Wild Encounters

I haven’t been very good with keeping up with the blog the past few weeks. It’s been quite a busy time! I was out of town in Mt. Gambier and then Melbourne recently. I stayed with Cath in Mt. Gambier for part of the weekend, and then on Monday she took me to Cape Bridgewater in Victoria. Mt. Gambier is very close to the South Australia/Victoria border so it was only about an hour drive to Cape Bridgewater on the coast. And let me tell you, the coast was GORGEOUS! The water was probably the bluest water I’ve ever seen. Not quite as clear as Florida waters, but the blue was much deeper and richer.

It was here that I saw my first Australian snake. We were walking along the coastal cliff path and we almost walked right over it. It was slithering along the path, but when it saw us it stopped. We also immediately stopped, but were about three feet away by then. I got a few pictures before the snake decided to move along. Of course instead of turning slightly and moving away from us it came right towards me. I held still as it slithered between my legs and continued on its way. I’m not quite sure what type of snake it was, but I think it was an Eastern Brown Snake (Pseudonaja textilis). According to the Australia Zoo website, “The Eastern Brown Snake rates number two on the world's most venomous snake list.” However, the one we ran into was not acting aggressively at all, so we just stood still while it moved on. Overall a cool experience!

Eastern Brown Snake (Pseudonaja textilis)

Farther along the trail we stopped at a deck overhanging the cliff to look for the Cape Bridgewater Australian Fur Seal (Arctocephalus pusillus doriferus) colony that usually hangs out on the rocks. Unfortunately most of them were not there when we looked, but I did manage to see a few playing in the crashing waves along the shoreline.

 Australian Fur Seal (Arctocephalus pusillus doriferus) at Cape Bridgewater, Victoria

On our walk along the beach we found a washed-up Bluebottle Jellyfish, also known as the Portuguese Man-of-War (Physalia physalis). According to the Australian Museum website, “The Bluebottle or Portuguese Man-of-War is not a single animal but a colony of four kinds of highly modified individuals (polyps). The polyps are dependent on one another for survival. The float (pneumatophore) is a single individual and supports the rest of the colony. The tentacles (dactylozooids) are polyps concerned with the detection and capture of food and convey their prey to the digestive polyps (gastrozooids). Reproduction is carried out by the gonozooids, another type of polyp.”

 The float of a Bluebottle Jellyfish, also known as the Portuguese Man-of-War (Physalia physalis)

 Touching the waters of the Southern Ocean for the first time!

On Tuesday I flew to Melbourne to tag along with Jed Burtt (my advisor from OWU), his wife Pam, Pam’s sister Leslie, and Pam’s friend Pam on their birding/mammal-seeing adventures for a few days. We went searching in the forest for the Superb Lyrebird (we didn’t see one), took a walk in the suburbs to find koalas (we found one, my first koala!), and driving along the coast looking at shorebirds.

 My first koala (taken right before my camera died)!

It was so great to see Jed and Pam again and to really learn some of the birds I’ve been seeing around me. We also saw a Tiger Snake (Notechis scutatus), one of Australia’s very venomous snakes, on the road as we were driving. Unfortunately I did not get a picture of it because when we stopped to get out, Jed and the rest of the crew jumped out of the car and left me trapped in the back seat. Jed came back to let me out but by the time I got to the snake it was in the grass. Oh well, I’m sure I’ll see plenty more in the next year!

 At Somers Beach with Jed 

 Is this a common occurrence in Australia?