Sydney has a bark

Monday 5th August

After 3 barking owl reports in Sydney, I couldn't resist the urge to get out to Jamieson Park, Narrabeen and have a look for myself. Two birds had been reported roosting earlier in the day and on my 1 hour drive to the site, after many hundreds of texts to Josh Bergmark, it was realised these Narrabeen barking owls could possibly attempt to breed... lets hope so!!!

Once I arrived the first birds seen where King Parrots, a flock of 7 flying around in the casurinas. As I proceeded along the walk, White Browed Scrubwren, Eastern Yellow Robin, Whipbird and other wet forest species were encountered. On reaching the water, Wood Duck, Intermediate and Great Egret were seen as well as both Hoary-headed and Australasian Grebe were seen. As we moved further along the track, we bumped into a man with binos and another with a rather large camera and tripod, both with 'Pittwater Council' logos on their shirts. They quickly pointed out one of the Barking Owls roosting to our right which I would have missed had it not been for them and told us where to go for the other bird. I took the opportunity to get a few shots of the owl before the light totally died and my dad headed off up the track to try find the other bird whilst there was still some light.

Barking Owl 1

Barking Owl 2

Barking Owl 3

Barking Owl 4

Sadly we couldn't locate the other bird. As it got dark, the Sulphur Crested Cockatoos came in to roost accompanied by a flock of 10 or so Glossy Black Cockatoos. The barking owl we had seen started to call softly, and was almost impossible to see. We decided as it was possible they could breed that calling back and using spotlights was not a great idea, so we refrained. As we headed out, a Powerful Owl called near the creek but sadly we couldn't locate it.

Somewhere along the track my dad managed to lose his glasses so he had to return the next day. He found his glasses neatly folded up and placed prominently upon a large moss covered log. He looked up around the log and managed to locate what was hopefully the other barking owl! Great for him as the night before he didn't really get a decent look at the bird!!!

Thanks dad for driving me!!! More blogs coming up!