The end is nigh

As usual we took Tammie for a walk this morning.  Excitement began at the gate with a pair of Brown Cuckoo-doves sitting in a tree above my head.  As usual with this species they refused to pose for a snap!

The first canine action was the appearance of the white fluff ball along Topi Rd.  This involved some barking, as a precursor to a full sniff routine.  The sound FX attracted the attention of the Staffie which came trotting down the road to see us, despite loud calls for it to return home (which is how we identified the residence in question).  Tammie was elevated, for the previously stated reasons, and the Staffie wuffled along behind us for a while, wagging its tail.   Eventually we left it, looking forlorn and went on.  

Just before the turn round point Tammie flushed a couple of Brown Quail from the roadside grass.  Now, I have just read the phrase “like pointers to quail” in “Fish Tales” by Athel D’Ombrain (mainly about angling based on Newcastle).  Tam did a good job of pointing, but unfortunately to where the quail had been rather than where they were!  I worked out wheer they were for myself, got a good look and proceeded to the turn round position.  Just before we got back to the Staffie place another dog spotted Tam and started barking.  To our surprise that did not invoke the Staffie again.

We had decided that we would go back to Seal Rocks today to see if the whales were still around.  The walk through the Banksia avenue

towards the lighthouse was really impressive. The final bit of the walk just about define 'up'

The whales certainly were around when we scaled the path to the light: perhaps a little less active than the previous visit but still clearly visible just offshore.  My count this time was four pods of 5, 2, 2 and about 6.  The last of these was in the vicinity of a sailing boat which was a lot less than 500m away from the whales (mainly because the whales seemed to ignore both the rule and the boat).

While watching the whales I noticed – finally – a couple of albatrosses skimming along between the (significant) waves.  Suddenly the local Sea-eagle swung into view and knocked one of the albatrosses down into the water.  I can’t imagine that the eagle was pirating food from the albatross so perhaps it fancied some seabird in its diet?  Later, I concluded that these birds were Yellow-nosed albatrosses.

The swells were a lot more significant than on our first visit (one wonders about a large earthquake yesterday between NZ and Tonga).

This made the beach look really good, and gave some spectacular breaks over the rocks below the lighthouse.  The swells were also popular with a surf-school.  One of the riders – perhaps the instructor - got a good ride in to shore.

 On the way home after lunch from the Seal Rocks PO - noticing for the first time the great art on the end of the building

we swung in to part of Myall Lakes NP and wrote down about 20 commonish birds in short order and headed back for home.   

 

On Topi Rd I got a major surprise with a Pheasant Coucal flying into a she-oak: I didn’t think they came this far South.   I did get a reasonable, albeit it brief, view of the bird in the tree, which enabled me to realise they are quite colourful.  Usually all I see is something like a mobile serrated tussock shuffling into long grass, most commonly in a ditch.