Beach Kangaroos, Manta Rays, and Seawater-Drinking Birds

So we went down to Batemans Bay and region, south of Sydney on the NSW coast, a few weeks ago, and saw beach kangaroos. The first one was in Pebbly Beach, just lounging on a sandy dune.

It's an Eastern Grey Kangaroo. They're not generally associated with beaches, but it appears that some have adapted. And we actually saw tracks on the beach that clearly showed that kangaroos had gone into the surf! I would have loved to see that.
A short video of the roo and the beach:





We saw several more in a much more lush area just off the beach in Murramurang National Park.

Yes, we did call this one "Ilene":

Christine narrates:





A small guy showing off his creamy winter coat:

Mama roo and joey:

We then drove up the coast just a little ways, to Bawley Point, where we were lucky enough to stop at a newsagents shop, where the proprietor was also the local tourist info guy. He told us about a few places, including one where you can "see the rays" from an old dock. "They're always there," he said. We were skeptical. We shouldn't have been.









Christine did a little research and was able to identify this long-red-billed bird as a Sooty Oyster Catcher:

The Sooty Oystercatcher feeds on molluscs, crabs and other crustaceans, marine worms, starfish and sea urchins, and small fish. It uses its long bill to stab at prey or to lever, prise or hammer open food items. It drinks seawater.

Drinks seawater. I don't think I've ever heard of that. But I've just did some googling, and found out that many sea birds drink seawater. Fascinating!


And this little fella is a Willy Wagtail:

Old Sayings...Reconsidered: "Give a man a fish..."

Give a man a fish, and he eats for one day. Teach a man to fish, and, if he's lucky enough to learn this often tricky skill before he starves to death, which we've got to admit falls under the realm of possibility here - why the hell else would we even be talking about this? -  then he'll be okay. If not, he starves to death.

So why not give him a fish, you selfish bastard, and teach him how to fish?

RIP Michael Meldrum

An old friend in Buffalo, New York, has left us.

A collection of tributes can be found here.

[Buffalo News File Photo]

Crab

Crab in a pool of shells, Pebbly Beach, South Coast, NSW:

Swallow

From the balcony of the Zorro Hotel, Batemans Bay, NSW:

Also got this shot, which is out of focus, yes, but I think it's still pretty cool. Although I think the shadow shot is better.

Batemans Bay

Christine and I went south for a few days, saw sooty oyster catchers, manta rays right under our noses, and beach kangaroos, just to mention a few things. Got some really nice shots. One, of Christine, at Pebbly Beach in Murramurang National Park (click to make bigger, click again for bigger still):

Much more to come soon.

Seve Ballesteros, 1957-2011

A sad post about the passing of a true sportsman over at my other place.

Two New Bukowski Poems

Wow.

The following poems are from the private collection of The Los Angeles Poetry Examiner’s, copied from Pearl-Number 14 Fall/Winter 1991 and have yet to be found elsewhere.

The poems:

An Answer

within the past six years
there have been four
different rumors that i
have died.
I don’t know who begins
these rumors
or why.
and certainly humans
do worse things than
this.
yet I always feel strange
when i must tell people,
usually over the
telephone, that I am
not yet dead.
somebody out there
or perhaps several
people
evidently get some
satisfaction
in announcing that I am
no longer
around.

some day,
some night
the announcement will be
true.
to put it mildly,
I am no longer
young.
but these death-
wishers
are an unsavory
group,
these hyenas,
these vultures,
these failed writers,
will also some day be dead,

their petty bitterness,
their lying gutless
beings gone into
the dark.
but for the moment,
I am here
and these last lines
are for them:
your cowardice will not be missed.
even the roaches
lived with more
honor
and you were always
dead
before
me
without
rumor.

Charles Bukowski 1991
San Pedro, California


On The Bum

moving from city to city
I always had two pairs of
shoes

my work shoes were
thick and black
and stiff.
sometimes when I
first put them on
they were very painful,
the toes were
hardened and bent
back
but I’d get them on
on a hangover
morning.
thinking, well
here we go
again.
working for
miserable wages
and expected to
be grateful
for that,
having been chosen
from a score of
applicants.

it was probably my
ugly and
honest face.

but putting on
those shoes
again
was always
the beginning.

i had always
imagined myself
escaping that.
making it at the
gaming table
or in the
ring
or in the bed
of some rich lady.

maybe I got
like that from
living too long in
Los Angeles,
a place far too
close to
Hollywood.

but going down
those roominghouse
steps
with each beginning,

the stiff shoes
murdering my
feet,
stepping out into
the early sun,
the sidewalk was
there,
and I was just one
more
common laborer,
one more
common
human,
the whole universe
sliding through
my head
and out my ears.
the timecard waited
to check me in
and out.
and afterwards
something to
drink and the
ladies from
hell.

work shoes
work shoes
work shoes
and me
them with
all the lights
turned
out.

Charles Bukowski 1991
San Pedro, California

Night at the Pool

Every beach in Sydney has a large concrete pool, fed by the ocean, bashed by the ocean, right on the edge of the ocean, where you can go for a swim without being thrown about in the surf. You go down there any time of the morning day or evening and there are old folks, young folks, kids—there'a very shallow kiddie pool. Three shots.

Christine Does Easter

Osama bin Laden: Already in Local Newspaper

I've been watching the developments leading up to the news that Osama bin Laden has been killed. My first thoughts were with the victims of the many attacks he led on civilians, and with their families, and with the firefighters and police in New York who put their lives on the line for others and perished in the hundreds. This is a good day.

I just went to the liquor store. It's been just a few hours since President Obama's announcement. Here's what the guy at the liquor store gave me. If you click, and click again, you can see the date is May 2, 2011—today, Australia time:

How do they get this so fast?

A better closeup: