Mollymook News
editor Ken Banks
The ‘Bird Life’ captured in these images was taken at the Mudgee, ‘Putta-Butta’ Wetlands. The name ‘Putta-Bucca’ is an aboriginal word thought to come from ‘puttaba’ meaning “a hill near a creek”. I saw a diverse variety of bird life, even spotted a turtle.
(Click on pics to enlarge)
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Having returned from our holiday on the NSW North Coast, the following are a few bird pics I took. The bird life species can differ a little as you move from area to area and I came across some interesting species on our travels along the NSW North Coast areas.
Some species I had never before seen / photographed; such as Helmeted Guineafowl, Spangled Drongo’s, Scaly Breasted Lorikeets, Cattle Egrets and a female Brown-Quail.
Click on images to enlarge
Helmeted-Guineafowl @ Woolgoolga
Australian-Bush-Turkey, male @ Woolgoolga
Australian-Bush-Turkey, female @ Woolgoolga
Spangled-Drongo @ Lennox Heads
Rainbow-Bee-Eater @ Lennox Heads
Scaly-Breasted-Lorikeets @ Woolgoolga
Rainbow-Lorikeets @ Crescent Heads
Cattle-Egret on farmland near Crescent Heads
Brown-Quail-female @ Lennox Heads
Pied-Butcherbird @ Woolgoolga
Pied-Currawong @ Woolgoolga
Satin-Bowerbird-male @ Coffs Harbour
Satin-Bowerbird-female @ Coffs Harbour
Welcome-Swallow @ Crescent Heads
White-Cheeked-Honeyeater @ Lennox Heads
Lewins-Honeyeater @ Lennox Heads
Noisy-Friarbird @ Lennox Heads
Ken B., Mollymook Beach Waterfront: Editor for Mollymook News, Destination Mollymook Milton Ulladulla and Mollymook Ocean Swimmers
Waterbag Road, Mutawintji
Rescuing a lamb in trouble on the dirt road to Mutawintji
October 11, arrived allowing regional travel to begin. I immediately left Mollymook and travelled to the Mutawintji National Park. Exiting the sealed roads, you have about a 1 & 1/2 hour drive along the dirt Waterbag Road through numerous huge sheep stations, opening and closing cattle gates, other stations were separated merely by cattle grids en route to the Mutawintji National Park. Mutawintji is in Far Western NSW, approx. 130 km from Broken Hill and 350 km from Tibooburra. The ancient landscape of the Mutawintji National Park, is rich in Aboriginal history. Great bushwalks and camping under the outback night sky.
I returned via Boorowa. Every entry into Boorowa has signage; “Superb Parrot, Superb Country, Welcome to Boorowa”. In the past 30 years driving through Boorowa I had never seen a Superb Parrot. Neither had a friend who grew up in Boorowa. So I just thought the signage to be a bit of nice advertising. The weather was not good, I parked at the Caravan Park, awoke in the morning to showers and an overcast sky and decided to pack up and go home rather than stay a day. Then, SWOOSH! The noise of about 50 or 60 Superb Parrots went overhead and landed in this tree next to the caravan park that was heavy in blossom.
The following week in beautiful weather, blue skies, ideal for bird photography, I took off on another trip out West. My first stop was the Boorowa Caravan Park hoping to get some good pics of the Superb Parrot. The tree that had been heavy in blossom had been stripped bare. Not a Parrot to be seen. So I headed to Young, not far from Boorowa and came across flocks of Superb Parrot’s. Thereafter I headed to Grenfell, then Forbes, the following day to Cowra, back to Boorowa then onto Jugiong. Then to the Yass River and gorge area on the way home.
The following pics below, are just a few of the many bird pics taken. Nonetheless they will give you an idea of the different varieties inland as compared to here on the coast.
(Click to enlarge to pic)
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Australian Magpie
Eastern Great Egret
The ‘Bird Life’ captured in these images were taken on my ‘rest day’ at the Belmont Lakeside Tourist Park when I ventured nearby to the Belmont wet lands.
(Best to click on images to enlarge)
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The ‘Bird Life’ captured in these images were taken on my ‘rest day’ during the NSW State Surf titles at Swansea Belmont. Advised to check out the bird life at both the Kooragang and Hunter Wet Land areas’.
I wish to credit Charles Dove for his wonderful help in getting me started in the photography of ‘Bird Life’.
(Click on images to enlarge)
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Images of the ‘Sacred Kingfisher’ at Nyngan
The ‘Bird Life’ captured in these images were taken on the latter part of the Mollymook swimmers Western NSW tour, specifically at Nyngan, Trangie, Narromine, Dubbo and Wellington. Prominent in the stories and advertising relating to these specific area’s was the ‘Sacred Kingfisher’ bird. I had never heard of, nor seen this particular bird before. My first stop on this section of the trip was at Nyngan. Nyngan is a rural centre situated on the Mitchell Highway astride the Bogan River on the eastern edge of the Great Outback and has some beautiful river walks and park land on both sides of the Bogan. I spent about an hour at this location early to mid morning. The bird life was quite prolific and as I was finishing photographing and wandering back to my car there sat on my vehicle’s outside rear vision mirror this magnificent coloured bird. So pretty! It soon took off and parked in one of the nearby trees where I was able to get a variety of images as per the above, of this ‘Sacred Kingfisher’.
Wikipedia: “The sacred kingfisher is a medium-sized woodland kingfisher that occurs in mangroves, woodlands, forests, and river valleys in Australia, New Zealand, and other parts of the western Pacific”.
I wish to credit Charles Dove for his help in identifying some of these birds. He has been very helpful in getting me started in the photography of ‘Bird Life’. (Click on images to enlarge)
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Regent-Bowerbird
Sightings of the above ‘Regent Bowerbird’ are usually very rare. This pic was my sole sighting over 7 days at Crescent Heads, ‘it was there one moment and gone the next’. Reportedly one of the quietest Bowerbirds, seldom calling away from the bower, usually just soft grating calls.
I would spend about an hour each morning photographing the local bird life that were relatively few in number due to the winter months and I am sure would be more plentiful during spring. Most mornings were spent at a variety of areas surrounding the Crescent Head beach, mainly north and south sides, although on one morning I took a drive to Hat Head and walked around the headland, but being closer to mid-day I only saw a few birds in the Hat Head National Park. Birds that were new to me included the ‘White-cheeked-Honeyeater’, (I thought it was a Yellow Faced Honeyeater like we have down here in the Morton National Parks.) Nor was I familiar with the ‘Fantail-Cuckoo’, the ‘Masked-Lapwing’, the ‘Brown-Thornbill’ and the ‘Rufous-Whistler’. A very pretty bird and there were many of them was the ‘Welcome-swallow’. I hope you enjoy looking at the different species.
I would like to acknowledge bird enthusiast Charles Dove who helped me identify the various bird types.
Best to click and make the pics bigger
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