Water Dragons Observed – Late May 2013

I’ve previously blogged about observing, over a number of days, a water dragon perched on an inlet pipe – Water Dragons Observed – May 2013 – continued, and a water dragon lying on a branch of shrub overhanging the lake – Water Dragons Observed – May 2013. I was intrigued to once again observed these ‘phenomena’ this week. A dragon was present on the inlet pipe on at least two days, and a dragon was located in the same shrub overhanging the water (third photo below – in the middle of the frame). In the fourth photo below you can see the silhouetted shape of the dragon lying length ways on a branch. In my last post I speculated that the dragon may have been in the tree as moorhens may have been nesting below. But in this instance there didn’t appear to be a nest or nesting material beneath where the dragon was perched.

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Flock of Little Black Cormorants

Yesterday morning walking to work I observed a ‘flock’ of Little Black Cormorants swimming and ducking and diving on one of the lakes. I have observed a ‘flock’ of these black birds a number of times on or around the lake. Prior to observing this ‘flock’ I thought cormorants were solitary birds. I am going to look into this.

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Egret

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Cormorant / Oriental Darter

On Monday on my walk past the lakes, I observed an Oriental Darter or Cormorant (it was a little hard to tell what species the bird observed was – I think it may have been an Oriental Darter due to the slim long beak) with its wings spread to dry in the sun, perched on a rock at the waters edge. As I’ve mentioned numerous times before, I am fascinated by cormorants and darters – members of the Phalacrocoracidae family.

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Water Dragons Observed – May 2013 – Continued

This morning I again observed a water dragon on the inlet pipe in one of the lake at the university I work. See photo below – dragon is on the edge of left point of the diamond shopped mesh. Only this morning I posted – Water Dragons Observed – May 2013 about observing this phenomena two days in a row. With today’s observation I have observed a water dragon on the inlet pipe on three consecutive days.

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Water Dragons Observed – May 2013

Over the month of May I have observed water dragons around the lake at the university I work at, and this is no different to observing these reptiles in other months throughout the year. But in the last week or so I have observed water dragons in interesting locations.

One day I observed a dragon lying on the length of a branch of a native shrub overhanging the lake edge. I thought this was rather unusual, to be perched in a shrub weaker branches to that of a tree. On the water below the shrub there were a couple of ducks and moorhens. Maybe the dragon was looking for bird eggs?

In my post An Oriental Darter and a Water Dragon from earlier this week I described observing a water dragon co-located with an Oriental Darter on an inlet pipe. Interestingly on two other consecutive days (in the morning) this week I also observed a water dragon on the inlet pipe.

I also have observed dragons lying on logs in the lake waters, which I observe on a regular basis.

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An Oriental Darter and a Water Dragon

Following on from my previous post – Oriental Darter Observed – May 2013 I noticed in one of the photos a water dragon also perched on the inlet pipe. I hadn’t noticed this when I took the photo nor when I uploaded my photos to WordPress. I’ve previously observed an Oriental Darter and a water dragon perched on this same inlet pipe. Two species in close proximity. Very interesting!

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Oriental Darter Observed – May 2013

On my morning walk to work past a complex of lakes, I observed on two consecutive mornings an Oriental Darter perched on an inlet pipe covered with mesh.

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Pied Cormorant

One morning last week I had the opportunity to observed a Pied Cormorant perched on an inlet pipe covered with mesh / wire in one of the lakes at the university I work at. Being able to observe a Pied Cormorant in close proximity, demonstrated just how much bigger this species is compared to the Little Pied Cormorant.

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Stinkhorn Fungi Observed – May 2013

One day last week as I was taking a walk by one of the lakes at lunch time I was surprised to observe approximately eight to ten specimens of the Stinkhorn fungi, Rosea species.The specimens were located in a flower bed that slopped down to the lake edge.

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