Yarra River Birding

After reading multiple reports over the past fortnight of Azure Kingfishers being spotted along the Yarra River, I was determined to see one, and so planned a multi-stop birding day out in bushland within an hour’s drive from Melbourne’s CBD. The weather forecast called for a 50% chance of a light drizzle in the morning,…

Grand Final Birding in Bendigo

[Disclaimer: Our Tamron 150-600mm lens was being serviced, so we had to settle for a Canon SX50 ‘point and shoot’, as well as a Panasonic Lumix FZ200, hence the substandard quality of photos in this blog post.] Whenever there’s a long weekend in Melbourne, we always try to bird further afield. So, on the newly announced ‘Footy Grand…

Bird Boxes in Bendigo

It was some months since we last did a ‘big birding day out’ so we were really looking forward to the Queen’s Birthday long weekend in early June. I had read intriguing bird reports from a small reservoir on the outskirts of Bendigo, so I was eager to try my luck. ‘Crusoe Reservoir’ and ‘Number 7 Reservoir’…

Also-rans – Part 1

I don’t write a blog post about every birding outing because I just can’t write quickly enough. It’s not that we bird every second day, but I just can’t seem to find enough time to download and edit photos while crafting a semi-interesting account of our adventures, many of which are uneventful and disappointing due to the…

Pound Bend, Jumping Creek, and Mount Lofty

It never ceases to amaze us that forests teeming with wildlife still exist so close to Melbourne. Take the Warrandyte State Park for example: just 30 minutes drive from the CBD is an almost alien world (to city slickers) of crisp, unpolluted air, rich history, thick forests, a multitude of bird species, and even koalas! Based on…