Centennial Park is a large public, urban park that occupies 220 hectares in the Eastern Suburbs of Sydney. The Park forms part of the larger Centennial Parklands which comprises about 360 ha. Two of the most interesting things for me were the lakes and the variety of water fowl and birds and the immense colony of grey-headed flying fox bats. These are endemic to the south-eastern forested areas of Australia. It is the largest bat in Australia with adults having an
average wingspan up to 1 m (3.3 ft) and weighing up to 1 kg (2.2 lb).
The head and body length averages 253 mm (10.0 in).
One of the things about blogging is the reading that one does when looking up things bout which one is writing. In this case I became fascinated by the bats because in the evening the sky over parts of Sydney is absolutely filled with these huge creatures as they migrate from their roosts to their eating places - they eat fruit and flowers. The bats of Sydney even have their own website (perhaps I should say a website devoted to them to be correct).
One of the things about blogging is the reading that one does when looking up things bout which one is writing. In this case I became fascinated by the bats because in the evening the sky over parts of Sydney is absolutely filled with these huge creatures as they migrate from their roosts to their eating places - they eat fruit and flowers. The bats of Sydney even have their own website (perhaps I should say a website devoted to them to be correct).
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| Immature Moorhen |
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| Hardhead Duck (back) and Wood Duck (front), |
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| Australian Wood Duck |
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| Black Swans |
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| Moorhen |
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| Hard Head Duck |
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| Black Swan |
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| Cormorants |
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| Darter |
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| Pied Cormorant |
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| Darter and Pied Cormorant |
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| Ibis |
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| Pied Cormorant nesting colony |
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| Grey Headed Fox Bat (Fruit Bat) |
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| Grey Headed Fox Bat |
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| Grey Headed Fox Bat |
Posts
Wouldn't it be nice to have one or two of those bats for a pet? (Just kidding, of course - but they look so cuddly, really like little foxes with wings!) I know them from the Stuttgart Wilhelma (zoo) and have been fascinated with them (and bats in general) since I was a little girl. Here in Germany, we have only rather small kinds of bats in their natural habitats, they are not much bigger (and some are smaller) than your average sparrow. Actually, very often people don't realize that what they see flying around the old castle by the lake late in the evening are not birds but bats.
ReplyDeleteI am proud to say that I recognized nearly all of the bird species in your pictures. The two black cormies are sitting on something that looks like a large bird's wing!
Meike I like bats although they can transmit various rather unpleasant diseases. What I didn't realise (and had never really thought about it before) is that Flying Foxes, in contrast to the microbats, do not use echolocation. I'm not quite sure what the sculpture was that the cormorants were sitting on and I don't have a full picture.
DeleteGeweldig wat mooi om zoveel verschillende tegelijk tegen te komen de grote vleermuizen vind ik wel heel bijzonder.
ReplyDeleteEr is een enorme kolonie van hen Bas.
DeleteBrilliant pics GB - loved the cormorant ones - I so want to get better ones of the Shag nests near us but need a better camera!
ReplyDeleteFi, I bought my camera specifically with photographing birds etc in mind. I am used to people here referring to Shags rather than Cormorants and I'm never sure which is which so I tend to go by what people in the area call them. This Wikipedia article is handy though.
DeleteLovely photos. I love the darter's head sticking out of the water, and ruffly and fluffy ducks could that be the basis for a tongue twister "Fabulous ruffly and fluffy ducks" perhaps?) :)
ReplyDeleteJenny I'm sure that I saw more Darters in Australia than I'd seen in total in my life before. They can be tricky to photograph in the water though. I gave up on the tongue twister: I found it a lot harder than it looks.
DeleteFantastic photos GB...so good to see the close-up details of birds that I'll never get to see for myself.
ReplyDeleteThank goodness the bats I'm dealing with here are not as big as the ones you featured,(they are HUGE).... if not I would have moved by now....
Virginia the larger bats are, in some ways, less of a nuisance to individuals in that they don't fly around close to you. They make a mess where they roost though. And they wouldn't roost in your loft!
DeleteStunning photos as ever, GB. I just love the word "bat". I've no idea why. I think it may stem from the thought of translating the opera Die Fledermaus". "The Bat" would have no gravitas at all would it?
ReplyDeleteThat's so funny Frances. It just wouldn't have the same gravitas at all. I love the name Pipistrel and Flying Fox is pretty descriptive too.
DeleteYou have excelled. I don't wish to lower the tone but cannot help myself. Where is the Wombat?
ReplyDeleteDonkeys years ago I went to Sheffield City Hall to see Billy Connelly. Pamela Stephenson was his latest at the time and was his warm up act. She finished her set with.
"I'd now like you to welcome the Wombat.....He eats roots and leaves...he thinks that he is funny".
Adrian I didn't see any Wombats this time. Oddly enough, though, I'm going to see Billy Connelly next week. He's on here in Napier.
DeleteAwesome photos showing a wide variety of Australian bird life.
ReplyDeleteAnd there's an even greater variety still to come Red.
DeleteWhat a wide variety of birds. Wonderful photos. Not my special subject though - I had to look up most of the names, and will no doubt immediately forget them again as soon as I leave this post! I do recognize the black swans, as we have a pair of them (from Australia) in our little bird sanctuary lake here which I visit sometimes. (Our swans are white.) The coot does not look like ours either? or is it a young one? As for bats, I don't think I've ever seen one in real life.
ReplyDeleteOne problem I have Monica is that different names are sometimes given to birds in different countries. However that doesn't excuse my brain-fart over the first bird which I labelled a Coot. Of course it's not. It's an immature Moorhen. Thank you. I'm surprised that you've never seen a bat. The smaller bats which frequent Europe tend to be nocturnal and often are mistaken for small birds at dusk.
Delete1. I'm glad the coot turned out to be a moorhen. That might mean I actually do have an idea what a coot should look like! 2. About the bats: While they are nocturnal, I'm not! Which may explain why I've never seen one. (Unless, of course, I've mistaken it for a bird...) Seriously, though. I don't think I've ever heard anyone mentioning having seen bats flying about here in town. I know we have them in Sweden, but somehow since I never came across them, I've always assumed they preferred the countryside.
DeleteReally good shots of those bats, which we don't see all that often. Thanks.
ReplyDeleteThank you Villa. I'm not sure where you live but the Flying Foxes are relatively localised in Australia.
DeleteYou got a lovely ibis shot! I love them. Don't think I've ever seen bats look so charming. Did you know a lad died in Queensland last year from rabies transmitted by a bat? Hope you kept your distance!
ReplyDelete