Friday – 5:45am: I leave home in the dark, my poor little car is loaded with more photographic gear then I care to mention, laptop computer, enough clothes for a week, food and plenty of water. After a breif stop at Lithgow for some breakfast, I was in the Valley by 7:20am and the weather was spectacular!

The road to Glen Alice: Along the side of the road on my way I sighted (some photographed) the following: Fairy Martin, Welcome Swallow, Rufous Songlark, Zebra Finch, Red-browed Finch, Eastern rosella, Kookaburra, Magpie and Currawong. A lot of these birds could be photographed using my car as a hide.

Glen Alice: After arriving in the township of Glen Alice I took a coffee break in the park right in the center of town, this is a very pleasant spot with a great deal of bird life active the whole time I was there. After my coffee I continued to the very end of Upper Nile RD. where I sighted the following species: Noisy myna, Supurb wren, Red-rumped Parrot, Richard’s Pipit, Plum-Headed Finch, Rainbow Bee-eater, Black-shouldered Kite, Apostle bird, Wagtail, Yellow thornbill, Cuckoo, White-necked Heron, White-faced Heron, Australia Kestral, Striated Pardalote, Double-barred Finch, Southern Whiteface, Pallid Cuckoo and Dusky Wood-Swallow.

Binalong: While I was in the valley I chose to spend the night at the property Binalong; Two guestrooms in a private house available for self-catering accommodation for up to 5 guests, situated on 140 acres of prime bird habitat. Sit on the deck and watch a variety of honeyeaters coming to the birdbaths. The property boasts a list of over 120 bird species. Full kitchen facilities, linen and towels provided, very reasonably priced. For enquiries and bookings phone April Mills on (02) 6379 7326. I highly recommend staying on a property such as this as you get to see a whole lot more as well as take in some local knowledge. Species recorded: Brown falcon, Black-faced cuckoo-shrike, Jackie Winter, Yellow-eared honeyeater, Noisey friabird, Crested Shrike-tit, White-browed, babbler, Hooded robin, Sacred kingfisher, grey strike-thrush, brown and white-throated treecreeper, Fuscous honeyeater, King parrot, Rock warbler, Diamond firetail and Golden whistler.

That’s about all from me for this outing, I hope you all take the time to visit the valley it truly is a wonderful place. All photos from this trip can be viewed in my gallery.

Craig.

My first entry here is going to be my dissapointment in Aussie hardware distributors. I’ve been trying to get my hands on a Canon 300mmL IS USM lens. I have contacted 4 well know camera shops in Australia and no one can get or even give me any detailed info as to a price or availbillity of this lens, this makes me think maybe it doesn’t exist? Does anyone actually own one of these?!? LOL!

Trip news:

I’m planning a trip (for other reasons) to Wagga Wagga in the next week or so and I’m hoping to check out a few good birding spots out that way. Mostly the areas around Flowedale Lagoon and Lake Albert though there are quite a few lagoons out there I’d like to take a look at depending on how much time I have free and of corse if I can get the new lens.

Later This month I’m planning on a trip to Morisset on the NSW Central coast to photograph a breeding pair of Osprey. This will only be a day trip as the lighting only suits afternoon so I’m told.

I’ve also booked holidays for early October and have two days put aside to make the trip to the famous Capertee Valley, I’ll be spending at elast one night in a guest house with access to over 150 acres of the best birding country in Australia.

That’s all for now, I’ll be back later with some more info.

Craig.