Tuesday, March 1, 2016

Seary's Creek

I went out with my friends Sarah and Graham a couple of days ago. They have a big 4 wheel drive vehicle which lets them get into beautiful areas where I cannot usually go. Thanks Sarah and Graham - it was a great trip!
We first took a quick look at Inskip Point. We hoped that we might see some interesting birds that had been brought in by the ex-tropical cyclone. When we got out there it looked like everyone else from around the district had had the same idea - vehicles and people everywhere! There were a few terns roosting on the point but even those were being disturbed!
Some of them did come back in for a few moments and I was able to get this photo of Little Terns in partial breeding plumage.
Then we drove off to follow the road through the National Park down to where Seary's Creek flows into the bay. If I had thought about it I could have taken enough photos for a whole post about the kind of roads/tracks that go through the Park. Parts of the road were covered with areas of deep dry sand. Other parts had steep rocky drops over low parts that were covered with water. It would be impossible to drive this road without a 4 wheel drive vehicle - and a good driver too! 
We stopped and walked around for a while where the track crosses the Creek. The land all around here is very low lying and when the tide is full in it is very swampy.
The Creek flows slowly through this area. The water in the Creek is stained with tannin and the color when we were there was very dark.
( I have kayaked from Tin Can Bay up to this point on the creek 3 or 4 times. The first time I came here I had looked very carefully at the maps and still managed to miss the passage up through the mangroves. The next time I left more time to explore around the mangroves. I was still very unsure of where I should go but then looked down into the water and realized the clear waters of the bay had changed into tea colored water! I had found the creek! I then paddled upstream until I came to the little bridge which is the crossing for the road.!)
These are Mangrove Ferns. I have read about them but these were the first ones I have seen. They grow from here through northern Australia and up through parts of SE Asia.

The only bird we saw was this Little Egret which was standing on the edge of  one of the swampy ponds.
The road goes only a little way beyond this area. It leaves the Creek and goes over a small rise and comes out on the Bay right underneath the power lines that cross from the other side. It is interesting to look at things from this side. Those small white spots far down the bay are the boats I see when I am kayaking out from Mullens.

For more scenery visit Our World Tuesday

and for more birds visit Wild Bird Wednesday

22 comments:

  1. Oh wow! ~ What a fun trip and great friends to share and wonderful photography of nature and the beautiful wildlife ~ thanks,

    Happy Week to you ~ ^_^

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  2. Oh, what great captures of a FUN day, Mick!! Thanks for sharing both with us!! I hope you have a great new week!! Enjoy!!

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  3. This was like a mini holiday :-)
    BTW, what is with the snowy background?

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  4. nice to go with friends who have a good vehicle. :) like those terns!

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  5. What gorgeous scenery!

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  6. ah autumn! and nearly the time for bush walking again. I hadn't heard of the mangrove fern, but we have mangroves here in Bunbury - the southern most mangroves in Western Australia. Have a great week.

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  7. I bet it would be lovely to be kayaking and shooting photos in those waters. I wonder if the tannins come from the mangrove trees? Why do tannins leach in the water? curious

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    1. I don't think the mangroves have anything to do with the tannins in the water. The creeks are tannin colored long before they get anywhere near the bay and the salt water.

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  8. I can imagine how those creeks can change appearance after a storm and make them dangerous by potentially getting lost unless someone knows the area like the back of their hand?

    You must take care Mick. Lovely picture of the Little Terns. It's difficult for me to think that Littlre Terns were once fairly regular off this coast here. Now I never see them following their decline.

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  9. Hello Mick, I love the Terns and the egret. The scenery is beautiful, I like the mangroves. Riding in the 4wheel sounds like a fun time. Great post. Have a happy week!

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  10. It must have been fun to see things from the other side. Ex is a good prefix before tropical cyclone, but I am sure that it changed things a lot before it became that.

    You would be so very much at home here in our county -- the tea-colored water, the mangroves and I think the mangrove fern you show is the same as what we call alligator flag plant. I'll take a picture of it next time I walk around the swamp so I can compare. Anyway, we live about as far away from each other as is possible and yet it looks very much the same.

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  11. It looks like you had a great trip out!
    We had torrential rains from the ex-TC yesterday... It was extremely difficult to drive in.
    You have a great series of shots here, Mick!

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  12. Terns are so great to watch, so acrobatic in the air.

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  13. Great day out with good friends glad you enjoyed the day.

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  14. This is a very nice place. I like it. Very different from where I live. :)

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  15. I love having friends with big cars that allow you to explore new sites. What a great day out. Plus, Terns are always great finds:) Thanks for sharing.

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  16. It's fun to get out in a 4-wheel drive! What a beautiful place! Love the shorebirds!

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  17. Great shots of the little terns. I really like terns - although some can be a real headache to ID!

    Cheers - Stewart M - Melbourne

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  18. Oh the water photos are extraordinary!! And, terns....a favorite of mine!


    I apologize for taking so long to come by and visit. It's been a busy week, and I'm up early to sit at the computer today before another day begins and I won't have much time!! Thanks for dropping by this week.

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  19. It's a gorgeous area. The terns are very handsome.

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  20. I've heard of Terns but haven't seen any up close and personal. You have Tin Can Bay, when I was growing up in Southern California we had Tin Can Beach. It was an open sandy beach that people used to build fires in sand pits to cook. They were horrible about leaving their "tin cans" behind, hence the name. Plus you had to be careful about walking since coals buried in the sand were dangerous for bare feet. It's now Bolsa Chica State Beach and is regulated. No more open beach fires, only in park rings. Probably better that way anyway.

    Thanks for commenting on my Dutch oven post. Mine has a flat bottom and I use in on top of the woodstove (you can check out Woodstove Cooking on my blog), on top of my propane kitchen stove and in the oven. Come on over next Thursday and I'll have the recipe for the no-knead sourdough bread that I made in the Dutch oven after it got reseasoned. Thanks for asking for more. - Margy

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  21. Your pictures remind me of a trip we took to Florida many years ago. We rented a plane and flew into an airport next to the Everglades Park. We took a boat tour from there that was really interesting.

    You commented on my sourdough post about looking for a place to buy starter. There are lots of recipes online. Here is an easy one I used to start my years ago. I just keep using and feeding it along the way (you can also find a post about that on my blog by searching the word sourdough at the top). But anyway, here is the link to my recipe using packaged yeast rather than gathering yeast out of the air like the pioneers did. - Margy http://powellriverbooks.blogspot.com/2013/11/easy-sourdough-starter.html

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