Heirisson Island
Birds In The Mist
I had to take the car for a service in Perth the other day and as I set off the mist was really thick. At one point on the Great Southern Highway I couldn’t see more than 5m in front of me. With such poor visibility I didn’t fancy my chances taking photos on Heirisson Island, but by the time I got there the mist was starting to burn off. I spent a pleasant couple of hours wandering around taking photos.
Walks With Emus
Thursday was my first trip into the Perth Metro in ages – I’d gone to get the car serviced and so had a day to kill. The weather was horrid, lots of rain and not very warm so killing time was not a thrilling prospect. Usually I walk over the Causeway Bridge, around Heirisson Island and then into the Perth CBD. With the rain falling and nearby construction work making a racket I didn’t expect to see much so imagine my surprise when I literally bumped into an Emu. Now people living overseas expect that we have kangaroos running down the high streets koalas hanging out of every tree and sharks and crocodiles waiting to eat people in every small pool of water. Well it’s just not like that, and seeing an emu wandering round the metro area is pretty unusual occurrence. Poor thing didn’t look very well – it had a very large open wound on its left side. Emus can be a little bit intimidating as they’re not adverse to walking right up to you and looking you in the eye and some of the ones I’ve met do this by looking down at me. Well this one played pretty cool and just walked with me for about 500m and every time I stopped to take a picture it stopped and waited. We met up with a couple of kangaroos who were very wary of the emu. They kept a very close eye on it – didn’t pay me any attention at all. Once we got past the lake it decided it had had enough and walked back up the track making that odd sound of theirs which sound like someone has turned a plastic bucket upside down and is banging on it like drum.
As I walked back to the Causeway I was joined by a young female kangaroo. She was very curious and wanted to know if I had anything to eat. She did did this by pawing at my hand – obviously other visitor have been feeding them so they can get selfies. She didn’t seemed fussed when no food appeared and she was content to follow me round to the gate and watch me leave.
My companion for the walk to the exit.
The Early Ibis…
… catches the worm.
Matagarup
What do you do when you have to take your car into Perth to get it serviced but don’t want to hang around in the city and catch COVID? Go on a safari of course!!
My safari took me to Point Fraser and Heirisson Island. Heirisson Island is a small island of 285,600 sq. metres in the Swan River between East Perth and Victoria Park. Most people will know of it through crossing the Causeway which is the bridge over the river. It wasn’t always called Heirisson Island. Long before European explorers and colonists arrived there was a few smaller islands and some mudflats which was called Matagarup by the Beeloo Nyoongar. The name means one leg deep. The first known European visitors were led by Willem de Vlamingh in 1696. He and some of his crew rowed up the river and saw the black swans which led him to name the river the Swan River (Zwaanenrivier in Dutch). They got as far as the mudflats and island and could go no further. In 1801 Nicolas Baudin from the French ship Le Naturaliste traveled up river and he named the island after his midshipman François-Antoine Boniface Heirisson. Since the early arrivals the river has been dredged and there has been a lot of land reclamation which has seen the mudflats disappear and the formation of the present island.
There is a footpath round the island which is 2 Km in length which makes it perfect for an inner city safari. As far as the wildlife goes 92 different species of bird have been observed on the island and there is a resident population of Western Grey kangaroos which were introduced in 1998. Funnily enough I’ve walked round the island several times over the years and not seen a single kangaroo. Amazing considering that it’s a small island and they’re relatively large animals. But kangaroos are very good at making themselves scarce during daylight hours. This visit was different I saw three female kangaroos, two lazing around in the bushes and one grazing. In fact the one that was grazing was very curious and came right up to me – I think it was an attempted mugging because as soon as she realised I didn’t have anything worth stealing in the way of food she was off.
I must say it was a very pleasant way to pass the time and I’m looking forward to going again – hopefully to coincide with dawn or dusk.
These two welcome swallows were very obliging and let me take their photo.
The Swan River Cormorants Club does not discriminate on the basis of colour or species – all are welcome.
Not having any chips meant this silver gull just kept flying past.
Straw-necked Ibis, Threskiornis spinicollis. Herrison Island, Western Australia.
Great Egret, Ardea alba modesta. Herrison Island, Western Australia.
White-faced heron, Ardea novaehollandiae. Point Fraser, Western Australia.
No visit to the Swan River is complete without the ubiquitous Brown Jellyfish (Phyllorhiza punctata).
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