Stuff in a nutshell.
Feb. 17th, 2005 06:04 pm![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
gemfyreYesterday was a chance to get close to some animals. It was my first ever time seeing little terns and not long after I saw them I got to hold one - they were the majority of that days catch among the banders.
Just before sundown I went out onto the beach on my own and sat down on a rock and heard the crabs going about their feeding with pops and clicks, noted at least 3 species of crab, including the stunning flame fiddler. Saw mudskippers and some strange mollusc make it's way along a rock. Watched the sand plovers further out on the mudflats and saw terns fly by. I dug my feet into the warm sand and not long after that noticed loads of hermit crabs of all sizes scuttling away from me. I saw that they were all coming from a rock in the sand and I wondered what the attraction of this rock was. As I neared it I realised it was a dead reef crab that they all had been feeding on. As I climbed back up the pindan I realised all the hermit crabs were massing in the base of one particular tree. Amazing.
Earlier in the day I also saw a black kite carrying off an unlucky ruddy turnstone.
Today in list format
Got up at 5am.
Set cannon nets... learned how to set cannon sets and that some electronics isn't all that complicated.
Went to Nimiliaca wetland slightly north of Broome.
Saw my first Jabiru.
Waded through warm, horse shitty water and mud so deep my feet got soaked despite the GP boots.
Decided I'd pass on wading up to my waist to try and flush a spotless crake. I'd like to see a spotless crake but not that badly, they didn't manage to flush it anyway.
Got a great look at a male red-backed fairywren while other mad people were wading in warm, horse shitty, muddy water up to their waists.
Waited forever for the cannon net to be fired because every raptor in the area decided to patrol that section of beach and scare them off.
Noticed huge cross spiders above where we were sitting under a tree.
Net was eventually fired. Got summarily yelled at by Clive - which happens to everyone, getting birds out of the water just after they've been netted is a stressful time.
Stepped in a cannon hole and stacked it on the sand, tiny cuts on my knees, I'll live.
Ferried birds from net to holding pens.
All the birds were fine.
Learned how to measure bill and head & bill length and how to weigh godwits.
Got to handle many bar-tailed godwits. :)
Home again now, sandy, sweaty, need dinner and a shower.
Just before sundown I went out onto the beach on my own and sat down on a rock and heard the crabs going about their feeding with pops and clicks, noted at least 3 species of crab, including the stunning flame fiddler. Saw mudskippers and some strange mollusc make it's way along a rock. Watched the sand plovers further out on the mudflats and saw terns fly by. I dug my feet into the warm sand and not long after that noticed loads of hermit crabs of all sizes scuttling away from me. I saw that they were all coming from a rock in the sand and I wondered what the attraction of this rock was. As I neared it I realised it was a dead reef crab that they all had been feeding on. As I climbed back up the pindan I realised all the hermit crabs were massing in the base of one particular tree. Amazing.
Earlier in the day I also saw a black kite carrying off an unlucky ruddy turnstone.
Today in list format
Got up at 5am.
Set cannon nets... learned how to set cannon sets and that some electronics isn't all that complicated.
Went to Nimiliaca wetland slightly north of Broome.
Saw my first Jabiru.
Waded through warm, horse shitty water and mud so deep my feet got soaked despite the GP boots.
Decided I'd pass on wading up to my waist to try and flush a spotless crake. I'd like to see a spotless crake but not that badly, they didn't manage to flush it anyway.
Got a great look at a male red-backed fairywren while other mad people were wading in warm, horse shitty, muddy water up to their waists.
Waited forever for the cannon net to be fired because every raptor in the area decided to patrol that section of beach and scare them off.
Noticed huge cross spiders above where we were sitting under a tree.
Net was eventually fired. Got summarily yelled at by Clive - which happens to everyone, getting birds out of the water just after they've been netted is a stressful time.
Stepped in a cannon hole and stacked it on the sand, tiny cuts on my knees, I'll live.
Ferried birds from net to holding pens.
All the birds were fine.
Learned how to measure bill and head & bill length and how to weigh godwits.
Got to handle many bar-tailed godwits. :)
Home again now, sandy, sweaty, need dinner and a shower.
