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« on: October 23, 2010, 06:49:31 am » |
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Bare with me.... I just got back taking pictures of the Swan River at Bicton Baths where I grew up and where my mother lives... and with an actual bonus of seeing real Black Swans. That was something we never saw as kids....although the Black Swans gave the river its name.... I only hope that the little family of Swans stay alive and the **** Asian blow-ins don't kill them for a free feed... I going to reduce the pictures down...brb Perth and Victoria are the only natural places of the black swan...   hanging over the jetty, I watched them swim to me when I called them... and I didn't have anything to feed them but tomorrow, I am going back to take them something and take more pictures.. You have no idea how exciting it was to see 4 black Swans at Bicton Baths.... I cannot tell you how fantastic it was .....I've seen them on the River in the South Perth (suburb) but never this close to the Fremantle harbour... the bloody camera doesn't load up quickly.... which really shits me.... some got blurred because I pushed the button too early before waiting for it to charge up.. **** Sydney, Melbourne and Brisbane.... Perth is the greatest city on the planet.... for now....lol BTW, that is a salt water river.... not fresh water...  
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caskur™
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beautiful...
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caskur™
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between 6 am and 7 am this morning
I just had breakfast at "The Left Bank" on the Swan River.
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caskur™
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This overlooks Fremantle Port.....
the two bridges that divide North and South of the river... I'm on the south side...
the Old Fremantle traffic bridge in the distance and a newer "Stirling Bridge" in the foreground...
there is only 1.2 million in my city.... most of them would be still asleep on Sunday morning at that time.. only a few joggers, and a couple dog walkers and a very large cycling team but I missed getting those people....maybe next time..
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caskur™
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just pictures from The Left Bank car park, looking across the river.. when I got out of the car..
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«ŠÞëärƒïsh»
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Beautiful pictures!
I keep forgetting that you have springtime weather now.
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caskur™
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Beautiful pictures!
I keep forgetting that you have springtime weather now.
If you click on the picture it'll show the biggest size... I am going to try showing more rl pictures of the scenery where I live because when I show small pictures from the net, they just haven't got the same impact so keep checking in... where is Icy?
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icy
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OhHhHhhhHHh wow ...very nice. What a quaint little cafe! I've never ever seen a black swan! COOOOOL! Lovely pictures. Makes me want to visit Australia! I did not know you had palm trees there. I love driving south so far until I see palm trees. I am in a palm tree free area 'cuz of the weather.
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caskur™
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When I was growing up and bus'ing to high school, that place was an abandoned shell.... no trees or anything.... and then people bought it and restored it to a restaurant..... it was a two story house....a mansion for the time of its construction.
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caskur™
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At Point Walter in Bicton 11 swans today...
11....count them...so so kewl.
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Why is it called Swan river  Nice pics Cathy 
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caskur™
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Why is it called Swan river  Nice pics Cathy  Cuz Captain Stirling sailed up the Swan river and saw Black Swans for the first time..... they're native to our river and Melbourne as well.
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caskur™
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Swans, native to the Swan River at Bicton Baths… there were 5...obviously the parents of three nearly full gown offspring… then a week later at Pt Walter which is also in Bicton, 11 birds (two families) but to see nearly 40 (probably closer to 38) on a major metropolitan river system was gob smacking to say the least. I have lived in Bicton, the first 24 yrs of my life and NEVER seen that… We have a drought so perhaps they’ve congregated on the river from the low laying swamps but they’re largely not fearful of the humans which is fantastic and gives me hope that our river is healthy and so are the fauna.
As soon as I lean how to cope with this new camera that films and records sound, I hope to give better pictures.
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caskur™
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I spent the first 24 yrs of my life living 40 seconds away from the Swan River in Bicton. We used to go everyday in summer after school for a swim to either Bicton Baths, Pt Walter or Port Beach and even regularly through winter we went to Pt Walter to play on the kids gym equipment and feed stale bread (but not mouldy) to the seagulls. I used to love feeding the cold shivering gulls in the middle of winter.. I felt it my civic duty. I didn’t realize people hated seagulls until much later in life….lol. I never did, I love them… I always felt sorry for the ones missing feet or legs… that used to disturb me greatly. Anyway, moving on, recently I went to Bicton Baths and got the shock of my life to see our native black swans. - What looked like a pair with 3, nearly fully grown, offspring. I took lots of photos and put them up on the net…
I returned the next weekend to Pt Walter and low and behold they were now there as well so I thought, hmmm, I might come tomorrow with some bread and see if I can coax them closer to video. We used to feed the Swans at Bribra Lake (shallow swamp)when I was growing up but I guess there were never more than a dozen or so and could be quite aggressive at times. Well when I went back to Pt Walter, there were TWO families of Swans… I started snapping away in delight and got some pretty good pictures and some I put on the net groups….
A month passed and I hadn’t been able to get back but this weekend, I wanted to go and check out the scene and I thought that the two families must have moved on by now…. Nope, I was badly mistaken…not only were the two families there but many other families had joined them. I counted more than 35 and because they were a distance away from me feeding, with their heads submerged, it was pretty difficult to count….so my estimation was there were anywhere between 35-40 Swans in a sizeable flock. In the whole history of my life, I had never seen that many Swans congregated together on the river that was named after them. No where on the earth, prior to European settlement, were there black swans so the new explorers witnessed just one of Australia’s amazing abundant variety of the unique fauna and flora.
This morning on the 7th February 2011, I filmed 29. The others were tucked around the bend and just out of sight.
I fed them too….lol ….only one brave one though until some worked out they should be following their leader, as free food was on offer, but too late …and only two others got a tiny morsel. They were expecting much and they weren’t going to get too much. Not because I think its wrong, quite the contrary, I just wouldn’t be able to go regularly and I don’t want the Swans to approach other people, especially little bratty squirts who throw sand at them or litter. I always have my eyes on the kids when their silly parents aren’t watching…throwing sticks and or sand at the birds is NOT on and I send them on their way with a flea in their cauliflower dumbo ears…lol
This sighting is seen by me as a testament to the health of the, 1. Swan River Fremantle/Perth WA, and 2 the healthy fauna stock we have.
I also wonder what has driven this new migration to original pre-settlement stomping ground in such a large number, though. The Eastern States are suffering the worst floods and cyclones in Oz history and we in west are in the grip of drought. Are the swamps in the bush drying up forcing the swans to move? That maybe the actual case, in any event, the swamps drying up is our river’s residing gain for now…the rains will come eventually and everything will change again but for now, I get to throw a piece of bread at a couple of much appreciated visitors. I hope they stay but Swans can fly and that makes them able to survive extinction. They simply can fly to wherever water falls and makes a puddle.
I am so worried for our native animals in general and I am also worried that current generations are going to miss out on seeing parts of Oz in pristine original environments. We humans might have needed Australia, but Australia never needed humans. If our government is hell bent on swamping this country with immigrants before they’ve worked out how to reconcile that with the environment then we will totally lose our unique heritage. They need to eradicate the feral animals. They need to make them extinct. That is what they need to do here…
This is exciting stuff. It might not be exciting for people who are not local, but world wide, people are losing their native animals so I hope people appreciate me showing these videos.. I enjoyed making them and I want the world to see them.
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caskur™
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Todays feature isn't about birds but rather a building that is fascinating or has a fascinating history. Built by convicts, it was once an asylum, later Princess May Girls School and now the Fremantle Arts Centre...
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