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    I visited ‘The Balconies’ so you don’t have to!

    backyardzoology / May 2, 2021

    Welcome to my very first ‘places’ post! I’m pretty excited about this new addition. It means I get to highlight some of the beautiful places we wander in search of teeny weeny adventures…

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Naturalist, Spider Discoverer, Writer & All round good girl

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Now I know these birds are fan favourites among a Now I know these birds are fan favourites among a lot of you - me included. The call is just so eerie and so distinctive. And those tail feathers 🥰 I got a message, maybe 12 months ago now (maybe more) from some documentary producers, asking if they could use the sound from a video of mine of a Yellow-Tailed Black Cockatoo calling for a show they were making for Apple TV. Umm, hell yeah you can. They only needed a couple of seconds, just to demonstrate the birds that the star of the show, a Superb Lyrebird, was mimicking. Which is lucky because the whole video wasn't long and most of the time you could hear Matt's camera clicking away in the background! I still haven't seen it because I'm too tight to pay for Apple but I DID get paid for the 2 seconds they used. I had a good belly laugh invoicing for 2 seconds of footage though. It's so funny where this world of nature watching and writing takes you. Thumping and trumpeting whales one day and on your knees dragging yourself through the mud chasing ants the next. Luckily for me, these cockies have been at Bass Point the last couple of times I've been whale watching (or whale waiting). They absolutely love the banksia seed pods and grab them from the trees, pluck them right off with their amazingly strong claws and then eat them like a cob of corn. It is so hard staying home, trying to get work done when you know there is so much out there still to explore. #yellowtailedblackcockatoo #blackcockatooproject #abcmyphoto #visitnsw #natgeo #ausgeo #yourbestbirds #birdsofaustralia #ausgeo #bbcwildlifepotd #shellharbour #australianbirds #birdsofoz #backyardzoology
There can be a lot of time between whales, especia There can be a lot of time between whales, especially as the season is starting to wrap up. And so I've been taking my macro lens with me just in case, because if there's one thing this gal loves, it's having options. After a particularly quiet afternoon I spotted one of my very favourite ants (as in ant species, not as in one individual ant. I'm not over here like, 'oh hi Gary! How's the wife and kids?) And having my macros lens I quickly dropped to my knees and tried to work out where their nest was so I could watch their comings and goings. Green-Head Ants (man, I love a common name, especially a common name that makes sense. Don't come at me taxonomists) live underground, under rocks, twigs and branches or in decaying wood. The nest entrance of this colony was hidden under a couple of fallen leaves and I watched as they busily removed teeny little rocks which had likely come loose from the nest entrance itself, using their jaws to carry the load. They would then drop them a short distance away and head back to the nest once again. Rinse. Repeat. Things were going great, me on the ground utterly fascinated, no whales in sight until I felt the little tickle of a rogue ant and then a very distinct sting. This wasn't one of the Green-Head Ants fortunately as their sting is pretty potent and some people are allergic. I'm a big sook and so a few stings, even itty bitty ones, and I was out of there. But as much as I'm a sook, I'm also a glutton for punishment and so I went back the next day to see if I could get some images. And because I'm the luckiest gal in the world, I found a handful of them feeding on the nectar of the last few tea tree blossoms, at head height. They looked to have as much an issue with sugar as I do. I mean, they were right in there, head down, bum up and... not moving. They were really going to town! But after a relatively healthy diet of arthropods and seeds, sometimes you gotta indulge, right? #ants #ausgeo #insectsofinstagram🐛🐝🐞🐜 #entomology #australianinsects #smallworld #macrophotography #bbcwildpotd #bbcpotd #natgeo #backyardzoology #abcmyphoto
I've been paring things right back, right to the v I've been paring things right back, right to the very beginning of Backyard Zoology and taking photos of things in my actual backyard (and my actual front yard). I'm sure it's been eye opening for the tradies doing renos at my neighbour's house. This is the first time they have been introduced to the pyjama clad, camera wrangling, antisocial photographer and no doubt the first time they've seen someone roll down the hill after not quite getting the balancing part of front yard photography right. There's lots of photos to go through. Lots of little spiders taking up home in my teeny daisy patch. But that's for another day. I've also been trying to walk more. Trying to stretch and bend my body and trying to ensure my heart still continues to beat in the rhythm that it's supposed to. You know, just generally trying to be healthier. I had no sooner started my walk this morning when I spotted two whales in close. I hesitated for a minute, wondering if I should just keep walking and enjoy the show, even though they weren't doing much in a very calm ocean on a very overcast morning. It didn't take long before I decided to race home and grab my camera. I can work on my health anytime but whales are a 'now' event. I got to Woonona and just off from the pool I spotted a couple of backs. I'm assuming these were the whales I had seen earlier and again they weren't doing much but they were close in and that's always a treat. But then the mother launched herself out of the water! Salt water teamed off of her back and out of her mouth as she splashed back down in a head lunge. Her calf joined her once and then breached but it was all about the mumma as she lunged again and again. I'm not sure if it was the impending downpour, the sky dark and moody, the air sticky or if it was just the unexpectedness of it all but gosh was she lovely! Just the most beautiful colours and patterns, speckled with white, her black back steely against the dark ocean. I'm going to miss these animals when the season is done. #humpbackhighway #humpbackwhales #illawarra #abcillawarra #abcmyphoto #southernmigration #welovethegong #backyardzoology #woonona
It's been a long time since I was face to face wit It's been a long time since I was face to face with not one but two snakes simultaneously (and you lot can get your minds out of the gutter right now!). Happy to report I broke my double-snake drought while we were down the coast. There's loads of dog friendly places down at Bermagui. Beautiful beaches, cafes, pubs; there weren't many places that our lovely doggo Mabel wasn't welcome. BUT the famous Blue Pool is one of those places so Matt and I planned to tag-team so that one of us was on dog-duty at the top of the stairs, which is totally fine as it has the perfect view of a pod of local seals, while the other explored the pool itself. Now because my husband is the best human ever, he had only gone down a few steps before he excitedly called me over, grabbed Mabel and pushed me down the stairs (one of those gentle, off you pop, pushes) so that I could see the gorgeous Diamond Python that was coming out of the grass and making its way across the stairs. We get occasional pythons here but it's been a while and so I was a very happy girl. But things got even better when a random bloke pointed behind me, giving me a quick nod and a wink and I turned to find a second python about to also slither down onto the stairs! These two moved back and forth over the next hour. One snake would disappear into the long grass and if you hadn't seen it you would never have known it was there and just as you were turning to leave, the other would turn up somewhere else and suck you back in. It was really cool watching everyone discover them and it reminded me how lucky we are to be surrounded with such incredible wildlife. We finally returned to the car to scoff the amazing cinnamon rolls that we discovered in town, and left the snakes to what I can only assume was some hard earned hanky panky. #pythonsofinsta #pythonsofaustralia #diamondpython #bermagui #bermaguinsw #sapphirecoast #visitnsw #snake #snakesofaustralia #bluepool #backyardzoology
While we were down the coast, I had really, really While we were down the coast, I had really, really hoped to snorkel with the seals off Montague Island. But alas I've been feeling a bit light-headed lately and not overly strong and there's nothing worse than trying to snorkel in the ocean and ending up somewhere off the coast of Tasmania. So after a fair bit of sulking and feeling generally annoyed with myself, I decided that I would have a dip in the famous Blue Pool instead. Now the Blue Pool is one of those amazing ocean pools that are dotted all up and down the coast. I love them because even if you're not a particularly strong swimmer you can still enjoy all that salty goodness and often spot a critter or two while you're at it. How do the critters get in there? Well on one particularly rough day I watched from my floating spot as a full sized sea slug hurtled from the ocean, through the air and plonked with a splash into the water next to me!!! So the answer, obviously, is that they fly there 😉 I don't have a wetsuit and for good reason. I struggle to get out of my full-sleeved cossie as it is (and apologies to the man who was in the toilet next to me as he would have heard a bunch of grunting and swearing and huffing and puffing and not have realised that I was just trying to peel myself out of my wet swimmers!) So, I braved the cold water sans wettie and got my snorkel on. The Blue Pool was more the green pool, with loads of algae and sadly not many critters. I did find a massive eleven-armed sea star but I was determined to spot something fabulous and so after doing another lap as my ears started to ache and my hands got numb, I spotted the most delicious nudibranch ever! I've never seen this species before, and it was decked out in my favourite colour, pink. It was also right at eye level so no duck-diving - luckily as I always just bob back up again. But it really made my morning, and the trip down and then back up the very many stairs, totally worth it! #bermagui #bluepool #bluepoolbermagui #nudibranchs #clownnudibranch #nudis #snorkel #snorkelling #sapphirecoast #sapphirecoastnsw #backyardzoology
We snuck away to Bermagui for a little break hopin We snuck away to Bermagui for a little break hoping for some amazing wildlife encounters and boy, did we get that and more! We've only been here five days and we've fed stingrays, seen swamp wallabies, pythons, red-bellies, sea eagles, seals and my absolute favourite animal ever, an echidna, just wandering around out in the open while we were whale watching! But it was the whales that have really put on a show. We have been watching whales from the house we are staying in, come in close to a point off in the distance. We finally worked out where it was and far out, yesterday we had a whale experience like none other. SURROUNDED by whales, at one point there just have been 20-25 just off the point. They were EVERYWHERE and I was able to tick off a bucket list item, watching them feed. Absolutely incredible and I can still hear them calling and the loud thwack as their bodies hit the ocean. Once I'm on my computer I'll try and compile a couple of videos. We cannot wait to go back! #humpbackhighway #humpbackwhales #humpbackcalf #bermagui #sapphirecoast #sapphirecoastnsw #liveoutdoors #abcmyphoto #ausgeo #bbcwildlifepotd #natgeo #whalewatching #backyardzoology
I like to tell myself that I focus more on videoin I like to tell myself that I focus more on videoing the whales than I do on taking photos because you just can't get a sense of their size and their power through still images alone. But it's really because I'm not a brilliant photographer. I just don't get those sharp images of the jumpy whales that others do. Words are more my bread and butter anyway. But in this case, I really do think that videos put you right there in the moment as if you're there watching them. And in these clips you can see how small the calf is, once the mumma's tail comes up next to it. My manifestation skills really were on point yesterday as I mentioned to someone I'd be happy with a seal, but my favourite whale activity is watching the mums teach the babies 'how to whale' and I got all of the above. See if you can spot the hunting seal while the calf tries its hand (fin?) at tail slapping! #humpbackhighway #whalesofbasspoint #humpbackwhale #southernmigration #basspoint #backyardzoology #ausgeo #abcillawarra #abcmyphoto #natgeo #visitshellharbour
Today was one of those 'right place, right time' t Today was one of those 'right place, right time' things. I was in the right place because I'd had a lunch date fall through and I wasn't feeling well enough to head to a separate event I was hoping to get to, and it was the right time because I ended up spending the whole damn day whale watching! I don't know how it happened honestly. One minute I was saying I wouldn't be driving down to Bass Point anymore as I'd 'wasted' so many hours there not seeing a heap and the next minute I was at Bass Point chasing whales as they cruised past close to the rocks 🤣 There were a few moments today when I was photographing one mum and bub pair only to turn around and another couple had popped up to my left. Apologies to the dude who I screamed frantically "THEY'RE BEHIND YOU" at! It was all very Christmas pantomime. But I couldn't let him miss the incredible action going on just out of his line of sight. We had all behaviours today, from breaching to mum and bub tail slapping together, pectoral slaps and I COULD HEAR EVERYTHING! There is NOTHING like the thud of an enormous tail hitting the water over and over again. There really is something so joyful about whales and yes I'm probably anthropomorphising but at this point I don't care. The calves really are so active, and so playful and how they get their bulk completely out of the water I'll never understand. I came home and in the privacy of my own home, I tried to jump as high as I could. Turns out I'm no whale. #humpbackhighway #humpbackwhales #whales #southernmigration #abcmyphoto #ausgeo #backyardzoology
I've got a soft spot for the predators. It's tough I've got a soft spot for the predators. It's tough being at the top, or near the top of the food chain. Birds of prey get harassed by screeching ravens, and kak kakking lapwings and monitors don't fair much better. The good thing about them being noisily targeted is well, all the noise. It's a sure fire way to be tipped off that something interesting is happening. The other day at Mount Annan, I could hear the cockies losing their minds before I even got out of the car. I leant down and peered up out the front windscreen to find a flurry of white and yellow feathers clouding 'something' in a gum tree, just off the road. Perfect. I jumped out and shielding my eyes from the sun tried to spot what was causing all the commotion: it was a largish Lace Monitor, clearly just trying to get itself a place in the sun to warm up and snooze. But the cockatoos would not let up and after a while the reptile started to snap back at them, puffing up its throat, digging in its claws, its long tail whipping around angrily. And yet, still they came. I was Team Predator especially as the cockies kept dive bombing it even once it was in the long, dry grass, trying to flatten itself, trying to seem unthreatening. They did eventually leave it alone, as it moved to the base of another tree and I sat and watched for a while as it closed its eyes sleepily. I walked away for five minutes, chasing some ants with their prey and when I returned it had gone, swallowed quietly back into the bush. Noise really is the key. #predator #lacemonitor #goanna #reptilesofaustralia #liveoutdoors #backyardzoology #mtannanbotanicgardens

Recent Posts

  • Spring has, ah, sprung: Welcome Swallows
    In Wildlife
  • Whose shell is that?: The very lovely Elephant Snail
    In Wildlife
  • Get undressed, for success: Spiny Leaf Insect shedding her skin
    In Wildlife

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