Tag Archives: Australian birds

Port Willunga’s Natural Charms

24 May

There is a pair of pigeons nesting along the limestone cliffs. They are billing and cooing and puffing up their feathers if rival birds come anywhere near their territory. Unbeknown to the loving pair a far greater menace, in the form of kestrel, is circling high above, scanning the cliff face for a tasty pigeon treat. Luckily for the nesting pair, the hunter overlooks them or perhaps the angle of attack is too steep and the cliffs too perilous.

Lucky pigeons

Lucky pigeons……click to enlarge

 

I am walking along Port Willunga beach just 40 minutes from Adelaide; a glorious little stretch of white sand that lies below ochre limestone cliffs and bounded by the Aldinga reef to the south and Gull Rock to the north. The reef is a marine sanctuary that showcases a wide variety of the state’s diverse aquatic life. And the beach is a rich repository of the South Australia’s pastoral history where the sea scoured remnants of an old wheat jetty, built in 1853, protrudes from the shallow water. Despite its idyllic setting, Port Willunga also harbours a darker history with no less than five ships being wrecked in the vicinity. The most famous of these was the Star of Greece whose skeleton can still be explored just 500m offshore.

The view from the beach

The view from the beach…..click to enlarge

 

 

Leaving the fortuitous pigeons to their parental duties I kick off my shoes and walk through the water amongst the old jetty piles. The wood is bleached white and worn by wind, sand and rain. Tenacious little limpets cling to the timber and a shore crab scuttles past my feet. Looking back across the beach I can see the rough hewn caves that were dug into the cliffs to house fishing dingies and give shelter to the hardy men who made a living from these waters.

Drummer, leatherjackets, sweep and a moonlighter on the edge of the reef....click to enlarge

Drummer, leatherjackets, sweep and a moonlighter on the edge of the reef….click to enlarge

 

Warm clear water, a fine day and good light….thinks….twenty minutes later I am snorkeling along the edge of the reef. The water is fairly shallow and the marine life prolific. A school of zebra fish swims close to me and large dusky morwong and magpie perch feed along the undercut shelves that define the reef’s edge. At the end of one rocky outcrop a number of different species are congregating where the reef and the adjacent seagrass meadow intersect. I dive to the bottom and hold onto the rocks to steady myself and fire off a couple of shots. Later when I review the images they seem to reflect both the environment and the moment. An hour in the water and I’m getting a little chilly and its time to go back, this time I walk across the shallow rocky platform exploring the many tidal pools.

A casual lunch outside or fine dining inside....click to enlarge

A casual lunch outside or fine dining inside….click to enlarge

 

 

The change rooms at the end of the car park make getting out of the wet suit easy and the short walk up the slope to the restaurant, named after the hapless Star of Greece, gives me a good view north and south along the coast. Often I have caught sight of a pod of dolphins cruising the calm gulf waters but not today; just a few fishers and an optimistic body surfer are enjoying the water. However, after a strenuous swim and a walk along the beach my priorities have changed from natural history to lunch and the boutique restaurant, once a fish and chip shop that I frequented as a lad, beckons. Fresh seafood, quality local produce and wines; a typically South Aussie way to finish my day.

 

Cheers

Baz

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The Art of Nature

17 May

The metallic sculpture sits in the middle of a shady pool. The polished industrial surface in stark contrast to the delicate blue kingfisher that the artist has crafted to pose, lifelike, on its extremity. But it seems that the artist has done the job too well as the supposedly fabricated kingfisher suddenly takes to the air. I have rarely seen sacred kingfishers in the hills and to find one conveniently posed on a sculpture in a pond is simply too good to believe.

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Sacred kingfisher….. click to enlarge

 

I am strolling around ‘The Cedars’ the privately owned property near the tourist hamlet of Hahndorf in the Adelaide hills which is open to the public and host many art displays throughout the year. It was home to South Australia’s most famous artist, Sir Hans Heysen. The German born Heysen moved to SA in 1884 at age 7 where he was inspired by the beautiful and rugged countryside of the Adelaide Hills. He painted rural and landscape scenes for over 70 years in many SA locations before his death in 1968 The home and studio are set in 60 hectares of open woodland and scrub and wandering amongst the bush it is not difficult to see how the area inspired him.

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Heysen’s studio….. click to enlarge

 

From ‘shady pool’ I climb the gentle slope above Heysen’s studio to explore a stand of Eucalypts. I can hear the warbling of magpies and screech of lorikeets. Half way up the incline I notice another piece of art work. Several crows are balanced on a table peering into glass specimen jars full of postcards. Nearby a pair of genuine, organic crows are perched in some bushes searching for food with their piercing blue eyes. In reality, the birds we commonly refer to as crows are more likely to be Australia ravens as the true crows are usually found further north in drier conditions.

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Crow art

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Crow/Raven….. click to enlarge

 

A little further along the trail I discover yet another art work hidden in the scrub: a pair of dung beetles rolling a globe. This piece seems to reflect on the state of the planet as seen by one artist. From this site I take a short walk to the house where Hans Heysen and later his daughter Nora lived and worked. The well kept garden features an eclectic mix of native and exotic flowering plants, the perfect place to find some beetles though not the dung variety which are more typical of Africa not Australia. After a little searching amongst the agapanthus, roses and native species I discover a brown flower beetle crawling across an agapanthus blossom.

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Dung beetles….. click to enlarge

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Brown flower beetle….. click to enlarge

 

My walk has been both entertaining and informative with each animal species mirrored by a piece of art: a lovely way to spend an autumn afternoon.

 

Until our next adventure

Baz

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Burnside’s Hidden Creek

6 May

Dear Reader: 

The wattle bird seems to be totally absorbed and indifferent to my presence as it feeds on the tiny white lerps that dot the leaves of a creek-side eucalyptus tree. Usually these large members of the honeyeater group are quite nervous and hard to approach. This one, however, is determined to provide me with a ringside display of its acrobatic ability as it hangs upside down and hops from branch to flimsy branch in pursuit of its lunch. The tiny white lerps look like an arborial version of measles. In fact they are the early stage of a parasitic bug called a psyllid, an introduced insect pest that sucks the ‘juice’ from the trees.

A wattle bird pecks tiny insects from the leaves of a blue gum near the river bank

A wattle bird pecks tiny insects from the leaves of a blue gum near the river bank.

 

I am walking along the banks of second creek in the Michael Perry Botanical Reserve. This charming little park is easily accessed from a small lane called Andrew’s Walk at the southern end of Hallet Road, in the hills face suburb of Burnside. The shady banks, trickling stream and little ponds have a European flavour to them affording a cool retreat in the drier summer months. Before setting off on my short walk to investigate the creek’s wildlife I made a couple of crucial stops to provision my pack for a bite to eat on the river bank. At the nearby Stoneyfell Winery I found a fine bottle of white while ‘Taylor Blend’, a fashionable little eastern suburbs coffee shop on Hallett Road, provided a wide selection of gourmet paninis and local beesting cake. When one has to sit by a river bank for an hour or so to wait for the wildlife it might as well be done in style.

The brook cascades over a small ford made from slate and sandstone rocks

The brook cascades over a small ford made from slate and sandstone rocks

 

Leaving the wattle birds to finish their meal I work my way along the creek, pausing frequently to try and catch sight of the small birds that I can hear chirping and rustling deep in the cover of the reed beds. Without warning a grey faced heron explodes from the tangle of branches a couple of metres in front of me. The birds wheels in flight and settles on a branch high in a nearby pine tree where it can keep a sharp eye on its human intruder. As I point the camera at the perching water bird I catch site of a pair of Kookaburras in a huge eucalypt further up the opposite embankment. Two predatory birds; now it’s time to take a look for the prey animals that sustain them.

A white faced heron watches the creek from its vantage point in a pine tree

A white faced heron watches the creek from its vantage point in a pine tree

 

The first interesting small animal that I notice is a water skink which is sunning itself on a log. Being mid autumn I am surprised to see a reptile as most would now be ‘dug in’ for the winter months ahead. As I sit quietly and prepare to watch the lizard, a green eyed dragonfly lands on a boulder in the middle of the creek. And, where the water has formed a small clear pool I can see tiny fish or tadpoles swimming close the reeds and water striders skating across the surface: like my lunch, a gourmet larder for a range of feathered predators.

A water skink basking on a log amongst the reeds

A water skink basking on a log amongst the reeds

A dragonfly pauses for a moment on a warm rock in the creek

A dragonfly pauses for a moment on a warm rock in the creek

 

A fence marks the end of the reserve and I cross the creek to return on the northern bank. The tiny reed birds still elude me but in a shady stretch of water a single black duck is swimming against the current as it dabbles for food. A common enough species in southern Australia but the light is particularly good and on reviewing the shot it seems to encapsulate the mood of this lovely little waterway.

Black duck are common along the waterway

Black duck are common along the waterway

 

Until the next time

Baz

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Port Germein ….A Long Walk Out to Sea…Field Notes

8 Mar

General description of location

Port Germein is a  small country town just north of Port Pirie which is  a major regional centre about 2½ hours from Adelaide

Lies near the top of Spencer Gulf and is in the shadow of the Southern Flinders Ranges.

Town has a pub with excellent food, a general store and campground

Small local population of around 250

A long jetty, once used to load grain clippers, it extends from the shore to over a mile out to sea and most of the beach is exposed at low tide

Good fishing, crabbing and general coastal wildlife walks

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View back to the ranges from the end of the jetty

Notes

Season:

Late summer

Weather:

Mild morning temperature around 18 ºC at 0900.

Forecast temperature 35°C later in the day

No wind and clear skies

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Blue bee on coastal heath

While walking from the house where I am staying to the jetty I spot some blue bees, an Australian native species, feeding on a coastal bushes with small blue flowers

They tend to feed on blue and white blossoms

Note to self

Identify some of the coastal vegetation before next PT Germein post

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Blue Swimmer crab in net

I stroll along the jetty and notice a variety of small wading birds feeding on the sand/mud flats, some are searching out small pools of residual water

A young couple near the end of the jetty are crabbing and they have caught half a dozen Blue Swimmer Crabs which are common at this time of year

A group of Pied Cormorants and Common Terns are perching on some battered poles which remind us that the jetty was once longer

A family have used a tractor to tow out a small boat and launch it as the tide comes in

The view from the end of the jetty of the foreshore and Ranges is spectacular.

 

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Terns and Cormorants at the end of the jetty

I return to the shore and walk along coastal path that weaves between low bushes and stretches of beach

There are honeyeaters and finches in the bushes and a Ring Necked Parrot preens itself on a branch

Near a rocky outcrop close to a garden I come across a Bearded Dragon sunning itself

There are also quite a few White Plumed Honey Eaters feeding on blossoms in Eucalypt trees that grow in gardens near the coastal walk

After sipping nectar some are hawking for insects.

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White Plumed Honeyeater feeding in eucalyptus tree near the foreshore

A ten minute walk from the end of town, the coastal scrub and samphire give way to stands of mangrove and a whole new coastal ecology emerges

A White Faced Herons stalk small fish and crustacean in the shallow channels and a White Browed babbler fluffs up its feathers in one of the mangrove trees

These mangroves are part of a south Australian system that marks the southernmost extent of mangrove communities in the world

Small fish can be seen schooling in some of the deeper channels

This is a nursery area for many commercial species.

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Mangrove pool

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White Faced Heron hunting in the mangroves

I head back to town for a schnitzel and a beer at the local pub and the promise of a drive to Telowie or Port Germein Gorge in the afternoon to look for rock wallabies and eagles.

Cheers

Baz

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A Hill’s Face Hike

16 Feb

Dear Reader:

The koala is well camouflaged and firmly wedged between two branches in a stunted eucalyptus tree which is growing on the edge of a steep slope. Getting a decent shot involves scrabbling through some spiky acacia bushes and perching myself precariously on the edge of a rocky outcrop. But a quick glance at the playback screen suggests that the effort has been worthwhile and a few more scratches on my legs are ‘par for the course’ in this terrain.

3 Koala near the trail head

Koala near the trail head

 

I am half way up Anstey Hill on the north eastern edge of the Adelaide Hills. This ‘hills face’ recreation park is part of the in the Greater Mount lofty Parklands and one of several reserves that permit hiking, walking dogs on leads while banning camping, mountain bikes and the lighting of any fires. Anstey Hill is only 8 Kms from the CBD, easily accessed from several major roads and close to quite a few reputable hotels and restaurants. In short, an ideal destination for a morning or afternoon walk followed by a meal and a glass of wine.

1 Local pub and restaurant

Local pub and restaurant

 

Satisfied with koala image I start take a winding trail towards the top of the hill emerging on its northern flank where the view across the cliff face towards the city and coast is quite spectacular. A winding trail skirts the ridge and there are still some late blooming wattles and melaleucas clinging to the rocky outcrops and a small group of new holland honeyeaters are feeding on the blossoms and hawking for insects.

2 View from the ridge

View from the ridge

 

Further along the trail a small stand of eucalypts pushes up through the lower layer of scrub and many of them are losing their outer layers of bark….an ideal opportunity to look for huntsman spiders which often search for prey in this micro environment. And luck is on my side after a little foraging a piece of bark with a sizeable huntsman comes away from the tree. These large spiders often come into suburban homes where they stay high on the walls and eat a whole collection of unwanted pests from mosquitoes and flies to earwigs and roaches.

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Huntsman spider

 

I turn south at the top of the hill and head through a little section of bush that has recently been burnt. To my surprise a large, dark robber fly is perched on one of the blackened branches magnificently camouflaged as it waits for smaller insects to ambush.

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Robber fly on burnt trees

 

 

My final wildlife encounter is with a pied currawong. Related to crows and magpies these large omnivorous birds are not common on the Adelaide plains and prefer the higher elevations of the Mt Lofty Ranges. I have never seen them around this area before and have few photographs consequently; this capturing this image was quite a treat.

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Pied Currawong

 

Now it’s lunch at the pub

 

Cheers

Baz

 

JET

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Salisbury’s Urban Wetlands

3 Jan

 

Dear Reader:

The saltbush and thorny wattle bushes that surround the bark chip path are thick and impenetrable. All around me I can hear the hum of insects and the twittering of unknown birds. Eventually I catch sight of a small bird perched in some bushes about twenty metres in front of me. The light is poor despite the sunny day and the shot is far from ideal. I wait for a few minutes. Finally the little bird breaks cover and sits on an exposed branch. It is still moving so the image will not be perfect but I fire off a few frames in the hope that one will help me to identify it.

1 Female fairy wren in scrub

Female fairy wren in scrub

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Typical wetland habitat

 

A little further along the trail I cross a footbridge and a wide expanse of shallow water confronts me. A collection of wading birds are feeding on an exposed mud-bank. They see me and start to behave nervously. I capture a single image just moments before the birds scatter; some disappear into the reeds while others take flight and head deeper into the wetland.

2 Various species of water birds on an embankment

Various species of water birds on an embankment

 

I am in the Greenfields Wetlands near Mawson Lakes where I work as a teacher. This complex of lakes, reed beds and low scrub is part of a chain of wetlands that filter stormwater for re-use in the Salisbury area a few kilometres north of Adelaide. This particular area has been carefully rejuvenated over several decades turning wasteland into a natural wetland zone where the wildlife is wary. Even common ducks disperse as I approach rather than simply paddling away as they might in the urban part of the creek that passes through my school. The wildlife is not only cautious but more diverse and one gets a real sense of being in the field, despite the traffic and housing only a hundred metres away.

2 Watershed restaurant

Watershed restaurant

 

My next wildlife encounter tests both observation skills and patience. I detect a slight movement on a mudflat near some reeds. I look a little closer and can see nothing. I wait, searching through the telephoto. Eventually, what appeared to be a brownish patch of decaying plant matter moves ever so slightly. It is a little black-fronted dotterel that has been foraging along the edge of the creek. A few more minutes pass more before the bird feels confident enough to resume its previous feeding pattern and I have to move carefully and slowly to capture an image. This is the kind of photography that I love. Perhaps it rekindles some lost predatory instinct…who knows?

4 Dotterel feeding on muddy embankment

Black-fronted dotterel feeding on muddy embankment

 

My final wetland moment is really quite unexpected. As I leave the trail and head up to the little restaurant that sits alongside the wetland there is a flurry of wings and water behind the reeds to my right. A flock of Australian pelicans lifts into the air. My camera is in standby mode and by the time it has re-started the birds are climbing rapidly. I hastily track them in flight and fire off a series of shots. Later when I review the images I am delighted to find that one picture shows three birds with their wings in different flight position.

6 Pelicans showing different wing positions in flight

Pelicans showing different wing positions in flight

 

As the light starts to fade I return to the Watershed Cafe, hand in my trail key and enjoy coffee and dessert on the deck overlooking the main lagoon. A tough way to end my day.

 

Cheers

Baz

 

JET

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Willunga’s Blue Bees

13 Dec

 

Dear Reader:

A few weeks ago I spent a weekend in the charming little country town of Willunga just south of Adelaide, in the McLaren Vale wine region. I was updating some illustrations in one of my wildlife books and needed some photographs of honeyeaters feeding on different coloured flowers. We stayed in a heritage B&B on the edge of the town with a lovely garden featuring stands of agapanthus, native hibiscus and several large bottle brush trees. Throughout the day a variety of birds, including both new Holland and white plumed honeyeaters, used their elongated beaks to probe the blossoms and hawk for insects.

1 Willunga has many fine old colonial buildings

Willunga has many fine old colonial buildings

 

As well as honeyeaters the plants attracted more than their fair share of bees. Between sips of wine and a nibble of cheese (doing it tough that day) I watched them flit from one blossom to another gathering nectar and collecting a dusting of pollen on their legs. Then, out of the corner of my eye, I caught sight of one bee flying more erratically than the others, it seemed to hover for a second then repeatedly zoom off in different directions; like a miniscule attack helicopter. Every so often it would land but only for a short time before resuming its unpredictable flight pattern.

2 New Holland honeyeater probing bottle brush flowers for nectar

New Holland honeyeater probing bottle brush flowers for nectar

 

I moved my chair a little closer to the native hibiscus, where the little insect seemed to be spending most of its time, set the camera to macro zoom and started to track it through the lens. The bee was certainly smaller than the honeybees that were also doing the rounds of the blossoms and it appeared to have a bluish tinge. I fired off a couple of frames and took a closer look on the review screen. It was certainly not a honeybee. Over the next hour and a half several of the little blue bees appeared at different times and I managed to get a series of images that I could use to identify them. I suspected they were native bees which I had heard of but knew very little about.

3 Honeybee feeding on a blue agapanthus

Honeybee feeding on a blue agapanthus

 

My guess was correct. The little insect was a blue banded bee (Amegilla cingulata). Blue banded bees are actually far more common than I realised and are found throughout SE Asia. They contribute to the pollination of many commercial crops with their unique ability to buzz pollinate; the result of intense wing vibrations when they cling to flowers.

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Blue banded bee hovering in front of native hibiscus blossom

 

Unlike honey bees these native bees are not colonial with females building burrows in dried up river banks or even soft mortar in urban housing. Their sting is mild and they are not aggressive. Interestingly, these blue bees collect most of their nectar from blue flowers and since my initial sighting I have found them on the lavender and agapanthus in my own garden. They have obviously been there for years and I had never even noticed; yet another lesson in observation.

Cheers

Baz

 

 

 

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Birds with Attitude

3 Dec


Dear Reader:

There were magpies scattered through the little park. I had seen them high in the trees and foraging nervously amongst the undergrowth. Every time I came close to one it would fly off and perch on a branch and watch me suspiciously. Suddenly, a small group of what I surmised must be sub-adults because of their grey flecked backs, decided to congregate in the understory just a few metres away from where I was sitting. They warbled and strutted and then seemed to organise themselves into a group.

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The magpie strut

 

The birds moved in a skirmish line through the leaf litter chasing butterflies and raking through the ground with their powerful beaks. Every so often one would lift up its head and gulp down a grub then return to the hunt. I was perched on a fallen tree branch, clearly in their way but the birds just kept coming closer, brimming with the confidence that youth and inexperience bestows on many species including our own.

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Magpie about to swallow grub

 

Australian magpies (Gymnorina tibicen) are actually a member of the butcherbird family. They are medium sized, robust birds growing to around 44 cms in length with powerful stabbing beaks that are used for digging out ground based prey and for defence. Magpies live in groups of 2-24 birds with distinct social stratification- several high status females usually breed with a dominant male and the remainder live on the periphery helping to protect nests. They are extremely territorial during the breeding season and many a cyclist, golfer or innocent pedestrian crossing the parklands will tell tales of being attacked by dive bombing magpies.

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Magpie cleaning beak while foraging

 

My far less adventurous magpie moment occurred inside a little conservation park in Burnside, one of Adelaide’s more affluent eastern suburbs quite close to the hills face. The park is classic scrub reminiscent of the way the plains would have been before European settlement. Tall eucalypts and native pines dominate the upper story and a variety of low bushes including spiky acacias form the mid range vegetation. Being the end of spring, there were still quite a few flowering plants amongst the leaf litter and fallen branches. And when I sat quietly and watched intently it was possible to catch glimpses of tiny brown skinks searching for prey in the jumbled layer of leaves and bark.

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Adelaide rosellas on the track near the park entrance

 

However, magpies were not the only birds using the park. As I entered through a side gate I watched a pair of Adelaide rosellas nibbling grass seeds on the path a mere 20 metres away. And the usual suspects; noisy miners, new Holland honeyeaters and some tiny, twittering finches, all added to the sounds and sights of my walk in the park.

B Meadow argus butterflies

Meadow argus butterflies

 

Cheers

Baz

 

 

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A Golden Day

24 Nov

 

Dear Reader:

The track is quite steep and the scrub dense. I can hear birds calling and catch fleeting glimpses of tiny finches foraging deep in the bushes. At the same time a group of lorikeets are feeding on eucalyptus blossoms in the canopy. But the birds are wary on this warm spring morning and keep moving out of camera range. Periodically, the eroded openings of narrow mine shafts, fenced off for safety, appear on both sides of the trail. I stop to reflect on the men who worked these dangerous tunnels armed only with buckets, ropes and spades. At the top of the hill, where I started my walk, a restored miner’s cottage and the weathered skeletons of a rock crusher and derrick suggest that the area had once been the centre of a sizeable mining operation.

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Mining equipment

 

I am at the Barossa Goldfields about 40 kms from Adelaide between Williamstown and Gawler. At its peak in 1870, the lure of gold attracted around 4000 hopeful souls to these hills and over 25000 ounces of the precious metal was extracted. The site has been carefully restored by volunteers and is in the Para Wirra National Park; a worthwhile stop en route to the Barossa wineries if you care to take the back roads rather than the main highway. There is a network of well marked trails to suit walkers of all abilities and many excellent interpretive signs that cover everything from local geology to the everyday life of the original miners.

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Cicadas

At the bottom of the trail there is a small creek still flowing from this year’s ample winter rains and as I cross it a kookaburra takes flight from a low branch where it had been watching for prey. The air is warm and buzzing with the calls of cicadas. I find a small eucalypt that seems to have more than its share of the ‘noisy little buggers’ and sit quietly in its shade for the next half hour trying to get a half decent shot.

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Wattle bird

 

As the trail climbs back out of the gully the terrain changes; the thick scrub gives way to more open grassland interspersed with stands of tall eucalypts. In the distance I catch sight of a pair of western grey kangaroos but they bound off over a ridge as I approach them. A scattering of rosellas are feeding in the grass and a wattle bird squawks defiance at a group of miner birds that are encroaching on its territory.

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Sleepy lizard or shingleback skink

As the track takes a sharp bend I come across a sign that indicates a short cut back to the cottage and car park where I started my journey. It seems an opportune time to sit under a tree and take a ‘swig’ from my water bottle. However, I am not the only one who finds this a convenient resting place. I hear a faint rustling sound by my feet and a sleepy lizard materialises between a couple of rocks, its pine cone scales shiny and dark in the dappled light.

 

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Grevillea flowers

 

I leave the lizard to its shady refuge and continue on my way, happy with my wildlife sightings and ready to wind up a successful morning’s trek. Close to the cottage another trail head appears. This track drops down sharply into a gully and I can see that the terrain has changed yet again. The soil is gravelly and grass trees, grevilleas and a variety of small plants with yellow, lilac and orange flowers, decorate the understory.

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Grasshopper species

The ever present eucalypts are a smaller more gnarled species. A few cicadas still buzz in the trees but on closer examination I can see a variety of other insects in the scrub including a glorious little cricket with ‘pink-camo-splotches’.

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Grass tree amongst stand of low growing eucalypts

 

I walk a couple of hundred metres further and realise that this trail is worth more than a cursory glance- but not today. And so ‘Dear Readers’ I look forward to another hike around the goldfields and the opportunity to share whatever I find with you.

 

Cheers

Baz

 

 

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Wine, Whales and Pelicans at the Bluff

26 Oct

Dear Reader: 

I am at ‘The Bluff’, a granite outcrop near the tip of the Fleurieu Peninsula. Comfortably tucked into a wicker chair on the balcony of the ‘Whalers Inn’,  I am enjoying a plate of local calamari and nursing a fruity white from one of our coastal vineyards. The restaurant is only ten minutes drive from the centre of Victor Harbor, the south coast’s largest town.

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A view from the restaurant

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Calamari with soy, lemon and wilted greens

My field glasses and camera are within easy reach and every few minutes I scan the horizon beyond Wright Island for a tell-tale blow, breach or the raised fluke of a Southern Right Whale. I can just make out one animal a few kilometres out to sea and I am hoping that it will make its way closer inshore. Only a few days ago two adults and a calf were frolicking in the bay just a few hundred metres from where I am sitting. In fact, well over 40 whales have been seen during the last month. Southern Rights regularly migrate with their calves en route to their Antarctic feeding grounds at this time of year.

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Rocky outcrops and an offshore island

 

No such luck. The whale heads further out to sea and I know that it is late in the season and the chance of another sighting is slim. I shift my focus to the rocky foreshore where jagged outcrops of dark rock trail into the sea. A strong offshore breeze is ruffling the feathers of a group of caspian terns that are precariously clinging to the rocks. Over the last few hours they have been alternately patrolling the rolling swell between Wright Island and the mainland searching for baitfish then resting on the shoreline.

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Crested terns resting between forays

 

A little closer to the town, between a stand of huge Norfolk pines, there is a boat ramp and every so often anglers motor in from the deeper water and tie up at the dock. Several large granite boulders lie close to the channel and a couple of Australian pelicans have been patiently ensconced on their smooth surfaces eyeing each craft in the hope of a fishy handout. They are not too fussy and a few mullet, salmon trout or even some unused bait usually makes their wait worthwhile. While I finish my calamari the birds are rewarded by a boatie and his family of pelican friendly kids.

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Australian pelican

 

There are, of course, the usual silver gulls flying, scavenging and wading in the shallows in search of any kind of food from a discarded potato chip to an unwary shore crab. But amongst their sleek silver forms I catch sight of a larger yellow beaked gull. It is a pacific gull, a less common species in this area, and it is wading in the shallows searching for prey in one of the tiny beaches that form between the rocky outcrops.

pacific gull 3

Pacific gull

 

As the afternoon wears on and the temperature climbs, I finish my glass of wine, pay the bill and stroll down to the car. The sea is inviting and my snorkelling gear and underwater camera are in the back. Today I have dined well, photographed a diverse collection of seabirds, watched whales on a dazzling blue ocean, and now I have the chance of encountering some slightly smaller varieties of marine life in a great dive location.

That encounter will be the subject of a future blog.

Cheers

Baz

 

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