This weeks blog covers Saturdays walk in the Australian Botanical Garden's then Sundays Guided walk in the Noorumba Reserve ran by the local Campbelltown Council NSW as part of Bird week. 

To start with Friday night was suppose to be the Astrophotography night again in the Gardens but the cloud cover put an end to that for the night and that was called off around 3:00pm. So postponed for a few more weeks, but still on.

So I headed out Saturday for only a couple of hours knowing I was already booked in for Sundays Photowalk.

I started out around the stolen generation memorial and found the usual Bell Miner (Manorina melanophrys) These seam to have taken over the area here and are quite aggressive to anything of similar size in the canopy they occupy. 

As I walked along the trail here I came across a few Sulphur-Crested Cockatoos (Cacatua galerita) in a gam tree carrying on.

I soon found out what they were on about as I spotted this Lace Monitor on the board walk. They certainly weren’t happy about this one in the area. If oyu note the claws on this one you’ll see there some what large and these have no issues climbing a tree and are often seen feeding on Bird eggs they get form nests in trees so the bird life try and push them along. 

In this case the Cockatoos were screeching and soon an Australian Raven (Corvus coronoides) joined in seen here. A Magpie-lark (Grallina cyanoleuca) or “Peewee” as formally known all joined in to swoop on the monitor and see it on its way, It was interesting to see the three different types of birds all working together to see of this one

This week like last week a White-browed Scrubwren (Sericornis frontalis) was bouncing around the understory of the woodland area seeing what it could find. This one wasn’t in the best light so harsh mixed light but still the shot turned out ok. Probably the best shot for the week this week.   

I also came across a small Brown Thornbill (Acanthiza pusilla) This one didn’t co-operate and stayed behind various branches and leaves so I didn’t get a clean shot this week, that went the way of the weekend this week. 

As I was shooting the Thornbill I heard the Nosiy miners alarm call going off, followed by quite a few other birds alarm call so I set off to see what set them off. Turns out an Australian Hobby (Falco longipennis) was at the top of a gum tree on the edge of the clearing. I managed these few shots but nothing to great here shot wise but still gives an idea of the Bird and its massive feet. 

The last shot here is of the Hobby just as it left the branch before heading out of the canopy and then it started to ride the thermals as it set off. 

The last shot in the gardens this week was of another Sulphur-Crested Cockatoo Feeding on one of the many flowering trees in the gardens. 

As part of Bird Week the Campbelltown Council organised a talk on Wednesday night with guest Speaker Mark Fuller of the Cumberland Bird Observers Club. Mark gave a talk on the Various birds to be found in Western Sydney and gave some photography tips. The talk was good and Mark was very knowledgeable on the topic, a great evening. The council as a follow up had a guided walk in the local Noorumba Reserve by Mark and Michael Rhydderch from the council. The rest of the shots here are the shots I managed to get on the walk. 

​The First shot on this walk was taken before everyone arrive and I took a quick walk alone to see what was about, I saw a pair of Eastern Whip birds but didn't manage to photograph the, these ones are quick and I only have a couple of shots of these over the last year or so. This shot is of a Rainbow Lorikeet (Trichoglossus haematodus) This one was stretched out to reach the truck of the tree. 

This next one was of an Olive-backed Oriole (Oriolus sagittatus) taken from quite a distance so this shot is heavily cropped in to get this shot, not the best but still gives an idea of the bird. 

Like the Australian botanical gardens there was a few Sulphur-Crested Cockatoos flying over the reserve. 

As we walked around the reserve there was a few Superb Fairy-wren (Malurus cyaneus) in a small group of bushes on a grassy plain. Again not a clean shot of this one.

Up in the upper canopy there was spotted a Pacific Baza (Aviceda subcristata) Again another non clean shot with plenty of sticks in the way of this shot but the best I got this time. 

Another shot of a Sulphur-Crested Cockatoo in flight, as there was numerous ones of these flying over. during the four hour walk we had. 

Later on the Pacific Baza was spotted spring on the thermals.  

Lastly as we were wrapping up the walk the last bird we came across was a Noisy Friarbird (Philemon corniculatus) again a lot of branches blocking a good clean shot of this one. So this weekend wasn't a good week for clean shots, but some weeks your more luckyer than others. Still not a bad week. 

So the guided walk was a good even Mark was very helpful and knowledgeable of the local birds their calls and habitats you would find them in. The walk had about thirty people so with a group like that the birds didn't hang around but even so the group spotted just under 50 bird species in a four hour walk. so a pretty good effort. The Reserve is even closer to my place than the gardens so I'll bare-visiting this one again and seeing what I can find with out the group. A great even by the council. 

Thats it for this weeks Blog. Thanks for dropping by.

Glenn.