I thought it might be a good idea to to have a wildlife thread.

I have a couple of questions to start it off.

Since moving to the top of the cliff, i have become a bit of a birdwatcher along with dolphin watching. Bill found his binoculars amongst all our packing, which has been a godsend. I can see heaps of wonderful things throughout the day.

One thing is puzzling me. Every morning i see flocks of various sea birds flying past just above the surface of the sea and they are aften flying together in a V shape. Anyone know why they do this? I thought it might be to spot fish over a wider surface area, but i didnt think they worked in teams?

I am also wondering what time of year i would be likely to see the whales. They migrate dont they?

Aren't whales June to September?? Trying to remember from the Whale Info Centre at Victor Harbour.......obviously didn't pay enough attention............ ;)

And as for that poor tail-less lizard....... :crying:

Julia x

Thanx for that Julia.. hopefully i'll get good at using these binoculars by then

Most birds have their eyes at the side of their heads so there is a blind spot right at the front of their beaks. If they fly behind each other they would have to move their heads slightly to the side to see where they were going. They also fly that way as they get further as a group - a kind of help each other along type thing but I'm sure it has something to do with aerodynamics as well.

Sasha :)









Are you impressed????? I wish I could say that I knew everything but just looked it up!

I found the Whale website and the season is late May to early October, it is a good webpage so take a look...

http://www.sawhalecentre.com/

Sasha :)

Thanx for the link Snappy..i will take a look in a mo.

I am getting good at usiing the binoculars now. Yesterday i spotted two seals frolicking at the bottom of the cliff. I thought they were dolphins at first due to the fact they were swimming along hold one of their flippers upright poking out of hte water :D
Jerry my landlord, says that these seals do this a lot and can be very amusing when they start playing.

Reminded me of a sotry in the local newspaper a couple of months back. A woman phoned police for assistence in Henely Beach because she couldnt leave her house to go to work, as there was a seal on her front doostep who wouldnt let her out!! medium 114

thats a great link snappy. Looks like i shall be busy looking for whales pretty soon as its enterng hte season in May!! I am gonna take a drive ot Encounter Bay and find out more about them.

I remember a few years ago a Southern Right whale swam up to Marino, but it is quite unusual for them to come up the Gulf so near to the suburbs. Nicki the best place to see the whales is around Victor, and if you can make it to the top of the Bluff the outlook is fantastic, but you need oxygen to get there - tis very steep and windy and slippery up there. I nearly broke my neck the last time I climbed it.

We went to Victor some years ago when a couple of Southern Right whales came right inshore - they were so close in it's a wonder they didn't beach themselves. That was back in the days before whale watching became a big winter pasttime. Usually the radio and TV stations tell you where the whales are hanging around, but then you get hoards of peeps going to look, and it sort of spoils the experience a bit.

Indeed so, in geese anyway. Program about it on BBC2 about 6 months ago.

The tips of the wings create a vortex that provides extra lift in the area just off and behind the wingtip. The birds will change formation during a long flight to allow a different bird with a fresher pair of wings to lead.

That's one thing on our "miss about here" list - geese flying overhead honking away. Mad things.

My neighbour tells me that the whales do come up to where i am living but nowhere near as much as Encounter Bay.
I am determined to see one from my window, if only i could master using these binoculars!!




When you get her Fred, you will have Galahs, cockatoos and Parakeets squawking above your head..they are far more pretty than geese!! Som epeople dont like them because they are noisy, but i love them. Would rather listen to them than constant traffic noise i had in London. :P

You need a telescope Nicki, then you could see right over to Yorke Peninsula too.

hi p/p, if the birds are large they are probably,Pelicans, if smaller and black, they would be Little Cormorants, or "shags" :rolleyes: when they see a school of white bait near the surface they will all dive in,and chase them under water, both these birds fly in V- formations....................

Ahhh..thankyou MM..i see both sorts..black birds and white ones. Havent seen them diving yet, but i'm sure i will eventually.

Human cyclists know the value of sticking tight in a group. Except for the leader, everyone else has an easier ride than they would alone. The answer here is purely to do with the shelter provided by being in a slipstream, which hardly applies to birds. Or does it? Starlings fly in particularly dense formations, so much so that their packed ranks generate wind noise. Flock aerodynamics probably collectively reduces drag and therefore an individual's energy expenditure. Not surprisingly, waves of European starlings that spend the winter in Britain migrate in tight flocks and reform in them each evening before flying considerable distances to communal roosts.

Birds coalesce in all manner of group arrangements, from amorphous undulating lines to rigid v-formations favoured by large birds, chiefly geese, swans and pelicans. V-formations seem to epitomise experience leading youth since adults, distinguishable by plumage, are invariably in pole position with juveniles tucked in behind. Well, it now appears that there's an even greater benefit. The amazing truth is that the birds reduce their heart rate; a sure sign that they burn less energy through being relaxed and enjoying a smoother flight. How come? A recent study by French researchers featured white pelicans fitted with heart monitors and trained to fly behind an aircraft. The birds' performance was compared between flying solo and when in squadron formation. It emerged that being able to glide behind a neighbour was the key to saving energy. This cut down the number of strenuous flaps needed to maintain momentum in flight.

By the way....I think a wildlife thread or section is a brilliant idea. Would help to get kids interested in something natural.

PP on that link for the Whales there is a section on whale spotting so if any wahles are seen around the area they are logged on the site - should be useful if you want to know when to start looking.

Sasha :)

I will ask our guru Andy about a wildlife section Steve

That site is great Snappy. I'm hooked already waitng for first siting

have a couple more interesting critters to add to our list of neighbours.

Beautiful orange/brown hawks.

Because our lounge window is just approx 15ft above the cliff edge, we get a spectacular eye level view of the hawks hovering nearly motionless above hte cliff face. Suddenly they will nose dive at extreme speed to catch their prey. They were doing this for nearly an hour this morning and was very entertaining to get close up views with our binoculars.
Since moving here, i am becoming a bit of a twitcher!! (slang term for a birdwatcher).
I shall name them Harriet and Henry :bouncing smiles:

:sign20: PP, love the way they all have names!

Elaine