Day 303: October 30th – Featherdale and Royal Botanical Gardens

Sunny, 80, and mild

       We traveled with the tour to Featherdale Wildlife Park this morning and had an enjoyable morning seeing and learning about the avian life indigenous to this vast country.  The entire time we spent relishing in the marvelous weather and beauty of the birds, our thoughts kept returning to our loved ones and homes back in the states as “Super-storm” Sandy pummeled the east coast of the U.S.  We can only pray that everyone will make it through the storm with as little physical and emotional damage as possible.

       As for sightings at the park, while many of the animals are caged,  native birds were seen around the area that were not captive.  Zoos and parks like this are often an attractive site for local birds looking for easy access to food, water, and nice habitat.  We did in fact pick up a few nice new birds today including a couple corvids.  The first was an Australian raven, smaller than our ravens, but similar in size, color, and bill shape.  There are quite a few different species which look similar and you have to check out wing coloration, bill size and shape, and location to get a good handle on what you are looking for. 

       A second black bird was spotted later in the afternoon at the Royal Botanical Gardens.  A Pied currawong was found high in the canopy, but its hooked bill and lighter colored coverts gave it away.

       Meanwhile, back at the wildlife park, a few Cattle egrets had flown in to take roost in the surrounding trees.  The colors of these birds seem so much deeper than their North American cousins and this bird in particular was richly hued.  I followed and photographed the bird for a time and finally caught the bird as it took off for a different location.

      

       I walked back to our hotel through the Royal Botanical Gardens and although I was a bit disappointed with the lack of birds, I did manage to capture yet another shot of the most common bird locally, the Common myna flying in for a bite to eat.  These birds are to the parklands of Australia as the American robin is to our front lawns. 

       Finally, along the waterfront of Sydney Harbour which lies just down the street from our hotel, I captured one last new bird of the day and a new “lifer”, the Australian pelican.  Many of the birds found here which have similar names to our NA species are very similar or in fact are the same as ours back home.  This pelican, however, has a different look to it in its pink bill color and the black primaries, shoulders, rump, tail, and upper wing.  All this and the fact that it is the only pelican found in Australia make it a sure identification.

Day 304: October 31st – Manly

     Another picture perfect day

         Our last day in Australia gave us the opportunity to revisit the town of Manly on the other side of Sydney Harbour.  Good friends of ours had invited us to visit them in Manly around 20 years ago and we were fortunate enough to be able to take them up on their generous offer.  With a free day today, we just had to get back to this beautiful little city and rekindle those fond memories of our past experience there.  When we arrived, we quickly made the short traverse across town to the spectacular Manly Beach.

      

       Sharon opted to take advantage of the sugary sand and warm sun while I decided to take the walk along the water to Cabbage Tree Bay Aquatic Preserve in the hopes of finding some bird life along the rocky shoreline.  .A sign at the entrance to the walk warned against any mishandling of the Water Dragons which can be found there.  Having never seen such a critter, I ready my little point and shoot in the hopes of capturing a suitable blog image.  It was only a matter of time, a really short time, before the first of the dragons appeared on the rock outcrops along the water.  I realized after a time that finding a Water Dragon along this path was no remarkable feat as they showed up every 50 meters or so along my trek.

       Still no birds, however, but I already had the dragons, so all was not lost.  I made the trip out to the next bay beach and back and finally came across my first bird of the walk.  A fine bird it was as I photographed and identified a Little Pied Cormorant in a most appropriate setting.  A good photo has to include the context in which it as taken and I believe that this shot fits the bill.  Nice bird in a beautiful setting.

     

       

       As we prepared to leave Manly, our next pair of new life birds appeared….another pair of cormorants.  These were a different species, however.  This was a pair of Little Black Cormorants.  It’s easy to see how these birds got their name as I mentioned to Sharon how much smaller they were than our NA versions even before I learned of their name.  It’s nice when the name, Little Black Cormorant, accurately describes the bird in question.

       We now prepare to leave Australia after 12 days and a number of new life birds which I have to admit I have yet to tally.  It’s been a fantastic trip, covering much of this large continent/country and we are really sad to leave. New Zealand is on the horizon, however, and that promises new adventures, new landscapes, and new birds to add to our “bucket list”.  We are indeed blessed to be able to experience these new lands “down under.”  

Day 302: October 29th – Sydney urban birding

A beautiful sunny, warm (70s) day, light breeze

       You never quite know what to expect when you bird a new urban area.  This is different in that we are in the southern hemisphere.  We were surprised at the birds we found last week in Melbourne, but that will today bring.  I walked across the street from our hotel where there is a small park separated from the Sydney Botanical Gardens (which we plan on visiting later this week) by a highway.  We noticed quite a number of Australian white ibises nesting in the palms of this little park from our room.  So, when I walked over to check the area out this morning, I was pretty sure I’d have that bird to include in today’s blog.  And so it was.  High in the tops of the palms, I found the birds roosting.  This one was in pretty good position to capture on the Nikon.  I later found a second on the grass and in much better light.

       The best was yet to come.  I heard a noisy chattering in a nearby tree and went over to investigate.  To my pleasure, I found one of the most colorful songbirds I’ve ever found in an urban setting….the Rainbow lorikeet.  The lorikeet was low enough in the tree to allow me to photograph it in reasonably good light.  Not bad for a city bird.

       Now, we were off to the opera.  We walked with our tour group over to the Sydney Opera House for a walking tour.  We had some of the birds we’ve found quite a bit in the cities of Melbourne and Sydney, but nothing new.  As we continued on our way on our city tour, however, we did find several new birds to record here.  The first was as Willie wagtail which I had to shoot through the window of our bus.  Fortunately, the windows were crystal clear and afforded a pretty decent view.

       We were now scheduled for a boat trip to tour Sydney harbor.  Before we embarked, however, I found a pair of Welcome swallows perched along the wharf.  Yet another new life bird in an unexpected place.

       Our last two birds were those becoming old friends…..the common myna and the Silver gull. 

       Silver gulls are so common as to be seen as “trash birds” to local birders.  One, however, deserved attention in that it was a juvenile and looked considerably different from its elders.  It’s plumage is much more checkered and its legs and bill lack the striking red of the older birds.  

       Tomorrow, it’ll be another day in the city and as we find more and more of these locals, the challenge of finding something new becomes more and more difficult.  We’ll find what we can and report back tomorrow.

        

Day 301: October 28th –Atherton Tablelands

Sunny, Mild, Calm

       A picture-perfect morning to get up at 3:45 AM and travel out to the Atherton Tablelands in Queensland, Australia.  After a 50 minute ride to get up through the mountains and onto the plateau, we stop for a “bio-break” at a local rest stop before heading up into the sky.  At the stop, we come across our first birds of the day, the Australian White Ibis.  A group of three are prying through the soil layer in search of bugs and grubs much the same as our North American versions do.  These birds are a bit more robust and darker in the face than ours.

       Now, it’s time to get up and over the tablelands.  I’ll let the following image do the talking…

        It’s back into the air after the balloon flight as we have to fly south to Sydney later this morning.  Again, we’ll have the opportunity to try our hand at urban birding.  

Day 300: October 27th-Kuranda and the World Heritage Rainforest

Warm, sunny, and breezy

      I birded Kewarra Beach Resort before we left for the town of Kuranda in the World Heritage Rainforest.  As I walked near the lagoon located in the heart of the resort, I saw a flash of white high in the trees on the opposite side.  I snapped off a couple of frames and then went to the field guide to see what it was I was photographing.  The guide book indicated that this was a Pied Imperial pigeon, a tad more impressive than our North American pigeons in my humble opinion.

       A I continued my walk around the property, a fairly large bird scurried across my path.  Then a second.  Both birds busied themselves with scratching through the leaf litter in search of whatever seemed edible and didn’t really seem to mind my presence.  These were a pair of Orange-footed Scrubfowl and I soon realized that around the resort, they were not all that uncommon and I continued to run into them throughout our stay.

        My last new “lifer” was a brightly colored member of the parrot family.  I heard quite a few of these beauties, but trying to get a good look let alone a good shot was like one of those “where’s Waldo” puzzles.  The bird is predominantly green and feeds high in the canopy among equally brilliant foliage.  The one saving grace is that the Scaley-breasted lorikeet has a garishly blood-red bill.  Picking out the flash of red and then firing in the general direction, I was able to get a photo decent enough for documentation purposes.  Don’t be looking for this in any bird mags or galleries, but it’s good enough for here!

       Although I would have loved to remain on the property of the resort and continued to bird these amazing rainforest grounds, it was time to head up into the oldest rainforest in the world, the World Heritage Rainforest at Kuramba in Queensland.  We visited a commercial site known as “Bird World” which was actually a pretty good way to familiarize ourselves with the native species we might encounter during our remaining days in Australia.  Sharon befriended an individual whose species we had already added to our life-list, but being in a bus at the time in the outback near Ayer’s Rock,  I did not have the opportunity to photograph the bird.  The bird was too good looking and too friendly to ignore now, however, so I included the bird here with the understanding that it doesn’t really qualify as a real nature shot.

      

        From here, it was up to the rainforest proper and a ride through and over it via the Caravonica Skyline Cableway.  We were joined by our Ranger, Jeremy, a member of the local indigenous tribe.  He advised us up front that most of the creatures of the rainforest are nocturnal, so we shouldn’t expect to see an awful lot of fauna.  That being said, we came upon a Bush turkey almost immediately, our first bird of the forest.

       Later, we visited Hartley’s crocodile farm.  Our  experience in St. Augustine, FL has shown that birds do tend to congregate around these sites as a source of food and water.  We certainly were not disappointed at the results we got here.  In fact, the bird of the day was found high in the treetops surrounding the lagoon where the rocs were kept.  White-bellied sea eagles, another bird for the life-list was in easy view and made a great subject for today’s blog.

     Our final bird of today’s blog is a majestic stork, the Black-necked stork which was found alongside the same lagoon.  A fine fitting finale to today’s list of birds.  Tomorrow, it’s down to Sydney for the next four days after an early morning balloon flight over the Atherton Tablelands.  What will urban birding bring?  Check us out…….

Day 299: October 26th – Great Barrier Reef

Sunny, low 80s, light breeze

       It’s another check of our “bucket list” as we visit the Great Barrier Reef off the coast of Cairns, Australia.  After a 1 ½ hour ride aboard the jet cat QuickSilver III, we disembarked onto a huge dive platform complete with two semi-submersibles carrying 30 passengers each, a heliport, an observation deck below water level and the dive platform for those of us wishing to explore the world’s largest coral reef.

       We had hoped to pick up a few more Aussie birds out at the dive platform, but all we could garner was a quick fly-over of by a flock of Black-naped terns.  Too quick for photos, but not so quick that we could not get a definitive look at them.  Otherwise, the birds were at a premium.  Go figure.

       I did manage to pick up some pix of the reef and a few of its inhabitants as I packed my little SONY Point and Shoot into a waterproof bag and shot away.  The fish of the day was the Sargeant Major, many of these little gems floating right by in front of the mask.  The coral was as beautiful or moreso than most of the fish I photographed and ended up making up most of today’s photos.

       When we finally arrived back to Merrano Beach and headed to our cabin, we actually came up with the “Shot of the Day”.  A Wallaby, a smaller member of the kangaroo family, greeted us at our front door as we walked down the path to our porch.  The wallaby was as interested in us as we were with him and allowed me to get decent shots even though all I had was a little point-and-shoot camera. 

       As we patiently waited for the wallaby to move into better position for a photo, Sharon noticed a large bird had come in and landed on our roof.  It turned out to be a Kookaburra,  a fairly large bird found only on the continent of Australia.

       So, after a great day of swimming and snorkeling in the waters of the Great Barrier Reef, we got our  ”Shot of the Day” at the last moment rifht in front of our living room door.  You just never know what the day will hold in 

Day 298: October 25th – Ayers Rock

Slightly overcast, low 80s, breezy

         What a great surprise when we awoke this morning to a beautiful spring day.  After yesterday’s oppressive heat and the forecast for today divided between more heat or rain, we got the best we could imagine and hope for. 

        When we first got out and about, before breakfast, Sharon and I took a walk around the property of the resort where we were staying.  We were first greeted by a fine rabbit which had come out for a breakfast of his own.  As it turned out, there were a number of these little hares hopping in and out of the shrubs, nibbling on the shoots of grass.  Given the sparse vegetation in the surrounding desert, the lawns of the resort must seem like a 5-star restaurant to these little guys.

        My first bird of the morning was a repeat performer from yesterday, the Yellow honeyeater.

       If there is a cast of hundreds of birds around the resort, the honeyeaters and the Yellow-throated miners surely make up more than 80 % of the avian stars.

       I did manage to find a Spiny-cheeked honeyeater which had been skulking in the shrubs but had made a quick foray out onto the lawn to pick off some tender morsel.  I hadn’t seen one before today, and I did not see another while here at Ayers Rock.

       After breakfast, we ventured out to the rock itself and had an incredibly informative morning with our guide LeRoy, a white native of this area of the outback.  He is close with the aborigines and has extensive knowledge of their history and customs.  He has a wealth of knowledge about every aspect of the “center” of Australia – the flora and fauna, the culture, the geology, and all other areas.   We certainly had a wonderful time learning the real story behind Ayers Rock.  But that’s a story for a different blog.  

 

       As we toured the rock area with LeRoy, we had the great fortune to pick up a few new birds.  At first sight, I thought we had another Australian magpie, but in fact, it turned out to be a Pied butcherbird.  We followed the bird and ended up having a number of good sightings of this bird of the outback.

       As we drove into a parking lot with the bus to see another angle of the rock, we saw a pair of strange looking birds we both took to be some sort of pigeon.  Turns out, we were not far off the mark.  The birds were a pair of Crested pigeons.  I got within 30 yards or so and stopped, not wanting to scare the birds off.  As it turned out, they came within 4 feet of Sharon and me and could have cared less how close we were.  Great opportunities for some nice shots.

       Tomorrow, we are in Cairns and will head out to the Great Barrier Reef.  Not sure, but we could pick up some nice new shore birds and pelagics.  Check us out to see how we fare.

Day 297: October 24th – Alice Springs and Ayers Rock

Sunny, HOT, and windy (se)

Ayer's Rock

       It was a long, really long day today that began early this morning in Melbourne and ended up with sunset at Ayers Rock, half way across the country.  As we moved across the country, the temperature steadily rose although we didn’t really experience the gradual change since we were at 37,000 feet above sea level and travelling at over 600 miles per hour.  That being said, when we left Melbourne, it was barely 60 degrees and when we touched down at Alice Springs, the mercury was sitting at the 104 degree mark.  They say it’s a dry heat.  I say it was hot, plain and simple.

        We were only in Alice Springs for a layover and a brief lunch.  The town of 27,000 people in the middle of a barren desert was certainly interesting, but how people live here in this heat and aridity is beyond me.  We spotted a few birds which turned out to be miners and Magpie-larks, but hardly had time to explore and find anything new before it was back on the airplane for another 50 minutes to get to Ayers Rock.

       When we got to the rock, a national landmark and resort in the “center” as Australians call the outback, the temperature had dropped to a balmy 96, but fires in the area led to smoky conditions which were afraid might lead to poor birding.  As it so happened, we were so hot and tired, we decided to hit the pool before heading out the “rock”.  At poolside, we were quite delighted to find another life bird the Yellow-throated miner which spent most of its time chasing a second lifer, the Yellow honeyeater.  Quite a find and some of the most comfortable bird photography I’ve ever done as I shot the birds while standing waist deep in a cool swimming pool in the middle of a gigantic desert.

Yellow honeyeater

Yellow-throated miners

        We later traveled out to Ayers Rock to see the light of the setting sunlight up the red rocks of the geologic phenomenon.  Well, the smoke from the fires had other plans for us and pretty much blocked out the beams of sunlight from the rock.  The sunset itself was made all the more magnificent by the smoky skies, however and before the sun did set, we got some initial shots of the feature in all its glory.

        We’ll return here tomorrow morning to get more photos and hopefully more birds.  Until then, we’ll lay our heads on the pillow and get some much needed rest.

Day 296: October 23rd-The Melbourne Botanical Gardens

Sunny, blustery, and mile (mid 70s)

       It’s a great day for a visit to the Botanical Gardens of Melbourne.  We spent much of the morning touring this beautiful city.  It is truly one of the most attractive urban centers we have visited in all of our journeys around the world.  It is a shame we will only be here for a couple of days.  Tomorrow, it’s off to Alice Springs and the outback. 

       I had googled the birding possibilities around Melbourne and the gardens came up as a top choice to get the most birds in a short amount of time.  They were right on the mark as we found many of the target birds just by heading down to an area known as “Long Island” at the southern most extremities of the park.  I’ll just include a few of the most attractive of the birds we found here today.  Among those are the following…..

The Pacific Black duck….

The Common Blackbird……

The Hardhead……

The Australian magpie……

The Black swan……

And last but certainly not least, the Sulphur-crested cockatoo……

       The list of birds we found in the park is quite a bit longer than is related here, but in the interest of brevity and the fact that we will be up at 5:45 AM tomorrow morning, we will end here.  Tomorrow, we will report to you from Ayers Rock and Alice Springs.  We will fly to these locations tomorrow and hope to have a new assemblage of fine birds for you.  Until then…..