Keith picked us up at our motel at 7:30 am to bird the area. It was supposed to be 30 degrees today and it was warm already. We started the day with the lovely pink Galahs sitting on the telephone lines and being very noisy. Soon we saw the Rainbow Lorikeets, which Colleen had not seen before. Then the Red-rumped Parrots, and we had several more different types of parrots and lorikeets throughout the day. It was a hot day, there were more fires in the area, as this is the area where the latest outbreak of bush fires have occurred. Keith's daughter's home was surrounded by fire on both sides and she and the kids went to stay with Keith and his wife while the daughter's husband stayed back at their home to help fight the fires. They were lucky and the fires stopped at their property. Today there were more fires in the area. It got smokey where we were and we saw several helicopters getting water from the Hawkesbury River to go and dump the bucket on the fires. We were told we were fine. But the national park that Keith wanted to take us was closed due to the severe fire danger. It was very dry and hot. The birds were fairly quiet later in the day.
Birding highlights included a Sea Eagle, Banded Lapwing, we finally saw the Koel, Golden-headed Sisticola, Nutmeg Mannekin, Rufous Song Lark, Brown Song Lark, Freckled Duck, White-winged Triller and White-throated Gerygone. There were lots of other birds, we saw or heard about 100 birds. The Windsor area is plentiful in birds.
As the afternoon came, the winds picked up and the way the wind was blowing it cleared most of the smoke away. I haven't listened to the news yet so don't know how the fire-fighting went. But after we came home from the Summer Hill market square where we went to pick up some supper and came back, it started to RAIN!!! and it is supposed to rain for the next couple of days. This place could use a week of rain as everything is parched bone dry and there is so much dead dry stuff out there it is scary.
Colleen has been doing great and generally today the birding was in and out of the car and the air-conditioning was running at high. We said our thank you to Keith and we headed for Sidney where we are staying the next two nights. Tomorrow we are going to the Sydney waterfront and will go to the Botanic Gardens then the Opera House then the ferry to Manley. We will meet up with Sami and Lynn's brother-in-law who lives near Manley to visit a couple of Manley sights. Lynn's sister is coming down with a cold so unfortunately will not be meeting up with us. So tomorrow is sort of tourist day with some birding included. We are looking forward to seeing Sydney at dark as it was so beautiful when I flew in with all the lights.
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