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Friday 15 January 2016

ORGAN PIPES NATIONAL PARK

Recently my family, my cousin and I visited a nearby national park, the Organ Pipes National Park. I had heard about several birds seen there and thought that it would be a good place to bring my family, since it was just 15 minutes away from home.
On arriving, we didn't initially see much. However, as we descended the steep hill of the park, a few common birds were seen: Willie wagtails and superb fairy-wrens making an appearance. At the bottom of the hill, two dusky woodswallows were perched on twigs: one immature and one adult. The adult was too hard to photograph, but I got a good shot of the younger bird.
This young dusky woodswallow didn't stray far from his parent
Continuing down, we got to the Organ Pipes rock formation. This basalt structure had been formed by volcanic activity in the area. White marks were visible on the rocks: according to previous reports these marks are the droppings of peregrine falcons that nest there. Unfortunately none were visible: however two eastern grey kangaroos were seen at a distance. We ate a snack at the nearby picnic area before walking on to see the equally interesting Rosette Stone formation. On the way several white-browed scrubwrens were feeding in a bush.
The Organ Pipes really look manmade, despite the fact that they are completely natural
The Rosette Stone is also very beautiful and odd-looking
We then walked back up the hill. On the way I was delighted to see some rufous whistlers very close to the track. There was also a distant black-faced cuckoo-shrike and two eastern grey kangaroos feeding nearby (one with a joey!)
It was nice to get a good photo of this rufous whistler
This adorable eastern grey kangaroo was happily feeding as we walked along the track
The national park had a few more gifts left for me: a single falcon-like bird flew overhead (most likely the peregrine falcon reported to roost here) and as we made it to the top of the hill a close-up and very tame swamp wallaby inspected us before hopping slowly away.
This swamp wallaby, similar to the kangaroo before it, seemed calm with our presence 
All in all it was great to discover this hidden treasure of a park.

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