Just a few snaps as I was feeling ill [Read more…] about Plants At Limeburners Bay
Eastern Beach
Limeburners Bay On Low Tide
Yesterday, my family was in Corio. The little dude asked if we could go on an adventure, so I suggested Limeburners. I was recovering from a cold so was desperate to actually do something, however I still had no energy. Bad combo! 😛
When we got to the bay I saw that the tide was out. Yes! This means that we could look under rocks and walk along the low tide mark instead of walking all the way out to the lagoons. I’d love to walk out to the lagoons and show him cool stuff but I’d have to learn how to find it first 😉
Now, most of this stuff I have no idea how to ID. I’ve used my books to figure out some of the crustaceans but a lot of this is beyond my current knowledge. If you have any tips or suggestions, they’d be very much appreciated.
I think the above is a notched shore crab, which I’ve found along multiple points when walking around Corio Bay. I’m not 100% sure on ID. We found other crabs under rocks however they were small and I didn’t get the best photos of them.
I managed to ID the above as salinator fragilis using the $60 brilliant book on marine life I had bought. It has been so comprehensive and useful. I was so proud of myself as I’m starting to make IDs in new areas and it’s very challenging.
I think the above is a smooth pebble crab. I’m basing that on the roundness of the body. There was so many of them in the water as the tide was starting to creep back in. Some of them, I’m assuming they were males, were fighting with each other.
As the tide was coming in.
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This adventure was a bit of a bludge as I was sick and didn’t really care what I see. I do have a list of stuff to try and identify later.
Then I was looking at the brochure for Wetlands Wanderings. I was taking photos, trying to document diversity, not knowing that there was resources out there that could guide me. That booklet has information on a rare butterfly that may be in the area, what small fish come close to shore. I’ll definitely be doing more research before my next visit.
Sea critters along Corio Bay: A Wintery Walk
Last weekend, I went for a walk along Rippleside to Eastern Beach with the little dude. It was a sunny day and the first chance to leave the house and actually adventure.
I’d gotten ‘plantar fasciitis’ 10 days earlier and had barely walked, so was desperate to walk a couple of k’s.
We’d barely started walking when Sethy noticed the first crab:
It was close enough to get out of the water, so we took it out to get a closer look at it’s features. I’ll be going through the photos and trying to ID it later. All I know is identifying animals is so tricky!
We ended up seeing about 20 of these crabs. We had a competition to see who could see the most, but Seth was winning 3-1. I swear, if you need to find any animals then he is brilliant.
Okay… maybe I made a mistake! In the past, people haven’t been able to ID some shore crabs because you couldn’t clearly see the carapace. It turns out the carapace is the hard upper shell! I thought it was the bottom.
I turned over that crab and got bloody nipped by it, it hurt too.
I’m guessing they meant that my photographs were side views, or not totally from the top which is understandable. I’ll revisit my book.
I’m now pretty sure it is Paragrapsus quadridentatus, or notched shore crab, because they ‘have a small notch in the carapace, just behind the eye socket’. Thank you, Barwon Bluff! I accidentally learned something today. Also glad I took macro photos. I’ll be doing some more research to see if how I can get better photos and ID stuff in the field.
We saw this, which I initially thought was a baby sting ray due to the shape. After some reading, I’m now thinking that is a flatworm with some delightful fecal matter.
I have no idea what the above is. I tried using Fishes of Australia without much luck. Someone obviously has a lot to learn!
A teeny crab. Wouldn’t know where to start with ID, but suspect juv notched shore crab.
The above is a ‘sphaeromatidae isopod crustacean.’ I emailed the museum thinking they were chitons. That makes sense!
I’m curious to know whether anyone is studying. There seems to be so much to discover about marine life, especially along Port Phillip Bay. Gio Fitzpatrick discovered a spider that was previously thought to be extinct. Rob Burns, Mr Mollusc, discovered over 100 nudibranches. No-one really has the time nor the resources to study stuff, so it is left up to citizen scientists.
It’s just how can the scientific community help those like me? How I can then help make identification easier?
That is all stuff I can think about later. For now, though, I’m mostly curious as to whether anyone is researching these and forming easy to understand ID keys.
Thanks to this link I know there are 203 species in Australia and that new ones have been discovered off Lizard Island. It’s definitely something to look into.
When I first saw this guy I thought it was a sea cucumber. Then I saw the yellow stuff coming out of its rear. It looked something like yolk so it made me wonder if it was a creature that was recently birthed.
I did think it may be its guts but it didn’t appear to be injured.
It turns out there is a thing called evisceration, where a sea cucumber expels its guts as a defence mechanism. I don’t recommend reading up on it when having dinner unless you want to lose your appetite. It’s face looked pretty wicked though.
What looks like a jellyfish
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A great trip where we accidentally learned stuff. Didn’t see stingrays of fish along Eastern Beach, nor many fisherman at Limeburners Point. It’s pretty awesome we could find such diversity close to home and didn’t have to find rockpools on the peninsula or further afield.
Crested Terns at Rainy Eastern Beach
Yesterday Sethy, my mum and I went to Eastern Beach. We had originally planned to go to the Botanical Gardens but it started raining. We checked the radar, went on the ferris wheel and then explored properly once the rain had passed.
It was an awesome day. We saw a globefish underneath the promenade, and had fun hunting for critters in the rocky area nearby. One of the highlights though was getting photos of the terns diving for fish.
One of the lenses has been playing up. I suspect I’ve changed a setting or pressed the wrong button so it doesn’t focus as quickly as it should. I was surprised that I was able to get these photos. I need to find a location where there is a decent population of terns and just spend ages photographing them.
Eastern Beach: Lapwing Chicks, Cantankerous Gulls and Pooping Gannets
I can hear it now. “Another poop shot? Don’t you get sick of it?”
No. Heck no.
I was on my way into town – to photograph something street related. Maybe I was super anxious. Regardless, I had poo on the brains. Specifically, how to get a gannet poop shot.
You see, I had never seen one poop. I’d spent hours watching them trying to get a good photo. I’d only managed two photos of birds in flight doing #2’s and they were a matter of luck. I wondered about trying to find them at where they nest but didn’t know if I’d be able to see them for long enough. It can take hours to get a good shot.
I’d decided that it wasn’t even worth strategizing how to get one. I’d focus on getting the normal dive shots and hope to get other birds pooping.
About 10 minute into the twitch, I got this.
Yes, I am immature. Yes, it is a silly hobby. Yes, it felt bloody amazing to capture it. I saw them poop a second time in this session. It was almost worth going home then and there. Until I saw this:
One of the dolphins that loves hanging around Corio bay. It stayed for longer then it usually does. It went back and forth, and showed more of the body then I normally see. Photos are mediocre but I don’t care.
Shortly after, I saw this seagull harassing a gannet. It did it for at least 10 minutes. Incredibly hard to focus on the birds but it definitely wasn’t pleased. I have no idea why the gull was chasing it for so long.
The final species I saw for the day was this pair of masked lapwing. At least I thought it was just a pair. They were behavioring very territorial and then I saw it. There were two chicks nearby!
They were hanging around at the roads edge and trying to cross the road. It was a really busy night and I was concerned they wouldn’t make it. One of the adults kept on running at any car that passed and spread its wings out.
I would love LOVED to have seen them hide the chicks under their wings. I didn’t want to hang out too long though as they were obviously upset. So interesting to see them at multiple stages of their breeding cycle.
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Eastern Beach is an underrated birding destination. It is probably the same as many suburban beaches. I’d assume many along the Bellarine are better. 🙂 So many places to visit and such little time.