One of the things that makes this a unique place to visit is that between the beach in the previous posting and the next one you passed a large bird colony. From August to March this is a colony for gannets....a large Australian bird that weighs about 6 pounds. They migrate to this area fro Australia each spring to lay their one egg and then after a few weeks they migrate 2000 kms across the Tasman Sea to Australia. The birds mate for life. It was fascinating to see them. They are a beautiful bird and they fly beautifully.
So the birds are now all over these outcroppings of land. And there are even some on the island in the sea off the coast. The ones on the island off the coast arrive earlier and do not stay as long in the summer. Maybe they are the oldest ones who cannot get all the way to the land. We saw a ranger working and he said that they are in the counting period right now and then they will lay an egg. They take turns sitting on the egg. It said that when the eggs hatch it really smells. But then you get used to it and it is ok.
They are really a pretty bird.
The two that are standing up to each other are counting. There are a couple of different "couples" here. It was amazing to watch them.
They are very graceful as they fly. The area is very windy and the birds like to glide on the currents. When the baby birds have gotten big enough to make the flight to Australia they kind of take a running leap into the air and their wings catch the currents. They then have time to glide on the currents and get used to flying and using their wings. Hopefully that happens before they crash into the sea. They eat only seafood so they can sustain themselves as they fly over the Tasman Sea.
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