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.

I also must apologise for not having a whole lot to say (type) lately, life is chaos this time of the year with both work and home taking over. It’s great to finally be on holidays for a few weeks of relaxing with my camera in the bush.

Recent Trips:

I’ve spent a few hours round the Cattai area over the last month or so mostly to visit the Rainbow Bee-eaters but also trying to find one of my favourite species – Golden Whistler (Pachycephala pectoralis) and just yesterday I managed a great encounter with an extremely friendly male, YAY!

I spent some time in Murphy’s Glen last weekend and managed to see my very first Beautiful Firetail (Stagonopleura bella) I was most pleased to have seen this species so close to home and I’m planning a trip back there in the coming weeks to try an photograph this rarely seen little bird.

Future Trips:

To start off 2009 I am making the trip back to the wonderful Capertee valley with some friends to spend at least one night, this is such a fantastic place to visit I really am excited to be going. So look out for new images in the future.

That’s all I have time for right now, though I’ll be back with a full report on my Capertee trip early next year.

Cheers
Craig.

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.

The morning started with setting up the hide and attracting half a dozen Eastern Spinebill then a single Scarlet Honeyeater chased them away. Thankfully I managed a few photos that I am resonably happy with. After that we were visited by a few friendly Brown Thornbill and a very inquisitive Eastern Yellow Robin. Not long after we moved the hide to a new location where we were again visited by more Eastern Spinebill and another Eastern Yellow Robin. I was waiting for a male Golden Whistler but only the female showed up (for a very short time) and not interested in having a photo taken.

We moved the hide for a final time and on the way stunbled onto a pair nesting Spotted Pardalote. These are one of my favorite little birds and the male was not worried by us at all, he was most obliging and posed for many very nice photographs. After setting the hide up we found a pair (or three?) of Grey Shrike-thrush though they didn’t seem to want their photo taken and stayed just out of reach of the zoom the whole time.

Mitchell Park is a beautiful place and has a very diverse range of forrest attracting a large amount of birdlife. For those of you wanting to see a large variety of bird in one place with great amenities highly recommended.

That’s all for now.

Craig.