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Monday - Guests watch frigate birds feeding
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date: 27/10/2008
Author:Shay Young
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CONDITIONS
Weather: Sunny | Air Temp: 26°C | Wind: SE/NE winds 10/15 knots | Water Temp: 24°C | Water Visibility: 20m | Sea State: Slight chop
ISLAND LIFE
Critter Encounters:
Today started at 5:07am with the sun appearing on the horizon with a bright orange glow; teemed with an early high tide made for an amazing morning snorkel in the lagoon.
The bird tour went ahead with keen bird watchers heading out to the edge of the island to sight any birds that happened to fly past; white-capped noddies, bridled and crested terns all filled the air with their amazing displays and loud yet calming chirps. The frigate birds were out today on the prowl for the small seabirds heading in from feeding to try and steal their food; this was of great interest to some of the bird watchers learning that this feeding tactic is what is known as ‘kleptoparasitism’.
The glass bottom boats motored out through the lighthouse keyway at off to Second Reef to have a look at some of those amazing marine creatures even greeted by many friendly sea turtles, some mature males still on the look for females to mate with. Big-eyed trevally schooled off the reef crest and an olive sea snake swam by ever so inconspicuously along the bottom; clams were all open taking up as much sun as possible to get the energy it needs for the zooxanthellae.
The island discovery tour saw guests venturing to the north east end of the runway to take a peek at those tropic birds were so frequently see and hear in the air. The tropic chicks are all gaining their juvenile plumage now resembling their adult counterparts more and more; however still waiting for two more breeding pairs to share new chicks with us.
Fish Feeding was an interesting event with many different species of fish joining for a little extra food. Moon wrasse were the most common fish at feeding today with the dominant male showing all who’s boss by changing his usual green shade to a bright blue; the dominant male moon wrasse will commonly display these colours during feeding and attack all the subordinate males.
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Red Tail Tropic Birds - Shay Young
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