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January 21, 2015

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Australian natives, Backyard birds, national parks, natural history, predation

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Backyard bounty

Okay, only metaphorically our backyard… but we got there on foot in less than ninety minutes, and that’s at child pace.  In my own garden, the cut the critters take makes me want to weep.  It’s a lot more fun watching the surplus of Waratah Bay feeding the locals.

The light blue soldier crab, Mictyris longicarpus
Soldier crabs being rounded up by the kids. Sorry guys.
Light blue soldier crab, coming to get me

A crab-eating goanna was a first for me.

Crab eating goanna looking pretty happy
Goanna digging for crabs
A decent mouthful

Even a bunch of yelling kids couldn’t drive this white-faced heron from a great seafood buffet.

White faced heron hunting at low tide
Heron eating a crab
And this time a squid.

No pics of the circling white-bellied sea eagle, but you’ll be pleased to know, it too caught a fish.

One of Sydney’s “lungs” – Kuring-gai National Park
Mangroves
Epacris longifolia flowering a metre or two from the tideline

5 thoughts on “Backyard bounty”

  1. Love these pics! I haven’t seen these crabs since I was a child. They seem to have disappeared many beaches I used to frequent. I’ve never seen a crab-eating goanna either. I would have been delighted to capture these images. What an exciting walk you had. I wish I had been there!

    • Thanks Jane! I was a bit annoyed I didn’t get a better angle on the goanna chowing on the crab but, hey, they’re wild animals not celebrities, right? I actually didn’t know what the heron was eating until I got home and saw the photos. I suspect there were also some fish in the same tidal pool as there are a few blurry shots with fishy looking things hanging out of its mouth. An amazingly beautiful and fertile place!

  2. What a beautiful place.
    I like the crab eating goanna.
    I wish a place like that was within walking distance of my home.

    • We are very lucky in Berowra – national parks on all sides. Berowra Creek on the town side of the railway also has some fantastic mangroves, lots of fish and the obligatory kingfishers and white bellied sea eagles.

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