Category: Environment

We recently spent seven (7) magnificent days on this island paradise. It’s a beautiful volcanic remnant with steep cliffs, fertile soils and a slow pace to life and lots of seabirds in the Spring-Summer period. The local population of some 2000 relies mainly on tourism, fishing and farming. The island has a brutal colonial British…

Winton Wetlands today the Pelicans were testing out their fishing gear. We saw at least 85 birds near the overflow exit at Stockyard Creek. The water level was very low. Very few other birds except for an Australasian Darter a few Whistling Kites and a Brown Falcon. We were only there for a short time…

The Crimson and the Eastern Rosella seem to be the dominant form in the Rosella group near home. However lately we are seeing the Yellow form of Crimson a bit more. They are all wonderfully coloured birds a joy to watch. The Eastern Rosella (Platycercus eximius) is the usual friendly rosella in our garden. Beautiful.…

My morning walks close to home often are a welcome surprise. Clear skies and a cool morning add to the wonder of nature with the birds. Sulphur Crested Cockatoo feeding on emerging buds of Ornamental Pear in our backyard. Very inquisitive, noisy and sometimes mischievous. We usually see them in large flocks, sometimes hundreds. Another…

I decided to stay close to home today making an early start in the cold morning (-2.4c) air. It was beautifully clear and sunny nearby where I walked but fog was visible in parts of the valley below. The short loop of 5.3km is on quiet country roads. I took the binoculars hoping to spot…

Female White-throated Treecreeper with the rufous spot below the ear-coverts. This busy little Thornbill was hard to spot as it kept fluttering from tree to tree. There were other birds calling like the Spotted Pardolote, Eastern Shrike-tit, Gray Fantail, Ravens and the very noisy Sulphur Crested Cockatoo. Brown Thornbill on the bank of the King…

I recently updated to a Panasonic LUMIX DC-FZ80D camera, it’s a bridge camera with a fixed 20-1200 lens. I am quite impressed with it. I took it out for a test run on my morning walk. I saw all the usual birds that morning nothing out of the ordinary. When I got near the lower…

Here is today’s trip. These winter days often start pretty ordinary but this morning was exceptional. I went out just after 7am hoping to capture some landscape images and see what the birds were up to. Not much to report Fog central near Hamilton Park.