greater crested tern

Accidental Birdwatching At Apollo Bay Harbour

February 16, 2017 by Jade Craven Leave a Comment

This trip took place in January, 2017.

We were on the beach within the main harbour. My parents and nephew had visited Apollo Bay a couple of times in 2016 and had discovered that the rockpools here were actually pretty awesome. Normally we just went to Marengo so I never even thought to check out here.

Mum had sent me a lot of photos on a previous visit and I was really keen to visit. The photos included a lot of chitons and elephant snails, creatures I usually associated with Blanket Bay, so I was really excited.

Alas, it wasn’t meant to be. There was young crested terns sitting on the rocks, as well as a beautiful pacific gull, so I couldn’t help but be distracted

I watched this tern the whole time it was there. Yes, one of the reasons was that it was a good candidate for the bird poo photography project. Younger birds do tend to go quite frequently. I was unable to get a photo this time so it remains a bogey photo, of sorts.

It didn’t move from the group of rocks the whole time I was there, whereas there were 3 other birds that came and go. It begged quite a bit but none of the nearby birds made any effort to feed it. It was interesting.

I couldn’t identify the above ‘creature’, so I ended up emailing the museum. They said that it was possibly a piece from the introduced ascidian ‘Ciona intestinalis’. That explains why I couldn’t find it in the book! Obviously it’s not a good thing, but one of the researchers at the museum was interested in the location of the sighting. It’s nice for one of my citizen science contributions to be useful 🙂 (Most are generic, common species)

We also spent some time at rockpools about 3km away in the opposite direction, back towards Geelong, where we found mostly red waratah anenome. It’s so interesting how the rockpools change so much in areas that are such a short distance away. It’s definitely something I’m hoping to look into more, especially as I plan to hike more of the coastline.

Also hoping to get into snorkelling when my health improves. I’m going to try it in the spring, as my anxiety medication is kicking my arse and I don’t want to put too much pressure on myself. There is so much potential. I love it.

Crested tern Grooming: Bancoora Beach.

March 16, 2016 by Jade Craven Leave a Comment

Last month, I went to Bancoora beach with family. Sethy had fun playing with the ocean and I observed a small group of crested terns for half an hour. I *was* hoping to add another bird to my collection of bird poo photos. Alas, I had very little luck.

The photos aren’t great. It was a struggle, as other birds including the seagulls kept on getting in the way. I do want to focus on various tern species now that that I can explore different places. The crest is so fascinating to photograph.

I have no idea what the below bird is. I couldn’t get a good look. I include it just in case someone can identify it.

Crested Terns at Rainy Eastern Beach

January 15, 2016 by Jade Craven Leave a Comment

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.

Where have the birds gone from Eastern Beach?

October 9, 2015 by Jade Craven Leave a Comment

I almost didn’t blog about this trip. I spent an hour at Eastern Beach before going to the movies, just sussing out the animal situation. It was so dull I didn’t think it was worth writing about.

That in itself it worth writing about. The photos are fairly self explanatory: the feral doves are flirting with each other, the tern was having fun and I’ve got another jellyfish picture. Will do some investigating to figure out what it is.

What I have noticed, especially now the beach is getting more busy, is a distinct lack of hoary headed grebes. A lot of my favourites are hanging out elsewhere now that the crowds are swarming to the beach on a hot day.

I want to know: where have they gone?

I’m assuming either Port Henry or closer to Rippleside. Or, perhaps further afield. I’ve never noticed this trend before and it’s something I want to investigate. Partially because I love photographing them as they dive for fish – and there were so many little fish there yesterday! Partially because I assume this is something that happens at many beaches, or perhaps they just naturally move on from places. Regardless, I’ll be investigating!

I also found this silver gull which didn’t have any feet. I often see ones missing a foot, presumably due to fishing wire. I had never seen one missing both feet. It didn’t seem to affect him, it seemed really well fed.

Birding at the Barham River Mouth

October 1, 2015 by Jade Craven Leave a Comment

The Barham River Mouth has always been a family favourite. It’s a secluded little area on the opposite side of Apollo Bay. It can be a lot safer for kids to swim in here then to swim in the ocean with waves. Sethy loves walking across the shallow parts of the river so it has become a place we visit a lot.

Om the second day, we decided to walk along the Barham River from my aunts flat. We walked along the back streets of Apollo Bay and to the Caravan Park. It was a side of Apollo Bay we hadn’t seen before.

We were lucky enough to come across this beautiful night heron. I don’t know whether it was the lens or the lighting, but I got some really beautiful shots of the bird.

Going further along the river, Sethy and I were able to see a hooded plover. This is awesome, as it is a lifer for him. He loves hoodies and knows that some of my friends babysit them. I was planning on showing him some during the summer breeding season, from a distance.

Discovering this means I can cross that off his bucket list and find another adventure for us to do. For me, it was lovely to see one of my favourite birds again.

There was a shallow bit in the middle where a number of terns and a pacific gull pair congregated. Alas, no kelp gull.

Day 3:

On our last day there, we decided to go to the beach again to let Mr Sethy just be a kid. He’d had lots of kid opportunities while there but he is in love with swimming and mucking around at the beach.

A great place for photography. I could have gotten some beautiful shots if I wasn’t so sick. By this stage, I had hurt my back from coughing so much so just wanted to go home.

This was pretty cool.

Lots of beautiful pieces of driftwood around which would have been fun to photograph, as well as the setting sun.

We had been there for about 30 minutes when I saw 4 medium sized black birds land on the rocks near the mouth of the river. I walked there slowly. I was right, sooty oystercatchers! I don’t see them that often so was pretty stoked to get a chance to photograph them again. I’ve seen some brilliant photographs of them prying open shells so was hoping to get similar ones.

Alas, the camera had trouble focusing. I got some cool shots but they weren’t entirely clear. I’m thinking that the sigma lens may have been more useful in this situation. I don’t care as I got to see these birds again.

I’m not sure how great this area is for birdwatching as it had been pretty hit and miss on my visits. The birds I saw were awesome – especially the hoodie and oystercatcher. Just not sure it’s worth visiting unless you haven’t seen them recently in your area.

I *do* love the area for photography though. It’s easily within walking distance of the township. You can visit here on a walk to Marengo, or walk from here to the town. Either way is quite scenic.