An interesting paddle

There have been a lot of waders on the sandbars in front of Captain Stevenson's Point in recent days.  As the weather seemed reasonable (not cold, and light wind although forecast to increase in an hour or so) I decided to fire up the kayak and go visit the area to see what I could photograph.

The first interesting element arose as I prepared to launch the kayak at the wharf.  After getting the kayak off the trailer, getting all the bits and pieces out of the Pajero and wheeling them to my launch spot, I realised that:

1.  the the two components of the paddles were different; and
2. I had picked up two with the female fitting.

So wheel everything back to the car, reload everything and drive home to pick up the needed male half of the paddle.  I was not happy.  However I got back and launched.  Here is my route: yellow arrows are in kayak, red are walking.

I will get to the birds in a while but will write a little about progress.  There is much more water than shown in the image and I was finding a good channel all the way to the Point but after turning across towards the island I could see that I was running out of liquid so the pedals were removed and paddling happened - perhaps for 100m: I was glad I had the correct paddles!  I dragged the kayak well out of the water (being uncertain if the tide was rising or falling).

When I got to point X on the walk I could feel the breeze getting stronger so decided that it was time to pull the plug.  Of course I was a little delayed by the Beach Stone-Curlew but launched OK (the tide was going out or the rising westerly was pushing water out).  Once I got going I found that the wind was pushing me around somewhat and the water was shallower than on the way out.  Pedals out and paddle:

• discovering how useful the rudder was in counteracting the wind's desire to send me to Gabo, and
•  praising various deities that I had the correct paddles rather than trying to remember how to do a J-stroke with half the set!  

Once back to the deep channel by the campground I was also sheltered from the wind and pedalled back happily.  

Here are some bird photos.

Pelicans and about 400 Crested Terns.

Bar-tailed Godwit; Red Knot; Red-necked Stint and Red-capped Plover

Red-necked Stints

This image gives an idea of the density of the birds as the whole shoreline was covered like this.  On thinking about it. possibly 300m long, 10m wide, at least 1 wader per 5 square metres.

As I was approaching the kayak I spotted a Red-capped Plover doing a distraction display and then in the background, this!  A/the Beach Stone-Curlew is back.  I shall try to do a review of the history of the species in Mallacoota but they are not common.

Testing the Kayak (again)

 For a range of reasons, but mainly poor weather and/or bogans in power boats, we have not used our kayaks for about a year.  I decided that this was the only way to get some snaps of the waders on the sand bars in front of Captain Stevenson's Point.  So I took one of the kayaks off the trailer and headed for the wharf to check things out.  I had three objectives for this exercise:

1. Prove to myself that I could launch etc the kayaks on my own.  A specific sub-objective here was not to fall in the water while launching or landing the kayak;
2. Get to check out the birds on the sandbar;
3. Not cause too much disturbance to the birds.

All 3 objectives - and the sub-objective - were met.  

The route was intended to avoid the sandbars along the way, thinking the channel serving the Campground moorings was a  pretty good idea.  So it was: trying to shortcut ran out of draught rather quickly but no biggy.  The last few metres (yellow arrow) were shallow, so pedals out and paddle in.  From a combination of Google Earth and eBird tracking I think the distance from launch to landing was about 600m, so not really worthy of a Viking saga.

Here is my track on the sand bar as recorded by eBird.  There was less exposed sand outside where I walked: the image was taken on March 30, I suspect at low tide (and there had been little rain for about 10 weeks).

Photos of birds,  These are not unduly high quality as I took my old Panasonic camera in case the sub-objective was not met!

Caspian Terns and Red-necked Stints.

Stints and Red Knots.

Stints.

WRT to objective 3 the birds seemed unfussed by my presence - I did TRY to maintain an ethical distance - apart from where a couple of Silver Gulls, not part of the main flock, went postal and the whole lot (my guess was ~500 Crested Terns) took wing.  They just did one circle and landed again.

There were about 40 Bar-tailed Godwits in 3 groups.

One Eastern Curlew - I think a male from bill length: IMO the female would be about 30% longer.

Altogether a pretty successful outing.  It seemed that the numbers and diversity of waders were somewhat less tan some recent visits.  No Grey Plover, Greenshank or Turnstone which being on migration have probably just moved on.  Only a single Red-capped Plover and no Double-banded Plovers (the latter having possibly gone to their breeding grounds in New Zealand).

Some Photos of Nature in November

 The first couple of snaps are of a local identity who strolled across Angophora Drive as we came back from our morning walk

Later that day the very strong wind (the daily run of 494 km was the third longest I have recorded here) made interesting patterns on Bottom Lake.  I'm sure if we had been unwise - or desperate - enough to be out there in our kayaks we'd call them waves, but power boaters would call them ripples.

On the afternoon of 11 November we went for a stroll on what little beach is left at Bastion Point.  On getting round the corner an angler was hauling something in.  It turned out to be this attractively coloured stingray, identified on iNaturalist.org as a Southern Eagle Ray.  

The captor released the fish, pushing it back into the water with the butt of his rod announcing "I don't want to end up like Steve Irwin."

Later in the evening it looked as though we were going to get some serious rain ..

.. accompanied by a son et lumiere performance.

We only scored 1.6 mm of rain (and a later, larger, cell was completely diverted around us).  There were a few flashes and bangs however,

Back in the Kayak

We have been very slack about getting out in the kayaks for the last year.  Either it has been too windy or too wet, or too many powerboats around.  So today the forecast looked very good for the morning: sunny and wind 2-11 kph.  So we loaded up the Pajero and set off for Fisheries Jetty.  

Surprisingly we more or less remembered how to set things up and launched.  A very polite person on the jetty commented that we looked very professional.

We were so professional I didn't get the eBird tracker going for about 500m but here is our route.  I wasn't sure where the entrance to Harrison's Channel was and the wind was getting up so we turned.  The wee loop on the way back was trying to get too close to Rabbit Island and having to search for deeper water to keep the foot paddles going.  But no biggie.

I think that is Horse Island in front of us.  There were at least 4 Pied Cormorants around as well as quite a few Little Pied.  Bird of the Day was a White-bellied Sea Eagle which flew over, getting escorted from the area by a bolshie Australian Raven.

A nice view of Stingray Point with a distant Genoa Peak in back.

The image below comes from  Gippsland Ports site which I consulted to learn the meaning of the different colours of the channel markers.  Lots of nautical stuff about port and starboard and upstream, but basically keep the green ones on your right and the red ones on your left.  But also keep an eye out for eel grass getting close to the surface!

Activities and inactivities at Mallacoota

There are always things to do here.  We had planned to go out in the kayaks early in the day but somehow managed to awfulise (a technical term, meaning to pluck rays of doom and gloom from a sunny situation) things that could go wrong: for example, the current might be too strong and we'd get swept out to sea.  So we went for a walk to Quarry Beach instead.

The immediate thought was that a lot of sand had been washed off the beach.  This is exemplified by the sand bank on the right of this image and the exposed rocks towards the sea.

Later in the walk we went to the cliff and it was evident there had been deposition as well as erosion.  The red line indicates the 'normal' sand level.  Clearly waves have chucked a lot of sand up as well as subsequently washing a lot out.

The rocks seemed to be damp (probably from the sea spray - see below) which made them particularly colourful.

The walk down the beach was uneventful. The only notable item was the total lack of Australian Pied Oystercatchers: a flock of about 12 has been on the beach for the last few months.  At the far end there was a large collection of seaweed.

It was of two species.  Close to the water line it was what I call Bull Kelp but is actually Southern Bull Kelp.  Looking to Wikipedia it emerges that this is a genus of which it seems that the species here is Durvillaea amatheiae.  Further from the water the darker heap is bladder wrack (which seems to be the basic Fucus vesiculosus also evident in the UK).  Here is a close up the transition heap. 

There were very few birds around: I think they must all be up at the opened Inlet feeding on the exposed sandbars.  The rocks at the Western end had a few Cormorants.

The shadow confused my count briefly.

Frances was examining a washed up sponge when a small passenger jumped out.  It posed nicely but the again shadows again caused confusion: in this case shadows of the legs.

A large cuttlefish blade also had passengers.  I had never noticed before that the attachments seem to have cut into the 'bone'.

Although the sea didn't appear to be rough (especially compared to what was going on a week ago) when we were looking into the sun there was a fine mist blowing off the beach, giving a rather ethereal look to the burnt out Melaleuca.

After a fruitless drive around the gun club track (no birds at all) I said I was thinking of experimenting with taking a kayak down the hill on wheels.  This led Frances to decide she'd like to go for a pedal as well.  So we hooked up the trailer and took ourselves off to Fisheries Jetty.  The image of our route from eBird is incomplete as I didn't start recording birds until well into the outing.  The red dashes give an idea of the first part of the trip.

The aim was to around Rabbit Island and then see what else looked promising.  

I suggested that it would be good to head for the small islands opposite the wharf but it seems that with water level having dropped a metre our pedal-paddles were in danger of grounding out (at the point where the track shows a circle) so they were clipped up and the double blades came in to play.  Hakuna matata.

After all that exercise our enjoyment of a glass of red was well supported by a very spiffy sunset.

A crescent moon is just visible in this image

Some wet bits

The flood waters are still slowly rising.  By 19 July it was up to 1.54m at the official gauge.

The next few snaps are from forays along Lakeside Drive on 18 July (when the gauge was at 1.50 m).  The first was taken on our morning walk and shows the situation near the intersection of Lakeside Drive and Karbeethong Road.  (I don't have a photo, but by late afternoon on 19th it was right across the road.)

This is the entrance to the Narrows walking track.  It didn't matter as on our kayak trip (see below) it was apparent that much of the track was under water.

Most of the hire boats had been taken away.

This is the first time we have seen many of the yachts near the Karbeethong ramp shifted.

Back towards town, this was the seen just past Angophora Drive ...

... and towards the Fisheries Jetty bend.

Major excitement was caused by a Sunfish being washed up on Tip Beach.  I shall do a dedicated post about this later.  It appears to be a Hoodwinker Sunfish (Mola tecta).

The waves had been doing a number on the sandhills on the beach towards Bastion Point.  (It was worse on the morning of the 19th. (This had also washed the Sunfish corpse out to sea.  Fortunately some tissue samples were taken on the 18th.)

A pair of Whistling Kites are passing a lot of time (noisily) in the Angophoras near our house.  Hopefully they are setting up house there.

The lawns in Angophora Drive seem to be an interesting site for a range of fungi.  This is (I think ) Bolbituis titubans.

Our major activity on the 19th was a kayak trip up the Narrows.  We had been planning our next foray to the islands near the mouth of the Inlet.  However it is difficult to get to the water's edge anywhere convenient to that area.  To give some novelty, we went to the Eastern side of Top Lake this time.

This is in the mouth of the Narrows.

This was meant to be a photo of a Great Egret standing on the sloping branch.  By the time I had got the camera out of its locker and stopped the kayak wandering about in the current the bird had gone.  But the vegetation looks attractive.

An immature Whire-bellied Sea Eagle was watching us, and grabbing a feed at the inland end of the Narrows.

The only pelican on the trip.

To illustrate the strength of the current it took us 57 minutes to get to the far point and 25 to get back.  We did stop a bit more going out  but I'd say we were twice as fast coming back.