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Port Vincent….. an afternoon walk

30 Oct

Australian Pelican and Silver Gulls

Dear Reader:

It has been a comfortable two and a half hour drive from Adelaide to Port Vincent. Although, with low cloud cover, I am not anticipating any worthwhile photography until tomorrow. How wrong can I be? As I pull up in the car park, an Australian Pelican lands on the grass verge near the cabins. And, no more than a hundred metres away, I can see a group of Pied Cormorants on the nearby breakwater.

Pied Cormorants

Cabins along the beach front

Apologetically leaving the others to unpack, I grab my Sony RX10 and wander down to the beach. To my surprise, two Bottlenose Dolphins are hunting in the shallows along with another Pelican; much to the consternation of a pair of fishermen who are trying to catch an evening meal themselves.

Pelican hunting solo

Dolphin taking a vertical dive

The dolphins are fascinating; turning, accelerating and diving constantly as they herd the school of fish they are feeding on. Not an easy animal to photograph from the beach as all you see are half a back and the occasional fin. Nevertheless, I continue to track them with the camera. Suddenly, one dives vertically with its tail held high. A nice moment.

Red-necked Stints

Crested Terns

Along the shoreline, where the waves lap against piled up seaweed, a mixed group of tiny waders; Red-capped Plovers and Red-necked stints, are foraging for tiny worms and crustaceans. Nearby, a Crested Tern is resting on the beach when a second bird flies down to join it, possibly a nesting pair.

Red-capped Plover with eggs

One of the plovers is meandering higher up the beach and doesn’t move far as I approach. I watch it carefully and search the seaweed for a nest. Sure enough, there amongst the brown tangle of weed are two perfectly camouflaged eggs. I back off a dozen metres and wait. After a few minutes the bird returns to its eggs and sits carefully on them eyeing me defiantly. 

Port Jackson Shark egg casing. The spiral shape wedges under rocks.

Remains of a sponge showing silica skeleton

I move away from the little plover and hunt for any other life in the accumulated drifts of weed. My search is fruitful and I turn up a spiral shark egg. Probably from a Port Jackson Shark one of the oviparous (egg laying) species around our coast. Further along the beach I come across the skeletal remains of a sponge. Sponges, unlike nearly all life on earth, have a skeleton made of silica and the fine network of spicules is fascinating and easy to see.

My walk along the shorefront, right in front of our cabin, is coming to an end it is getting cool. Time to head on back and decide on lunch. Probably local seafood at a rather colourful shop on the shore closer to the town. It is easy walking distance and highly recommended by a local I met on my initial Port Vincent walk. 

Cheers

Baz

Additional notes

This is an easy walk and drive which is quite suitable for families and seniors with public toilets, barbecues, parking and other facilities nearby. It is dog friendly.

Please pass on this blog title and or contact information (URL) to any person or organisation with an interest in taking walks and enjoying wildlife in SA.

Click on these links and see more South Australian stories and pictures in my Weekend Notes articles as well as locating similar blogs on Feedspot’s top 20 Australian wildlife blogs

https://www.weekendnotes.com/adelaide/writer/452/

https://blog.feedspot.com/australian_wildlife_blogs/

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Title Kangaroo Island….Day 2 Lesueur Conservation Park

30 Jul

Rosenberg’s Monitor a little upset

Dear Reader:

Grey clouds are shrouding the sky this morning and a cool wind is sweeping in from the sea. I check the weather app and there doesn’t seem to be any rain forecast for the day though the light will be poor.  My Sony RX10 has the larger sensor of my two cameras and seems the obvious choice for today’s jaunt through the nearby Lesueur Conservation Park.

 

Wildlife and Farm life

The unsealed road from the lodge towards Lesueur has been recently graded which makes travelling a little easier and I reach the turn off to the park in a few minutes. There is low scrubby forest to my left and verdant grazing land on the right. To my surprise, a flock of sheep near a small water hole are sharing their territory with Black Swans. A sweep with the telephoto also reveals a few Masked Lapwings and Grey Currawongs in the paddock.

 

Pea flower species

Blue Cockatoo Orchid

I make the signposted turn to Lesueur CP and a little way down the road I notice a cage trap set under a grass tree; I assume it is for feral cats which are a threat to all Australian wildlife from reptiles to birds. Today there are very few animals around which is fairly typical in cool overcast conditions and I decide to fossick around in the scrub adjacent to the road. The first thing I notice is the proliferation of flowering plants including native pea flower species and delicate blue orchids.

 

Grey Fantail and Silvereye

Red-browed Finch

There are small birds high in the trees but they are hard to identify. I come across a deep rut in the road which is partially filled with water. The vehicle scares several small birds away which are using the pool as a bathing area. After driving a several hundred metres down the track I leave the car and approach the ‘bird bath’ stealthily through the scrub. Taking up a position about fifty metres away I wait and within ten minutes they return. Long shots on a cloudy day do not make for award winning images but they do help me identify these small birds as; Silvereyes, Grey Fantails and Red-browed Finches. Meanwhile a large centipede is burrowing through the leaf litter next to the log I am sitting on. Telephoto to macro in a split second supports my use of bridging cameras in some circumstances.

 

Rosenberg’s Monitor (like all monitor lizards it has a forked tongue similar to that of a snake)

Centipede species

The wildflowers, centipede and small bird species have made the excursion into the park interesting and I am sure it is worth another visit on a more amenable day. I leave the park and take another randomly chosen track which takes me away from the coastal fringe. Five minutes along this route I see the flattened shape of a large lizard by the side of the road. I stop and take a closer look hoping it has not been injured or killed by a car. As I approach the goanna/monitor which instantly informs me of my error with a hiss and quick, aggressive lunge. I take a couple of shots and usher the animal away from the road.

 

Creek scene

 

View from the lodge

A little further on, the road passes over a small creek which is picturesque even on a dull day. It then intersects with another road, which my GPS informs me, leads back towards ‘Seadragon Lodge’( see link below for more information) where I started my day’s adventure. By now the clouds have shifted and patches of blue sky are brightening up the day. Time to relax, put a log in the combustion heater and sort through my images while enjoying the view across the gully to the ocean.

Cheers

Baz

Additional notes

Seadragon Lodge……  https://seadragonlodge.com.au/

This is an easy drive which is quite suitable for families and seniors and the lodge is wonderful with magnificent views and abundant wildlife.

Please pass on this blog title and or contact information (URL) to any person or organisation with an interest in taking walks and enjoying wildlife in SA.

Click on this link and see more South Australian stories and pictures in my Weekend Notes articles

https://www.weekendnotes.com/profile/651267/

 

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Houseboat Cruise from Morgan SA…Day 5 Taylor Flat

5 Dec

Dear Reader:

It is early morning. The rest of the boat crew are asleep and I’m catching the first of the sun’s rays. There are fish breaking the water and a few swallows hawking for insects. We are still moored near Caudo Winery and I am reviewing some shots of last night’s sunset. A wonderful end to any day on the river. Today we will be making a short jump along the river to Taylor Flat, tie up for a leisurely lunch before embarking on the final leg back to Morgan.

 

 

 

I climb the stairs to the top deck which houses the spa, barbecue and another set of boat controls. Comfortably ensconced on a chair, my feet up and camera at the ready I scan the passing riverbank for wildlife. During our houseboat journey I have spent many hours doing this and it has become a form of meditation, broken by the occasional exciting moment of discovery.

 

Today is no exception. A small group of wild goats are running parallel to us along a riverside track. They look like young animals; leaping, butting each other and generally cavorting. A truly unexpected moment. Tricky to catch from a moving boat but I use a pre-set 1/4000 TV option and the result is passable. The shot made and a morning well spent it is time for lunch, a chat with friends then……… to be continued in my next post.

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