Very mild night, which we didnt expect being on a point directly open to the ocean.
Ross saw a whale through the kitchen window this morning. The whale was just off the beach directly in front of our camp. Ross mentioned it to a dozing Barb and she shot out of bed like a missile.
There are 4 things that get Barb moving, Daniel, Max, whales and dolphins. There may appear to a 5th missing element, but thats not an error
The interaction of modern life and nature doesnt get a lot better, Daniel watching our first whale from his bed window
Ross went for a short walk along esplanade with the drone but the whale had moved further south.
We regrouped and all 4 of us headed south on foot with the drone and a spotting scope. Barb started yelling out like Ahab, captain of the Pequod …. “thar she blows, you scurvy dogs”. She’d spotted a whale and was jumping out if her skin along with talking like a pirate.
We were rewarded and actually spoilt for choice, seeing quite a few whales in different direction and varying distances.
The problem with the drone was the whales were 300 to 500 metres out to sea. We needed to pinpoint the whale while was on the surface, flying the drone at it before it submerged and get the drone over it so Ross could follow its shadow until it surfaced again.
The small drone screen in the bright sunlight makes details difficult to distinguish. Turns out capturing video of swimming whales with a drone not such an easy task
Later on looking at the first video Ross took clearly showed a whale spray directly in front of the drone, and that went un-noticed.
We did find 2 adults and a juvenile and followed them. The juvenile surfaced but a low battery meant Ross couldnt follow long enough to get the adults sufacing.
Luck will play a significant part in this process. We picked the do nothing whales, whilst other whales were slapping fins and tails.
Ross did get a couple of nice drone shots of the whale lookout platfirm and the northern coastline
We all headed back to the van and Ross was charging the drone battery, and organising the equipment for a better later attempt at the whale footage.
Ross rubbed his neck and felt something odd, not unlike a small scrabbed pimple or skin tag. He tried unsuccessfully to pick it off, then grabbed it and had to pull quiet hard until he could get it off. It was a bloody Paralysis Tick.
It is around 5mm long, and has the grip of Hercules. The experts say not to grab the body and pull at it for two reasons. Grabbing the squeezes the paralysis toxin into us, and pulling at it will rip its body from its head, leaving its dead head in the skin. Charming little creature.
There are many varieties of ticks in Australia, most are generally harmless other than creepy, annoying although some people and animals can have a reaction.
Paralysis Ticks are vastly different, and they are not common in Victoria. Paralysis will cause sigificant reactions in dogs, which is often fatal.
The odd thing is that we’ve spent many years in tick territory and never given it a moments thought. Now with Max in tow, Barb is more cautious about everything, and only now do we find one.
Chilling out in the warm sunshine
Max eyeballing the Rainbow Lorikeets, wondering if he’s fast enough to catch them
Leave a Reply