Birding Trip With the Pros :-) Windsor Downs, Bushell's Lagoon, Pitt Town Lagoon and Scheyville National Park

What a trip! Four top birding spots in one day, traveling with some exceptionally experienced birding celebrities, what more can you ask for? Well, one could argue that it would be nice with some birds to look at, and as the observant reader will notice it is often a bad sign when a birding blog post starts with 2 insects pictures :-)

The Nikon started snapping before the trip had really started. In the back streets of Newtown I managed to stalk the butterfly in the first picture - these guys are very shy creatures and seems to know when they are being observed. Though 750mm full frame equivalent (FFE) takes a bit off the required early morning sneaking skills.

Amazingly and brutally honest: The grasshopper in picture two was probably the highlight of Windsor Downs :-D We gave it a good go though, using at least an hour wandering around in a dry and very warm forest seeing only a few wrens and a White-throated Treecreeper - I need to see the Red-browed soon!

Bushell's Lagoon, however, never disappoints! Even during the very warm part of an Australian summer day the waterbirds will be out and on this particular day at Bushell's even a few nice surprises: The Cuckoo below for one :-)

A bit of walking through high grass brought us out on some wonderful(?) mud flats where a good crowd of waders had found refuge. Sharp-tailed Sandpiper (below) and Black-fronted Dotterel. No sight of the Grey Plover, but who cares ...? ;-)

This year seems to be the "year of the turtles", I have seen turtles in every waterhole I have visited since I came back to Australia after Christmas and New Year in Denmark. The little fellow below had dragged itself into a nice warm sunny spot taking full advantage of the scorching sun.

We decide to retreat back to Windsor for some shade, a look at some real estate pricing (I really love that) and a bit of lunching - all in combo with a deliberation on how to solve the the lack-of-birds problem. I have never been to Bushell's Lagoon without seeing a Black-shouldered kite and this day was no different .. At some point I will have to get the Letter-winged Kite .. soon!..?

Pitt Town and Bushell's Lagoon - Again with an American twist

Some of you might remember the action-packed triple feature Sunday Lagoon bonanza previously described here at this site, where the Sintic and yours truly combined forces and managed to cover most of the birding hotspots of the north-western end of Sydney in only one day.

The American ticking machine had read both the Pitt Town and Bushell's Lagoon posts and demanded to be taken there already on her second day in Sydney .. impressive speed of the little American tornado :-) I was easily convinced due to the lack of Pink-eared Ducks at our last visit and there was always the chance of the Bittern :-)


No Bittern, but we sorted out the Pink-eared Duck and saw a few Australian Shovelers, tick-tick! :-) Also, my companion managed to finish of the Ibises, indeed we saw all three during the trip including the Glossy.

Bushell's lagoon proved less vibrant than it had been on my previous trip. However, there are always good opportunities of a bit of BIF photography and a group of nine Goldfinches was in charge of the entertainment, only interrupted by yet another Black-shouldered Kite flying back and forth, seems they are all over the place at the moment! How many do you have to see, before you claim one of them as a Letter-winged equivalent? ;-)

Bushell's Lagoon and Castlereagh Nature Reserve

A few kilometers north west of Pitt Town you find Bushell's Lagoon. After a little Scheyville National Park detour we crossed the Hawkesbury at Windsor and headed towards the next Lagoon on the agenda.

Bushell's Lagoon is a great spot! Contrary to the Pitt Town equivalent you have the option of walking a bit around getting close to the wildlife and smelling nature. We got a glimpse of an Australian water dragon and according to a reliable source it is a great spot for seeing Red-bellied black snakes during summer. (Luckily?) It was still too cold for the snakes, but we had excellent views of a bit of feathered wildlife, which seems very relaxed - nearly curious - about a couple of walkers entering their domain.

Was quite happy with a series of photos, including the one above, where I managed to catch a few sharp ones of a particular inquisitive Golden-headed Cisticola getting close. The water birds were swarming like planes around Kingsford Smith and once again an Australian Pelican with nearly 2 meter wingspan is an excellent subject to practice on when taking on the wonderful world of BIF (Bird In Flight) shooting.


While walking along the track we managed to get a glimpse of something yellow, red, black and finchy and realized that we had a little community of European Goldfinches in the trees around us. They were less curious than the Cisticola, but managed to get enough of a picture to be able to claim it as a done deal.

On the way back towards the significantly more crowded end of Sydney I realized that I should take advantage of being accompanied by the most experienced Regent Honeyeater spotter that I know and soon after we found ourselves on good old Spinks Rd preparing to dive into the wilderness of Castlereagh NR. Well, well - got a few pictures - none of Regent HEs and will probably still need to visit Capertee valley .. how sad(?) ;-)