Thursday, March 24, 2022
A Super Swooper
In other news, now that travel is on again, I needed a bigger suitcase. Mum found this one which looks just like the big ones the Oldies use. Just 8 weeks to wait and it will make its first trip - watch this space.
Friday, May 28, 2021
Building and Birds
Yesterday we went for a drive, just to get out in the fresh air for a while and give the car a run.The Oldies decided to go to Goulburn for lunch, they do that sort of thing occasionally. You can see photos of our previous trips to Goulburn in older posts. One historic building that we didn't have photos of is the Court House. This is a great example of Victorian (the Queen, not the state) colonial architecture. It even has a crown on the top of the dome. I just had to have my photo taken on the gates; it matches the one of me on the gates of Iolani Palace in Honolulu (also in previous posts). Court was in session and I saw a big police truck bringing prisoners in for their sessions. When we got home there was a really great surprise. The swans that breed on one of the ponds near us have a new batch of cygnets and they had them grazing just across the road. This is the third year we have seen these adult swans and their hatchlings. People come from all around the suburb to see them, and people driving past stop to take photos of them. Most of the cygnets survive, cats and dogs are mostly well controlled here, but sometimes foxes come right into the city. I hope these little guys survive, the parents are fierce guardians even if they trust people who don't get too close. After the cygnets grow up the parents drive them away to find their own pond to live in.
Labels: birds, buildings, Canberra
Wednesday, June 26, 2019
Weekend Wandering
After a few dull Canberra weekdays it is great to have a sunny weekend. The Oldies (and me, of course) usually make the most of the sunshine and go for a wander around the lakes and/or new suburbs.There are four big lakes in Canberra and a lot of smaller ones like the ones near our apartment. The main lake is Lake Burley Griffin, which effectively divides the city into north and south. There is a good flat walking track around it and it has lots of interesting buildings and monuments near it. This is the National Carillion, built for Canberra's 50th anniversary; with luck (or a bit of planning) you can have carillion music while you walk here. There are lots of picnic areas and rest stops around the lakes. The second photo is of one on the track around Yerrabi Pond. Of course, where you have lakes you have water birds like the swans near the carillion and the dozens of grebes at Yerrabi. Note how clear the water is. It is Autumn and the deciduous trees, mostly imported species, are busy changing colour and dropping leaves. That makes for some very colourful walks. Most Australian trees don't do this, some shed their outer layer of bark instead. The most interesting type of tree we have found is the Wollemi Pine, like this one planted near the National Library. This species dates back to dinosaur times and was thought to be extinct until a bushwalker found a stand of around 100 trees surviving in a remote section of Wollemi National Park in 1994. The hills around the city are mostly covered with gum trees of various types, and there are walking trails in many areas. The bottom two images are from a hill on the western edge of the city. All of the land from the bottom of the hill to the suburb in the distance will be full of houses soon. Canberra is growing at a rapid rate and this small bear finds it hard to see everything that is happening.
Labels: birds, Canberra, trees
Saturday, May 28, 2016
Kula Eco Park
Wednesday, February 18, 2015
Postcard From Near The Pole
Labels: birds, cruising, family
Tuesday, November 06, 2012
She Did It!
Tuesday, May 22, 2012
Unka Ray's Birds
Labels: birds, Queensland
Sunday, March 25, 2012
Island Dwellers
Montague Island is home to lots of different birds and animals. The day I was there I saw gulls, terns, penguins, seals and lizards. The birds in this photo are crested terns. These birds can be found all around the warmer parts of the southern oceans. They nest on Montague Island in the summer and raise their chicks. Some stay there all year round. The chick in the picture is almost ready to leave home and do his own thing. You can see he is nearly as big as the parent and has his adult feathers. This is one of the last times he will have a fish bough back for him; it's time he learned to catch his own.The seals in the bottom photo are expert fishermen. While I was trying to catch fish they swam around the boat and if I wasn't quick enough they would snatch my fish off the line. Of course they usually hunt and catch their own, but they go for easy pickings as well. You can see that they like their rest. Between feeds they just lie around on the rocks and soak up sun. If you have ever been in a bird colony and think the smell was bad, just wait until you are downwind of a seal colony and you will know what really stinks. We had seals swimming all around the boat as well and they are really the most superb swimmers. Someday I want to swim with them.
Labels: animals, birds, New South Wales, south coast
Sunday, March 04, 2012
Upmarket Penguin Lodgings
Not all of the penguins on Montague Island live in burrows or small caves. The rangers have an ongoing battle with kikuyu grass which has been choking the island vegetation and making it difficult for penguins to burrow through it. They are slowly managing to eradicate the grass. One thing that they tried to make it easier for the penguins was to place nesting boxes around the island to see if the penguins would use them instead of trying to dig through the tough grass. Well, some did and lots didn't. One of the ones that did has claimed the top real estate deal on the island. Not just a box. This penguin apartment seems to have central heating and TV, if the structures on the roof are to be believed. His apartment is just to the side of the track between the jetty and the lighthouse so he gets lots of visitors. Lucky Ralph.Labels: birds, lighthouse, New South Wales, south coast
Montague Island Quarry
All of the rock needed to build the Montague Island lighthouse came from this one big granite outcrop at the top of the island, just over 100 metres from the tower site. You can see the drill marks in the face of the rock where explosives were set to split the rock. Near the main rock there are small piles of roughly squared rock left over from the material needed for the tower. If you look carefully around and under these left-over rocks you can find some interesting things. When I was there a mother crested tern was watching us and making a great noise. The reason was that she had a nest and a chick on one of the rocks. Underneath another rock a little penguin was nesting. Normally penguins nest in burrows in the soil down among the vegetation. This one obviously prefers the security of a good solid roof and walls. There are no cats, dogs or rats on the island so she is quite safe in her stone house.Labels: birds, lighthouse, New South Wales, south coast
Sunday, October 23, 2011
Feathered Freeloaders
I got a real chuckle from something that happened most afternoons during our visit to Kiama. It happened just across the road from our cabin, so I could watch without being in the way. The local fish market opened about an hour before dark, after the fishing boats came in for the day. Lots of fish were delivered to the shop and lots of locals came to buy really fresh fish. Among the locals were a flock of six pelicans. They landed near the shop and hopefully waddled up to the door. They watched everybody who came to the shop, hoping for a handout. Nobody gave them a fish for ages. At closing time they finally got a feed. The shop-keeper came out with the fish heads and offal and the pelicans left happy. There are six pelicans in the photo, can you see them all?
Labels: birds, New South Wales, south coast
Friday, February 04, 2011
He Shouldn't Be Doing This
Here's a photo of Dad being naughty and stupid. He is down by the lake feeding swans. Now you might think that that is OK, the swans certainly do, but really it is not a good thing to be doing. Swans eat water weeds and algae. They can get stuff that's one metre deep in the water because their necks are so long. I guess to a swan an old codger with free bread scraps is a bit like an ice-cream van is to kids. Whenever you go near the lake there are always swans swimming hopefully along near the edge trying to look hungry. If you actually feed them something swans come from everywhere to see what's being given out. This is not a good thing for the swans because their tummy is not built to handle people-type food and they can get very sick as a result. So if you see swans looking at you with a hungry, pleading look in their eyes just remember that the best thing you can do for them is not to feed them.Tuesday, November 16, 2010
Swanning Around
You can always see swans on Lake Burley Griffin. Here's a family of a mum and four bubs that I saw last weekend. Overseas visitors get a surprise when they first see Australian swans. Ours are black, most of the overseas ones are white. Actually, the little swans, called cygnets, start out being a pale grey colour and get their black feathers as they get older. The adult ones are the only completely black swans in the world (if you don't count the red beak). You can see them just about anywhere in Australia where there is water. I didn't have to go looking for this lot. I just sat on a tree stump near the edge of the lake and they came to me. They were hoping that I would feed them something. I can understand that because their usual food is algae and water weeds. It is not a good idea to feed them other things though. Lots of our local swans get sick because people feed them bread, chips, bits of sausage roll and other bits of picnic food. These guys were disappointed but small bears know how important it is to look after our wildlife.Sunday, August 15, 2010
Guard Your Tucker!!
On Hamilton Island you have to be on your guard all the time when you are eating outside. The local birds are expert tucker-snatchers. If you lose concentration for a micro-second some cockatoo, currawong, lorrikeet or seagull will zip past and you will be missing some of your food. For example, the cockie is holding a bit of Dad's toast in his left claw, and I can tell you from experience that you have to be really quick to snitch fodder from him. All of the cafes have signs on the tables warning about this. They say "Keep Wildlife Wild" and tell you that people-type food will make the critters really sick. The only problem is that the critters can't read, so they keep trying, the waiters keep chasing them away, and some tourists get scared by swooping birds, or learn the hard way just how hard cockies can bite. How do I solve the problem? I just lure them in and clobber them with the cutlery.Labels: birds, Hamilton Is, Queensland
Thursday, May 13, 2010
Watching Sea-birds
This is one of my favourite places on Norfolk Island. It is near the place where Captain Cook first set foot on the Island, and now there is a great lookout platform there where you can sit and watch sea-birds and even whales if you are lucky. Scruffy, Milkshake and I like watching the birds. The white terns nest here and they are always swooping around and making a lot of noise. Sometimes you see them diving down and catching small fish. There a lot of interesting rocks just offshore too. They have names like Elephant Rock, Bird Rock, Cathedral Rock and Green Pool Stone. If you have any sort of imagination you can see why they are called that from the shape of the rocks. Milky was a bit puzzled by the white streaks on the rocks. Scruff and I explained about the birds that roost there and their habit of just pooing where they roost. Milky was not impressed.Labels: birds, Captain Cook, Norfolk Island
Wednesday, October 07, 2009
Hamilton's Pretty Pests
You have to be careful about one thing when you visit Hamilton Island. Some of the birds are thieves and very quick and sneaky thieves at that. You can't leave anything lying about in the open or the birds grab it. They even come inside to snitch things if you forget to close doors when you go out. We had a couple of regular hopefuls whenever we spent time on our balcony. As soon as the door opened these guys would appear and try to look absolutely starved. The kookaburra would get the message as soon as Dad shooed him away, but the cockatoo was much more cunning. He would pretend to fly off, but only go as far as the first branch that was out of sight. Then he would wait until he heard something interesting, like a chip packet being opened, and he was back. Of course they are not starving. Hamilton Island has lots of rainforest areas full of natural food for critters and it is really bad for the birds to eat much people-type food. But they are probably like me (and the Oldies, although they would never admit it) and much prefer "naughty" food like chips, peanuts, ice-cream and hamburgers to "healthy" stuff.Labels: birds, Hamilton Is, Queensland
