From the island

It was brilliant to be able to take a trip after a long, long time at home. Two birds and two mammals this week.

There’s a beaut little walk on Phillip Island that winds its way to two bird hides at the edge of Swan Lake. I photographed several swans from the hide but the image above is my favourite shot of the walk. I love this swan’s graceful pose, the way it ruffled its feathers, and the bubbles fore and aft as it glided across the lake. If you look closely you’ll see its white flight feathers which can’t usually be seen unless swans are flying.

I took a wildlife boat trip, on the Kasey Lee, out to Seal Rocks which is about 1km from the south west corner of the island. It was fairly calm but the swell was significant enough to make photography tricky. The Silver Gull is at the bottom of the frame because of the movement of the boat, the next shot had no bird at all!

On the trip I saw Silver Gulls, Australasian Gannet, three swimming Little Penguins, some Short-tailed Shearwaters, a White-breasted Sea Eagle and a few distant rows of terns. The main attraction was the Australian Fur Seals. Most of the seals were pretty active, adding to the difficultly of taking photographs from a lurching boat in lighting conditions that kept changing. A few of the seals were snoozing, somehow finding their rocky beds comfortable enough to sleep on. The seal above caught my attention, could it really be as comfy as it looks!

I absolutely love the coast road on the island. It’s a one-way dirt track, to one side are magnificent sea views and to the other are grasslands that hide all kinds of beautiful creatures, including this shy Swamp Wallaby.

Happy birding, Kim

~ Facebook page Kim Wormald – lirralirra
~ Facebook group  Ethical Bird Photography