Hi Jenny, I had a similar experience yesterday late avo at Somersby industrial area on homeward drive. A group of 20+ Needletails (maybe a lot more…) were working a tree-lined paddock, rocketing along just a few metres above ground along a narrow fly-way, then zooming upwards and around to some obscured, maybe distant point for another return run. Cursing the timing of having no binocs nor camera in the car, I nevertheless parked and walked over to the action, getting ‘in and amongst ’em’, and enjoyed ten minutes in awe at the speed and freakish control they maintained, like some sort of futuristic prototype jet-fighters. Occasionally close enough for an impressive ‘whoosh’. Wow. Jenny – re your other recent post, the fireflies are peaking in the vicinity of Forest of Tranquility – which is adjacent to my place. But don’t expect too much, they are a far cry from the ‘lightening bugs’ that characterise US summer evenings for nature-loving kids of all ages. These are very small, in low density, and not really that luminescent. John Weigel =============================== To unsubscribe from this mailing list, send the message: unsubscribe (in the body of the message, with no Subject line) to: birding-aus-request@vicnet.net.au http://birding-aus.org ===============================
I had 2+ White-throated Needletails above me at Tambourine Bay Park, end of Tambourine Bay Rd, Riverview (Sydney NSW) today. As I was at a children’s party and there was much going on my eyes were torn away from the sky and I was unable to make a proper observation to check numbers and confirm ID (and sadly lacked bins). Approx 12 pm, warm day. Another unexpected bird today: did a double take when I saw a White-winged Chough in Northbridge, lower north shore, Sydney. It was hanging out with a hundred plus humans at the community centre/community gardens around 7pm! Aparently it has been sighted there over the last couple of months. Arwen
Good to see someone else enjoying watching one of the swifts strutting their stuff. John I cannot find Homeward Drive in Google maps, Google Earth or Google Search. I do not see an industrial area in Somersby – though there is one closer to Kariong – though still no Homeward drive showing. Would you mind clarifying where the sighting was made please. I am assuming it was in NSW. Thanks for sharing the observation – much appreciated. Mike Tarburton —– Original Message —– Cc: Sent:Thu, 5 Dec 2013 08:22:03 +1100 Hi Jenny, I had a similar experience yesterday late avo at Somersby industrial area on homeward drive. A group of 20+ Needletails ————————- Email sent using Optus Webmail =============================== To unsubscribe from this mailing list, send the message: unsubscribe (in the body of the message, with no Subject line) http://birding-aus.org ===============================