbourne our two major cities. The reason being that each city thought it should be the nation’s capital, […]