Blog - Australia's Wonderful Birds

At the end of Bayshore Drive in Byron Bay the surveyors are busy. The go ahead has finally been given to build on empty land that was once a swampland and part of the Belongil Creek estuary. Immediately behind are the massive sand dunes that protect much of the Byron Shire. The approval is for a limited number of large blocks and this is seen as a bit of a win in some quarter...

Broadwater Beach is just north of Evans Head in the Northern Rivers Region of New South Wales. It is on a large and long sandspit formed many thousands of years ago by northerly sea currents. The sand deposited diverted the Richmond River from its old mouth northwards to its present outlet to the sea at Ballina.

Large sand dunes behind the beach protect the sandspit fr...

It is the first week of spring at the Byron Bay Wetlands and already seven Latham’s Snipes have arrived from their long journey to north Asia. Activity is picking up and a few water birds have arrived, but the ponds are still suffering from weed coverage. Even I Cell, which was cleared of weed a few months ago, is now nearly totally covered again. The bush birds are as active...

This Spotted Harrier fluttered across the paddock like an oversize butterfly, skimming just above the grass, then flew into a nearby patch of small trees. The paddock is opposite the Tuckean Nature Reserve, a swamp and wetland that was once the outflow of the Richmond River Catchment. Over time offshore currents built the sand barrages that finish at the Richmond’s present ou...