South-eastwards again

As our schedules are about to get a bit committed we seized the moment to head to Mallacoota for a few days.

The drive down was fine, although after passing Bombala it looked as though we might get rained on..
 .. but nothing happened.  At one point on Imlay Rd there had obviously been a fire, but whether this was a wildfire or a Habitat Reduction burn was unclear.  As it was quite isolated I suspect a wildfire - the fact that it had reached the crown does not rule out a çontrolled' burn.
Once at the coast everywhere looked quite dry.  Some dams that are normally good for birds were dry and the mown grass in parks didn't look to be growing lushly.

There were more people around than usual as shown by this full car park ...
 .. and the anglers from the cars.
 A more relaxed (and obfuscated) couple of fisherpersons.
 A useful sign at the boat ramp.
 As we got back towards the house after a walk into town we found Mr and Ms Plod at work.  From their position they were checking the guys who had retrieved their boats from Karbeethong Jetty.
In case you are wondering why Ms Plod isn't in the photo it is because she had wandered off to a little jetty where a boat had arrived.  She had her RBT gear in hand so I hope the lads hadn't had too many tins.

A comparison of adult and immature plumage in Silver gulls.
Many Silver Gulls.
A Crested Tern.
Two White-headed Pigeons turned up at the house.  As you can see, the young ones are not that white around the scone!
A pair of Chestnut Teal, which are - apart from at the waterworks - the common duck in the area.
The fruit bats are back.  There are about 60 in this photo and there are many trees covered in them.  On an earlier visit a local told us the Sparks and Wildfires Service had counted 20,000 in total one year.
They look very cute: but they are always fighting and can carry nasty diseases so should not be approached.


I had hoped to get some photos of them flying out to feed but was a tad early.

Comments

Flabmeister said…
Thanks Jeni. I intend to get down there later in the visit to catch then flying out, if they get going across the Inlet rather than inland as they did last evening.

Martin
24 January 2016 at 17:36:00 GMT+11
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