Our great southern migration

  We took a half-day fishing charter to celebrate our anniversary! Kristy Madill found us a charter and joined us, as did Scott's brother, Justin. We left early in the morning. I figured the picture above was nicer for the showcase pic than the one showing our "red fish" or even the yummy snapper dinner we had that night! Our freezer now contains fresh frozen snapper,  morwong, flathead and the little red nannygai. I can't quite convince myself that the flathead qualified as "blue fish".  [If you didn't get to read that book/have that book read to you in childhood, you might be lucky. We read it almost daily.] We hired the whole boat so only hooked each others lines every 10 minutes or so! Everyone caught a few keepers and several that got thrown back.  Our skipper did take us closer to the whales for a look, as well as finding as good fishing spots. The seals and the whales were having a relaxing day. While we saw a few breaches, the whales were mostly ...

This variegated male fairy wren is so colorful sometimes I can't sort out the parts. He has a black bill pointing downward to about 8:00 (for those of you old enough to look at clock faces), a blue cap and a large white patch around his eye. Chestnut on his wing and the classic tail stuck up in the air. When we see that tail, we assume it is a fairy wren! We are seeing the variegated ones more often than in the past.  The glowing superb fairy wrens (below) are easier to find. To me, these little males look like they are perpetually scowling. They move quickly so catching one and getting it in focus is a constant challenge. Not again the upright tail. The females are often bolder but much less colorful. This one had a need to sing! These little birds are usually in old branch piles and on the ground. They twitter away but don't always show themselves. Right now, there is a little more attention on other wrens rather than on humans. This superb fairy wren was upset at another mal...

  We usually vacation in this area in August and the humpbacks generally show up a day or two before we leave. Their standard southward migration starts closer to September. This one was enjoying the early morning off Jamieson Point.  We went for an earlier walk this morning trying to capture the elusive pink breasted/red breasted birds and walked out to the point south of Potato Point. A larger pod was moving along the coast, evidenced by the spouts, tail slaps and splashes! Always amazing to see how big they are. When you can see them from the shore.... Whale info The nice thing about the point is the view! Potato Point has several areas from which you can watch a wide expanse of ocen. Two even have benched. Great place to go read  The other often has company But here is a cuter picture -two for the price of one