No content, just trip photos.

[den]

Rainbow Lorrikeets

These are a few of the early morning bunch that would descend on our caravans and look for food. They should eat seeds but will make do with bread, toast and vegemite, corn flakes, rice bubbles and Weetbix.



Mountain Rosella

These are marginally larger than the Eastern Rosella. They, and the Rainbow Lorrikeets, are East Coast birds and won't be found west of the Mountains. As you head north of here these rosellas head for higher altidudes. Around Sydney you can only find them in The Blue Mountains. Another of the Early Morning Bunch.

Merimbula

At low tide the lake is a maze of sand banks and channels.

The crowded beaches of Merimbula


The mouth of Twofold Bay, Eden, looking across the Tasman Sea to New Zealand.


Twofold Bay, Eden, looking to the old whaling station.

This is where the orca pod assisted the whalers in their hunting.

Some of the Eden fishing fleet


Pelicans on the sea wall.



Sunset over Pambula Beach

Comments

[wabbitcalif.livejournal.com]

Neet! And very pretty, too.

[neuroptik78.livejournal.com]

Rainbow Lorrikeets are so beautiful....
At the San Francisco Zoo once, they had an
exhibit where the public could go in with a
small cup of nectar and the lorrikeets would
land on you to sip it... Wonderful experience.

[dewhitton.livejournal.com]

These birds work out REAL FAST where the easy food comes from. I had breakfast on the porch of a friend who lives in the south of Sydney. We had dozens of colourful visitors watching every bite.

[dizzdvl.livejournal.com]

Cool! The most exciting colorful bird we have around here is a cardinal. And it pales in comparison!

Mind if I borrow the picture of the rainbow lorikeets as a userpic?

[dewhitton.livejournal.com]

I don't mind! Are you tired of the semi-naked reclining lady?

Re:

[dizzdvl.livejournal.com]

Yeah yeah yeah. I haven't magically turned into her yet ;)

[weyrdbird.livejournal.com]

ooooooooo pretty birdies and neat beaches!!:D

Merimbula reminds me of beaches I've been to on the eastern
coast of the US. The water isn't as blue. Nice and *empty*.
Where did all the seagulls go?

"Hello pussycat! I'm called a pelican. My beak can hold more
than my bellican!" - B.C.

[dewhitton.livejournal.com]

The seagulls are all gathered around the fish-and-chip shop on the road about 50 feet behind the dunes. 8)

[weyrdbird.livejournal.com]

Smart Gulls.

Do they fight with Corvids (ravens ands Crows) over parking lot roadkill an d territory the way they do here? During the summer after hours at the DMV across the way you can see them standing or sometimes sitting in a big mob sometimes. I'm amazed no one tries to hit them with a car. They probablt don't want to be charged with molesting underage gulls:).

[julesong.livejournal.com]

This is where the orca pod assisted the whalers in their hunting.

Tell me more, pretty please?

[dewhitton.livejournal.com]

Twofold Bay is the site of an on-shore whaling station. From 1900 to 1930 a pod of orca, lead by a male called Old Tom, would round up stray migrating humpbacks and rights and herd the animal closer to shore. Tom would then race to the station and make a commotion, leaping from the water and blowing to alert the whalers.

The men would jump in their boats and row. If Tom thought they were going too slow he'd grab a tow-rope and drag them to the site. After killing the whale, the whalers would withdraw and let the orcas feed on the tongue and lips of the carcass, then they's tow it back to the station.

When Old Tom died in 1930 the orca pod stopped helping the whalers and the annual catch dropped by 1/2. A year later the owner shut the station down. He'd always said the only reason the station was viable was due to the actions of the orca pod, and when they stopped helping he could see the writing on the wall.

[tavella.livejournal.com]

Y'know, this is one of those wildlife stories where you are torn between admiration and horror. Smart, smart animals! But humpbacks rare and endangered and probably just as smart!

[ursulav.livejournal.com]

Those birds are spectacular! Man, we got nothin' in North America to match those colors...well, not around here, anyhow.

[dewhitton.livejournal.com]

I don't see them around here, either. They're coastal birds and I'm a bit inland.

I do see other parrots: cockatoos, galahs (aka rose-breasted cockatoos), eastern rosellas (like the mountain rosella but with yellows and greens) red-rumped parrots, cockatiels, the occasional black cockatoo, king parrots, and lately because of the 12 month drought, wild budgeriegahs.

[ldy.livejournal.com]

Awesome :) Really, I am filled with awe.

I love being able to see the world through your eyes :)