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Monday - Mantas gliding above, a leopard shark sitting on the sediment
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date: 15/9/2008
Author:Shay Young
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CONDITIONS
Weather: Sunny & Humid! | Air Temp: 24°C | Wind: NE 5/10 knots | Water Temp: 22°C | Water Visibility: 20m |
Sea State: Calm
ISLAND LIFE
Critter Encounters:
Today started at 5:47am with a breath taking sunrise over the lagoon with the tide rising higher and higher in tune with the sun, making for a great sunrise snorkel. This was the time that the birds awoke to another day of feeding and along with mating displays in the sky, and the trigger for our tropic bird chicks to open their eyes to yet another amazing day. During the first tour of the morning we focused our resident and migratory birds with an early bird watching tour around the eastern side of the island giving guests to opportunity to check off many of the bird species on our bird list.
The white-capped noddies were first on the agenda with at least 30 starting to establish nests around the pool area; nesting season certainly is in full swing with more and more birds appearing on the island each day. The Pied Oyster catchers were out scavenging along the shoreline at the southern end of the runway, an encounter with our pied and sooty oyster catchers is very exciting as we only have four of this species on the island; 2 pied and 2 sooty. The oyster catchers have long red/orange beaks and feet and got their name due to their ability of open hard shells such as oysters on exposed shorelines. The Frigate birds are also turning out in force with both males females and juveniles perching in their favourite tree on the NE corner of the island; however, they did all decide on a lunchtime flight as they abandoned the trees to search the shallows and the skies for small vulnerable birds and fish. The red tailed tropic birds are busily looking after their young with Sebastian and Zulu left alone today to fend for themselves for a short while, Damien still seems to be a bit to young be left alone, the great news is that they all look healthy and are doing well!
The island discovery tour today ventured around the eastern side of the island to discover coral cay vegetation that inhabits both the shoreline and the centre of the island; the octopus bush was of interest today. Octopus bush is one of the first trees to arrive on the island via the ocean; when the seeds are immersed in water they can survive for several months floating until they reach the shorelines of an island and then form a ring around and stabilizing the island also acting as a wind break to allow the fragile species of plants to colonize the central part of the cay.
The diving today took advantage of the perfect conditions to wall dive the eastern side of the island in the pristine waters; the morning dive commenced at the Blowhole for a drift to the Docks with the afternoon dive using the change in current to start at the Tubes and drift back to the Blowhole. Incredible encounters in 20m visibility with Mantas gliding above, a leopard shark sitting on the sediment picking up the vibrations sent out by the small crustaceans, turtles under each ledge, schooling travelly … however the highlight being 20 – 30 whiptail rays packed on top of each other on the bottom. WOW an amazing experience …..
Flying fish cannot really fly!
Fish cannot survive out of water for extended periods, so sometimes the flying fish will leap above the waves when travelling at great speeds. The wing-like fins they possess is what keeps them in the air for periods of up to 30 seconds!
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Pied Oyster Catcher - Wayne Fox
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