Craig Miller - Blogography » blue mountains

Megalong In The Morning

Craig Miller — Sun, 28 Jun 2009 10:27:55 +0000

Hello again,

After having the worst weather for what seems like the last three months today I got up at 6am and headed down into the Megalong Valley. Leaving home the sky was patchy but it looked like it might turn out OK. It was nice to dream! As soon as I turned off the highway heading into the valley the weather closed in!

I made my way into Megalong and parked at the entrance to the Six Foot track, dragged all my gear out of the car and headed East along the track where I was greeted by a curios Scarlet Robin I didn’t even lift the camera as I was looking into the light and it was pretty well still dark. Continuing along the track East there were quite a few Buff-rumped Thornbill as well as White-eared Honeyeater, Grey Fantail and one Grey Currawong. I spent some time trying for a photograph of a few but the conditions made life very difficult. Heading back to the road and over the cattle grid heading West I was quite surprised to see very few birds today. A pair of Laughing Kookaburra and a few more Honeyeaters.

With this I made my way back to the car and took a casual drive round the valley, along Peach Tree road all the way to the end and then back and along Five Mile Creek RD and finally making my way home. It’s a stunning place to visit even when the birding’s not so great.

Till next time
Craig.

A Beautiful Afternoon

Craig Miller — Sun, 24 May 2009 09:47:28 +0000

Hello again.. Two entries in as many week, aren’t you all spoiled!

After being stuck inside almost the whole week with pouring rain and just all round miserable weather I spotted a glimpse of sunlight though the clouds this afternoon so I grabbed my camera and was on my way. Seeing the weather had been so horrid I wasn’t to keen on heading too far from home in case the heavens opened up again (chances were high) so Kings Tablelands it was seeing it’s about a 5 minute drive from home.

Beautiful Firetail

I’ve been trying for some time now to get myself a good photograph of Beautiful Firetail (Stagonopleura bella) and a good friend of mine let me in on a very good location for them not so long ago. I’ve been there a few times but always found myself interrupted by something be it traffic, people or people walking their dogs (off the lead arrggg) so today’s bad weather gave me some peace and quiet to get ‘the’ shot!

Not long after getting setup in the wet heath my little friends arrived and to my surprise they were quite happy to sit right on the edge of the heath in plain view for me, so I happily snapped away form my natual hide. After a few minutes they were on their way and I could hear Gang Gangs calling form the other side of the valley but their a whole nother story.

I have attached a photo of my Beautiful friend and more can be found in my gallery.

That’s about all I have for now though in the next few days I have some news that I just can’t write about tonight so stay tuned!

Craig.

Cold Lithgow Outing!

Craig Miller — Sat, 16 May 2009 10:15:37 +0000

Hello again to all my loyal followers…

This afternoon I decided it was time to escape the house as I’ve been cooped up inside for the past 3 days sick with a shocking head cold.

The weather was against me no matter where I went, so I thought why not pay Lake Wallace (Wallerawang) a visit, after all it’s been a long time since I was there and I knew of a few interesting species worthy of a photo or two up that way. To make it better it’s only about a half hour drive there from home!!

So, as I drive into Lithgow the weather just gets worse and WORSE, at one point it was raining so heavy my wipers couldn’t keep the winscreen clear and I thought about pulling over. I stopped off at McDonalds for a quick coffee and continued on to the lake. As soon as I pulled up there were a number of Australian White Ibis, White-faced Heron, Australasian Grebe, Black-faced Cormorant, Little Black Cormorant as well as a Musk Duck or two.

I spent roughly three hours around the western bank of the lake, well worth the trip as I managed a few quite nice image for the afternon (see gallery) with a total of 21 species recorded in that time.

I’ll leave you with a photo of todays star; Musk Duck.

Satin Bowerbirds

Craig Miller — Tue, 05 May 2009 03:10:31 +0000

These Satin Bowerbirds have been busy building a bower in my garden, over the last few days I have recorded their antics.

Satin Bowerbirds from Craig Miller on Vimeo.

Cheers
Craig.

What a weekend..

Craig Miller — Sun, 14 Sep 2008 09:29:15 +0000

This time of year makes living in the Blue Mountains even more amazing, the days are warming up and every thing is coming to life including ME! I guess like a big old bear in hibernation I don’t leave the house enough in the winter.

Honey Eaters: This weekend I spent a few hours around the Kings Tablelands as there are always plenty of willing targets in the area, a few I have been looking for a long time and a few completly unexpected. I was privalaged to sit amongst thousands of Yellow-faced Honeyeaters as they start their trip south. I was in complete awe of the massive number of these birds on the move.

Glossy Black Cockatoos: Just a quick mention that over the last two weekends I have seen at least three pair of these amazing birds in the Kings Tablelands area. At times they are not very aproachable but then others very happy to have their photo taken. This afternoons winds made that a difficult task.

Windsor trip: Today (Sunday) I braved the wet weather and took a trip to Windsor and drove along Cornwallis Road. This would have to be one of my favourite places to go for birding. I spent about two hours in the area and the birdlife was simply stunning. I sighted a huge number of birds (too many to recall) and managed to photograph: Shining Bronze Cuckoo, Golden-headed Cisticola, Superb Fairy-wren and Yellow-rumped Thornbill. For any bird fans this area is a must see.

Australian King Parrot: Another great thing about the warming weather is we have the local King Parrots back in our yard, these birds will at times feed from our hands. I will never get sick of taking their picture.

That’s all for this week, back again soon.

Craig.