Paddling on Mullet Creek...

[khiemtran]

Back to Saturday morning, and Liem and I are on a paddling expedition with my friend James on Mullet Creek, which flows into Lake Illawarra.



Liem is big enough for his own kayak now, so here he is paddling the Little Blue Yak (named after the Big Blue Yak, which is our normal family kayak).



It's a nice calm morning on Mullet Creek, and there's lots of wildlife to look at.



Crossing under the highway as we head down the creek...



But the big highlight was this enormous osprey. We were paddling around a river bend and watching a cormorant sitting on the far bank, when Liem suddenly shouted that there was an eagle. I turned and the osprey was sitting in a tree right behind us, watching us intently. This is probably the closest we've got to any large raptor.



We paddled as far as a fork in the river where James had seen stingrays before. We searched the sandbanks for a while, but didn't see any, although we did see lots and lots of fish.

On the way back, we saw this heron fly under a tree, and managed to get close enough for a good look. The photo doesn't really do it justice. These are the same herons I've been calling nankeen night herons, but I found out recently that they're actually more likely to be striated herons instead. Still, they are fascinating birds...



After we'd visited the heron, I caught sight of something unusual across the river. As we paddled closer, we could see it was the osprey again, this time settling down for breakfast with a noisy raven alongside.



Eventually the osprey decided that with us around and the raven, it was time to find a new spot to eat, so it grabbed its fish and took off. The raven followed in pursuit.



A breathtaking morning on the river...

Comments

[mnfaure.livejournal.com]

Sprout loves ospreys and was happy to see yours. She'd like to know if you saw what kind of fish it was eating. :)

[khiemtran.livejournal.com]

It looks like a mullet from this angle. That's the most likely candidate anyway, since there were lots of mullet around. We also saw some tiny sharks (only about 15 cm long) and lots of smaller fish.

[puddleshark.livejournal.com]

Oh, wow!

What glorious scenery and what wonderful wildlife... It's almost enough to tempt me into kayaking!

[khiemtran.livejournal.com]

You certainly get a different view of nature from the water. A lot of animals seem less concerned by a floating intruder than a walking one and you can get quite close to them. It's also quite pleasant just to drift along (or paddle slowly) and listen to the birds.

[heliopausa.livejournal.com]

Oh, that's wonderful - the river alone, but then the osprey and its fish, and attendant raven as well...! This is very cool to read about, let alone to have lived. :)

[khiemtran.livejournal.com]

Yes, we're very lucky to have places like this nearby. It feels like living inside a nature documentary sometimes. I'm especially glad that Liem can experience these things in the wild instead of merely on television or in the zoo.

[asakiyume.livejournal.com]

Liem looks so cool with his shades.

I love the bareness of the tree branches in that last two shots (which are gorgeous of the osprey, too)--they're eucalyptus, right? (looking those scythe-shaped leaves) It's something I definitely associate with Australia, even though there are are other sorts of trees of course, and even though eucalyptus grows elsewhere, too.

Let's also pause a moment to congratulate the osprey on his fish. Nice going, osprey!

[khiemtran.livejournal.com]

I'm sure it ate well that day! And maybe the raven did too...

Yes, that last tree is a eucalypt. They're easily the most common type of tree around here, apart from the introduced species around the cities.