Sunday, April 20, 2008

Hawkesbury lagoons.


The street I live in...

With the weather having turned for the worst and no opportunity to ride or walk, there were not too many options. So, taking a leaf out of Maalies book- and make the most of the situation, I decided to do some birding along the dams, river and lagoons of the Hawkesbury.
The Hawkesbury Valley has a large network of lagoons, and lakes and with the rain each is full and bursting with life.

It was a cool day, heavy with showers and storms. It made the day a strange mix of cold air, rain and suddenly sunshine with humidity. I chose to commence the birding in Westbury Lane and was greeted by Bell Minor, Soldier Bird, Australian Magpie and Black Faced Cuckoo Shrike.


Black Swans On Pughs Lagoon

Driving through the rain to Pughs Lagoon and I was greeted by Black Swan, Coot, Swamphen as well as House sparrow, Variegated wren, Whiskered Bul bul, and Plover.


The area that I was visiting has changed over the years. In early settlement the area was Sydney's food basket, in later years, turf farms and now- polo fields. The wealthy arrive via helicopter and it really has become a major industry. Prince Charles has even played here.


Little Pied Cormorant

One bird in particular was interesting, the Australian Pipit and White Winged Chuffs. Whilst I had seen these on trips out west I had not seen them here and had to refer to my bird books to confirm that they are in fact found across this area too.

After four hours of walking and driving I had a nice list of birds and a nice day out!

History rusting.

Bird list:- Welcome Swallow, Kookaburra, Bell Minor, Australian Magpie, Pee Wee, Willy Wag Tail, Dusky Wood Swallow, Black Faced Cuckoo Shrike, Crested Pigeon, Dusky Moorhen, Pacific Black Duck, Wood Duck, Coot, Black Swan, Little Pied Cormorant, Australian White Ibis, Mallard, Variegated Wren, House Sparrow, Plover, Whiskered Bulbul, Nankeen Kestrel, Great Egret, Australian Pipit, White Faced Heron, Australian Raven, Common Bronzewing, Royal Spoonbill, Cattle Egret, Common Starling, Straw Necked Ibis, White Winged Chuff, Soldier Bird.

27 comments:

  1. I LOVE the Australian Pipit!!

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  2. Not a bad place to live in! :-)
    The photo of the swans is very beautiful and peaceful.

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  3. P.S.:
    I can see only two pictures, the swans and the rusting car.

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  4. thats odd? I wonder why I will have alook from another computer- they appear on this one which is the one I uploaded them on!

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  5. I have 4 photos - and they're all lovely!

    I think you and I must both be missing the runcible lad, eh? More fun to blog when there are three of us to discuss things?

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  6. You live on a PAVED street, Simon?!? That photo inspired extreme envy, you know.

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  7. oh yes they are paved and they recently even paved the dirt bits!

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  8. Some nostalgic pictures there for me mate.

    Greetings from Vienna!

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  9. hey mate!!! how is it there??? any birds??

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  10. birding must be fun, but i haven't the patience for it. which is why i have a plethora of feeders to attract all kinds of marvelous feathered creatures. (and some not so marvelous, bloody starlings.) my favourite is the painted bunting, whose habitat i am, unfortunately, no longer in. What's your favourite birdy?

    ryn: I went and dowloaded a couple of Apocalyptica songs, and i really like them ^_^ good thing you mentioned them lol. any song recommendations?

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  11. Shadow-lor. Birding is really a great way to get around. I used to just ride or walk in the bush. I still do the speedy things but mix it up with bird watching too!

    I like their Metalica versions!

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  12. Hi Simon, I'm back! You're lucky the rain wasn't so hard you couldn't stand in it or take the camera out! Unlike where I went for the week :( Even the birds were hiding or their nests were flooded!!! Your photographs are beautiful and it's exciting to see a new bird in the area you haven't seen before - like your Pipet. Bet they'll keep appearing from now on :)

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  13. Hello Anony! welcome back! I use a waterproof/shock proof camera on days like this! Its a little more "hit amd miss" and the zoom is onlyx3.. but better than damaged!

    How was the holiday?

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  14. Ermmmm if my description of holiday wasn't enough in comment above you can view grainy dark images for the next couple of weeks at my Photo blog but you already know that. Maybe you will need to see even more pictures than so far shown to reach what's 'worth more than a thousand words'. Sigh. *glurp*

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  15. It sounds like a good day's work done. Glad Maalie was able to inspire you.

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  16. G'day Simon and wonderful pictures and words from another part of Australia...via six degrees of separation our sheep agent actually travels routinely to Ivanhoe, it's kind of his "office" :)

    I am inspired by your knowledge of the Australian birdlife....something for me to work upon yet.
    Thanks very much for sharing all this.

    (Is the weirdest thing that folk love room temperature beer-reminds me of UK pubs).

    Pam

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  17. Sorry, Ellee introduced me to your site.

    Pam

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  18. Hello from Norway! Thank you for visiting my blog. The snake in the picture is an "Adder" (In Norwegian "Hoggorm") It is the only natural poisonous snake here. It is not so big about one metre. I will translate my post a little bit later today:)

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  19. Hi Petuna! It looked like and adder. We have one called a Death Adder here and like yours is small and moves very little. However it poison will kill you pretty quick!!

    I Am sorry I cannot speak the language! :o)

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  20. Hi Simon - how are you? Just popping in to see if you'd posted anything new and how you were!

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  21. I am good! just SUPER BUSY with nothing new to report... oh-I cleaned out my garage :o)

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  22. well - I'd say cleaning the garage was pretty major - and you would know why if you saw mine!!!

    actually, you will like my post - well at least the picture on it - when I get it up today.

    I'm glad you are well - is it the depths of winter for you yet or just early winter?

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  23. whiskered bul bul.......! I want one of those!

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  24. really! You runcible girl Maryam!
    Peacock Pavilions is looking GREAT btw!!!

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