Birds and “Beasts” – December 2019
We tried not to get excessive amounts of solar radiation while enjoying the outdoors in Mandurah, just south of Perth on Australia’s west coast. We spent quite a bit of time enjoying the warm weather at the nearby parks, beaches, and one island in order to see birds and animals unique to this country. The wildlife photos in this post are organized geographically and we have included a few scenery pictures to give a bit of context.
Foreshore in Mandurah
Nankeen night-heron 
Three white nuptial plumes are visible from this angle
Yalgorup National Park
Crested tern 
Silver gull 
Black-winged stilts 
Orange-legged spider 
Thrombocytes
Melros Reserve
Kangaroos are able to produce two different types of milk simultaneously. One for the newborn and one for the young Joey. 
Kangaroos hop because they can’t move their legs independently. 
Kangaroos are left-handed. 
Kangaroos have excellent hearing & are able to move their ears in different directions without moving the rest of their head.
Galah 
Also called pink & grey cockatoo
Serpentine National Park
Australian ringneck parrot 
Australian magpie 
There are more kangaroos than humans in Australia. 
The kangaroo is the national symbol of Australia. 
Serpentine Falls
Len Howard Park
Australian pelican 
Pied cormorant 
Black swans 
Pied oystercatchers
Rottnest Island
Created tern rookery
Quokka 
Browsing herbivore 
In the same animal family as kangaroos & wallabies so a female carries her baby in a pouch 
Very curious quokka 
Napping quokkas
One of two lighthouses on the island 
View from top of lighthouse 
Cathedral Rocks 
Cape Viamingh 
Strickland Bay
When Dutch sailor Willem de Vlamingh arrived on the island in 1697 he saw quite a few quokkas and their grassy nests plus tunnel systems. He mistook the quokkas for large rats and renamed the island Rottnest, a derivation of “rat’s nest” in Dutch.