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Sydney September 2017 (1 Viewer)

M

Mekong birder

Member
Hello everybody,
I have just learned I will be visiting Sydney in mid September of this year, and am currently planning a few birding trips around the city.
I have a non birding girlfriend and am looking for places where she will be happy with the scenery / hiking, and I might see some birds and other wildlife.
Places I have in mind are
Royal National Park
Lane Cove National Park
Kurungai Chase National Park.
I would love to hear of any particular trails in these parks which are reccommended for birding and scenery.
The timing means I cannot do one of the Sydney Pelagics, and will not have a car to access other pelagic starting points, so would very much welcome any suggestions for land based albatross watching in or around the city.This will probably be the only chance I ever have to see an albatross so that's top of my own priorities.
We may have a day in the Blue Mountains and would welcome suggestions for particular trails / viewpoints there.
Also welcome would be ideas for places we might have a chance of kangaroo / wallaby / koala / echidna / platypus / glider.
Thanks so much for any advice offered.
Mark
 
Blue Mountains is far away.
One option is Great Ocean road.
Another option is penguin parade south east of Melbourne on Philip Island.
Most beautiful protected area from my point of view is Tarra Bulga.
Very nice ferns and huge trees.
South east of Melbourne is also camping place where appears Wombats every evening about 1 h before sunset.
I am not sure, but remeber best place for Koala is Otway Forest parc ?
 
The Royal National Park is great for birdwatching and coastal scenery.If you park at the southern entrance you can follow your nose -the trails are very clear.
I spent a lot of time in Centennial Park.The main lake area is closed off to swimmers and boaters so the central islands were very good for egrets,herons,cormorants and other water birds.There is a website about birds with links if you google Centennial Park Sydney birds.
You will be surprised by the number and variety of birds you will see around any of the well established suburbs!
We were staying near Waverley cemetery and saw lots of good birds walking along the coastal path heading north.
 
Last edited:
albatross02 said:
Blue Mountains is far away.
One option is Great Ocean road.
Another option is penguin parade south east of Melbourne on Philip Island.
Most beautiful protected area from my point of view is Tarra Bulga.
Very nice ferns and huge trees.
South east of Melbourne is also camping place where appears Wombats every evening about 1 h before sunset.
I am not sure, but remeber best place for Koala is Otway Forest parc ?
Click to expand...
They are going to Sydney!
 
Thanks to all who have replied so far.
Albatross2, I think the places you mentioned are close to Melbourne, rather than Sydney, but thanks anyway.
Andrew. I'll be sure to check out Marouba Head for a chance of Albatross. Did you need a a scope to get them or were they close enough to ID with binoculars?
Pratincol - Royal NP seems like a great all rounder and Centenial lakes good for a few hours when my other half decides to go shopping.
Much obliged,
Mark
 
Mekong birder said:
Thanks to all who have replied so far.
Albatross2, I think the places you mentioned are close to Melbourne, rather than Sydney, but thanks anyway.
Andrew. I'll be sure to check out Marouba Head for a chance of Albatross. Did you need a a scope to get them or were they close enough to ID with binoculars?
Pratincol - Royal NP seems like a great all rounder and Centenial lakes good for a few hours when my other half decides to go shopping.
Much obliged,
Mark
Click to expand...

A scope is always useful for seawatching, though my recollection is that some of the albatrosses were pretty close. That was in quite favourable conditions for seawatching though (i.e. quite bad weather!). If you have a scope I would definitely take one.
 
Mekong birder said:
Thanks to all who have replied so far.
Albatross2, I think the places you mentioned are close to Melbourne, rather than Sydney, but thanks anyway.
Andrew. I'll be sure to check out Marouba Head for a chance of Albatross. Did you need a a scope to get them or were they close enough to ID with binoculars?
Pratincol - Royal NP seems like a great all rounder and Centenial lakes good for a few hours when my other half decides to go shopping.
Much obliged,
Mark
Click to expand...
Yes the Royal National Park is very scenic with mixed habitats of trees,shrubs, and coastal habitats-its a very attractive place.You eventually reach some impressive views right down the coast by heading to the south east edge of the park.
Centennial Park is a doddle for finding birds-I notched up a few lifers there without having to break sweat.
Enjoy- lets know how you got on!
 
Oh, sorry I mixed Melbourne and Sydney.

From Sydney, I visited Blue Mountains.
12 years ago area around Wentworth/ Katomba ware are "Three Sisters" was very touristy.
8 km to next village Blackheath, it was much more quite and very nice hikes.

Further I visited Hawks Nest north of Newport.
During snorkeling I saw Manta Rays.
North of this is New England NP and Dorrigo NP.
Both are very nice. Dorrigo even more beautiful, New England with Kanguruh very close.

We had strong rain and many small leaches came out. They climbed into shoes, so I had blood in the socks.
Next day I used cross country trousers, in style of leggins.
Because special offer I bought trousers which was 20 cm to long. I pull them over the feets. The leach seems to hat this syntetics. I had no leach attack on this day !
 
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Hi Albatross2.
Good advice about Blackheath, as I wanted to visit the Blue Mountains with being swarmed with crowds.
Also, thanks for the tip about Hawks Nest. I LOVE snorkeling almost as much as I love birding. Did you see any turtles there?
Thanks, Mark
 
Mekong birder said:
Hi Albatross2.
Good advice about Blackheath, as I wanted to visit the Blue Mountains with being swarmed with crowds.
Also, thanks for the tip about Hawks Nest. I LOVE snorkeling almost as much as I love birding. Did you see any turtles there?
Thanks, Mark
Click to expand...
If you send me a pm I can put you in touch with someone who does a lot of snorkling and diving around Sydney.
 
Hi Mark.

Maroubra will be the best place to go seawatching, there are site near Manly where you can seawatch and the snorkelling at Shelly beach in Manly is one of the best snorkelling spots in Sydney.

If you can't make a pelagic trip you can go on a whale watching trip, usually they go our for about 4 hours. You would have a good chance of seeing Black-browed Albatross, both Wedge-tailed and Short-tailed Shearwaters and possible a few other seabirds if conditions are good.

If you can let me know your dates for your trip I'll see if there are any extra trips planned at that time. Although there are set dates for Sydney, Port Stevens and Kiama pelagics sometimes extra trips are put on which you might be able to join.

For the Royal National park the wattle forest and lady Carrington drive are the best rain forest spots. Mount bass fire trail is good for heathland birds and Wattamolla is good for Rock Warbler and more heathland birds.

The Royal has Swamp wallabies, sugar gliders and echidna, the blue mountains should also have eastern grey kangaroo, Wombat.

Kurungai Chase National Park has sugar glider, brush- and ring-tailed Possum, echidna, new Holland mouse, brown antechinus, eastern pygmy possum plus a host of snakes if you go spotlighting at night.

Feel free to ask away if you have any more questions.

Cheers.

Rob
 
Hi Rob,
thanks for the info.
I will be in Sydney from the 14th to the 22 September. As far as I can see the Sydney pelagic for September is on the 9th.
I plan to do a whale watching trip, and hopefully bag a few dolphins into the bargain. A black browed albatross would make my day.
I also plan to do the walk from Manly to North Head, and back via the sanctuary, as a friend told me that on a windy albatross are also possible from there.
As we will not have a car I planned to take the train to Waterfall and then the Couranga track for heathland birds and the connecting Forest Path for rainforest birds. Possibly also a trip to Heathcote NP on the way back.
I'd be grateful for any feedback you could give on those ideas.
Regarding the Blue Mountains. We thought about going to Blackheath for the scenery and trekking, and less crowds than Katoomba.
Could you advise the best way to reach Kurungai Chase by public transport from the Sydney cbd?
Much obliged for your help.
Mark
 
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