Nature around the Sunny Coast

• Australian Sword Grass Brown Butterfly 

This butterfly is dark brown with a blue eyespot to the forewing and a red ringed eyespot to the hindwing. It is slow flying and breeds on large sword edges of grasses where its name comes from.

•  Eastern Blue Tongue Lizard

I discovered this guy in our backyard so thought i would grab a photo of him to share. Blue tongue lizards are a member of the skink family known as Tiliqua and come in a variety of sizes and colours with distinctive blue tongues. They are harmless but when the lizard is threatened it sticks out its large blue tongue and hisses loudly to scare off predators. They eat a variety of foods such as insects , worms, snails and slugs.

•  Soldier Crabs

    They live on the east coast of Australia eat small particles of dead plants and animals. They scoop up sand and mud with their front claws. If you check out sandy flats,estuaries, and beaches at low tide you are likely to find an army on the march. 

• Basset Hound -- Bassets originated in France in the 1500's. Basset comes from the French word 'bas', meaning 'low'.  From their physical appearance they appear to be a mix of three breeds, the Bloodhound, the colouring of a Foxhound and the legs of a Dachshund. They started to become popular in America after Elvis Presley sang to one on the Steve Allen Show in 1956 . Then as a shoe company sales manager sat with a friend for a dinner of catfish and deep fried corn fritters called “hush puppys" in a Tennessee restaurant.He was so Intrigued by the name, the shoe brand was born. The company then began using the Basset Hound as its logo when first introduced at the National Shoe Fair in Chicago in October 1957 and by mid 1959 the company had produced its first million pairs of the brand for men, women and children.

Eastern Great Egret and the Little Egret

• Eastern Great Egret and Little Egret 

on Pumicestone Passage while fisherman and their dogs collect yabbies for bait in the background.

•  White Faced Heron

Casting for bait on the Passage with a White Faced Heron following and Black Swans making a crossing further down.

Eastern Great Egret and the Little Egret

Egret Fishing for Food

Pied Cormorant

Pied Oyster Catcher

Garden Praying Mantid

Red Cottonwood Hibiscus 

with Harlequin Bug many of these appear along the banks along the Golden Beach side of the passage.

Small Kingfisher
Sitting on a fallen tree in the morning sun on the creek bed.