Newcastle Bodysurfing Experience
Articles
The Karakas
by djr
The Karakas (1) woke me up. Screeching as they flew by, flopping around on their long lazy wings. Called Karakas by the black fellas, their name mimics the call they make as they lope along on the wing. Most whites call them Black Cockatoos, and these are the White-Tailed Black Cockatoos.
As I make breaky for me and Barbie, the Willie Wag Tails (2) chirrup in the tree outside the kitchen window.
After packing Barbara off to work for the day, I pack my towels and hotskin in the car. Above, the flaming Crows (3) are cawing, and I notice again the rubbish - old bones and stuff that they drop from our big gum tree in the front garden. I chuck sticks to chase them away.
On the neighbour’s front garden, some transient White Ibis (4) are picking at the grass, I guess they’re eating beetles and such.
It’s a beautiful Perth day. Sunshine, warm but not hot, moderate offshore easterly and a few clouds in the bright blue sky. I drive down the usual way, past the sports stadium and parks at Perry Lakes. On Oceanic Boulevarde, there’s a huge mess where the Karakas have been chomping on the pine-cones, dropping cones and mess all over the road under the trees. Nearby, Little Corellas (5) and Long-billed Corellas (6) are grazing over the grass, digging out their favourite food, grass rhizomes.
Down at City Beach, the water is warm, at the peak temperature for summer, around twenty four degrees. The waves are consistent, not big, but regular, however the banks are less than perfect. Offshore, a Pacific Gull (7) swoops to and fro, gliding on the gusts of the easterly.
As I wait for the waves, a Caspian Tern (8) flies close overhead, with a blue-bait fish in its bright orange beak. We don’t see too many Caspians here, we usually see more of the Fairy Terns (9), either singly or in pairs.
A pair of grey birds pass by, swing in over me and across the groyne, heading south. I don’t recognise them, but note the white patches on their wings and the classic petrel shaped beak. Later, checking my bird book, I’m sure they were a pair of Cape Petrels (10), itinerants of the broad Indian Ocean.
The surf is nice, with good conversations with the regular bodysurfers between waves. The best waves are breaking very close to the rocks at the end of the groyne, and the best of these offer nice walled up waves almost to shore. Scooting close by the rocks on takeoff adds a frisson of fear to each ride.
Pulling out of the car park, I notice more birds I don’t recognise. These look like the Ibis at my neighbour’s but are a dark grey all over. Again, I later identified these as Glossy Ibis (11), transients that move around following the wet. I wonder why they’re here in a park in a big city in summer? Maybe the park’s year round reticulation has fooled them?
On my way home, I witness a startling scene. While withdrawing cash from the machine over the road from the Wembley pub, I hear the raucous cries of a murder of crows on the wing. Suddenly they appear, nearly two dozen crows, cawing crazily as they chase a large Barn Owl (12) across the main street. The Barn Owl is a beautiful creamy white, a large bird with huge circular feather patterns around its eyes. A strange sight to see in broad daylight.
I relate all of this to Stratton that afternoon, as the Tawny Frogmouth (13) he is caring for glowers at me with amazing huge round eyeballs.
In the early evening before dusk I relate my day to Barbara as we sit in the garden out the back and, in the box tree next door, the Rainbow Bee-Eaters (14) are flocking and frolicking among the leaves and branches. These stunningly beautiful birds are temporary residents. They migrate here from the north every summer and dig metre long burrows in the ground to raise their young. Normally they are hard to spot, they are normally heard but not seen, but this evening they are clearly excited and very visible as they flit to and fro, occasionally performing amazing acrobatics in the air as they catch bees and wasps on the wing.
Later that week, I realise the Rainbow Bee-Eaters are gone, they were clearly roosting in the tree for their last night before heading north again. We’ll see them again next summer.
djr 30-mar-06
(1) Karakas - http://birdingwa.iinet.net.au/birds/species/short_billed_black_cockatoo.htm
(2) Willie Wag Tails - http://www.amonline.net.au/factsheets/willie_wagtail.htm
(3) Crows - http://www.birdsinbackyards.net/finder/display.cfm?id=26
(4) White Ibis - http://lamington.nrsm.uq.edu.au/Documents/Birds/ibis.htm
(5) Little Corellas - http://birdingwa.iinet.net.au/birds/species/little_corella.htm
(6) Long-Billed Corellas - http://birdingwa.iinet.net.au/birds/species/long_billed_corella.htm
(7) Pacific Gulls - http://www.birdphotos.com.au/pacificgullweb/index.htm
(8) Caspian Tern - http://birdingwa.iinet.net.au/birds/species/caspian_tern.htm
(9) Fairy Tern - http://www.perthzoo.wa.gov.au/index.html?wildlife_facts_au_fairyter.html
(10) Cape Petrels - http://birdingwa.iinet.net.au/birds/species/cape_petrel.htm
(11) Glossy Ibis - http://www.birdphotos.com.au/glossyibisweb/index.htm
(12) Barn Owl - http://www.amonline.net.au/factsheets/barn_owl.htm
(13) Tawny Frogmouth - http://www.amonline.net.au/factsheets/tawny_frogmouth.htm
(14) Rainbow Bee-eaters - http://www.birdphotos.com.au/rainbowbeeeaterweb/index.htm
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