What a turkey

Australian Brush Turkey

Twice over the course of this year, my wife and I have travelled to Sydney. We go there to visit our son and to look after our wonderful, energetic grandchildren, ages 8 and 5. From our home in Murray Bridge, South Australia, it is a pleasant two-day journey. Along the way, we try to stop in places where I can observe a good range of birds.

Australian Brush Turkey

While we are in Sydney, there are a few places we like to visit, places we have enjoyed during past visits. One of these favourite places would have to be the Ku Ring Gai Wildflower Gardens in the Sydney suburb of St. Ives. These gardens have a good range of native Australian plants which have been planted there. My wife always enjoys looking at these and taking photographs of anything flowering. I have included some of my photos of flowers below.

The gardens also include a large area of natural bushland. This area is a good representation of the natural habitat which existed before European occupation. While much of the surrounding area has been cleared for housing and industrial use, there are still many remnants of original bushland left. In these areas, the native birdlife can be very easy to see and photograph.

While we were having a cuppa one of the resident Australian Brush Turkeys came right up to where we were sitting on one of the garden seats in the picnic area. I am sure it was hoping to get a share of our biscuits. We disappointed it: we do not feed our native birds as human food is not suitable for them. So, in its frustration, it decided to get something for itself. It tried opening up my camera bag looking for some tasty morsel. Seeing that my camera bag was on the ground right next to where my son was sitting was no deterrent to this bird. Obviously, they are quite accustomed to people and are not at all frightened by our presence. Not having any luck with us, it wandered over to another spot where some other people were having a barbecue. They took pity on it and gave it something from their picnic food.

You can read more about Australian birds on my other site Trevor's Birding.

Ku Ring Gai Wildflower Gardens Sydney

Ku Ring Gai Wildflower Gardens Sydney

Ku Ring Gai Wildflower Gardens Sydney