Another visit to Ku Ring Gai Wildflowers Gardens

Striated Thornbill

Whenever we travel to Sydney to visit family there, my wife and I try to get to the Ku Ring Gai Wildflower Gardens in the northern suburbs. It is about a 25-minute drive from my son's home. 

We enjoy visiting these gardens for three reasons:

• Some of the gardens have been planted and this area interests my wife.
• Much of the rest of this large property is near to how the original forest and scrubland would have looked.
• The whole area is a haven for the local birdlife - and that interests me.

Run by the local council, entrance to the extensive gardens is free. There is a very informative Visitor Centre with a small bookshop and plant nursery, and the staff are very helpful. Guided tours are available to visiting groups. There are many walking and cycling trails throughout the gardens.

On our last visit a few weeks ago, we spent about three hours exploring several areas and walking trails. Although I made a good list of birds seen during our visit, and many of them were calling frequently, I was disappointed that most of the birds were shy about coming out into the open. My camera did not get much a workout. 

The only reasonable photo of a bird is the one above of a Striated Thornbill - and it's not a particularly good photo at that. So instead of trying to spend all day chasing birds hiding in the foliage, I aimed my camera at some of the wildflowers out in bloom. You can see some of those photos below.

And I have added a photo of a butterfly as a bonus.

To read more about Australian birds, visit my other site Trevor's Birding.