A CROCODILE and an ANTLION - the Big and the Small

-

Hi

It has been a while since my last blog post - life has been busy here. We are currently in the Northern Territory's early dry season. The water levels are dropping in many areas that have been inaaccessible through the wet season.

Recently the rangers did a patrol to the north west of Croker Island and had an interaction with a large male salt water crocodile. He is in the photo below. Can you see him? Crocodiles can make themselves very hard to see. 


How about this photo below? Just under the log in the centre of the photo - the sunlight is shining on his back.

The rangers were able to flush him out in the open.

And then got this photo. Don't worry, the camera has a big zoom lens so they were at a safe distance. 

Shortly after the photo above was taken the feral pig in the photo below was spotted nearby - seemingly unaware of the crocodile. Pork might been on the menu today for the big crocodile. 

Moving from the powerful and dangerous crocodile, the video below shows a much smaller and harmless creature going about their business of finding a meal. An antlion building a trap in the sand to catch an unsuspecting ant.

So..... what do a crocodile and an antlion share in common? Well, they both need to eat and they both lie in wait for they meals to come to them. 


A family update next blog. 

Take care.

Bryan






 

Comments

Post a Comment

Popular posts from this blog

A GRAND DAUGHTER - WELCOME AMELIA

-
Image
Hi everyone,  Recently a beautiful granddaughter joined our family - welcome Amelia. We were able to meet her while visiting Darwin recently. Below are a few photos of Amelia with Granny and Pa. What a blessing she is! Noah is growing quickly. He does not have to be asked twice to go to the nearby playground. Noah and Amelia getting to know each other - beautiful!! Laura has recently been touring in Italy and Croatia. She had a ball and already has a few ideas for the next trip. She is coming to Darwin next weekend for a friend's wedding - we are all looking forward to catching up again. Nancy and I are flying into Darwin for the weekend. Noah - keeping us all laughing. Sadly, Kristy, Amelia and Laura were not in this happy photo. Jayson changed jobs earlier this year. This sees him working anywhere in and around Darwin and recently he has been back at Tindal RAAF Base near Katherine as part of the major upgrades happening there at the moment. Noah really looks forward to when uncl
Read more

FAMILY, FIRES, HELICOPTERS and CARBON ABATEMENT

-
Image
 Hi Last weekend we flew into Darwin for the weekend. Laura was flying up to Darwin for a friend's wedding. She had not met niece Amelia yet so I think the wedding was more of an excuse.  Dean, Kristy and their little family.  Aunty Laura meets Amelia. Granny and Pa with our grandchildren - a real blessing.  While in Darwin a friend from Inverness in Scotland was passing through Darwin. It was great catching up with Bev.  Trevor and Leonie were in town for the wedding. Leonie and Nancy met in the maternity ward in Gove hospital back in 1984. We have kept in touch even since.  Recently the Garngi rangers have been busy with our carbon abatement early dry season 'cool' burning. This involves both ground and aerial burning and if done well reduces the amount of carbon that ends up in the atmosphere. We receive some good income from this work.  For the aerial burning we use a Robinson R44 helicopter. The rear left door is removed and an incendiary machine is fitted in that spac
Read more

IFFV - Illegal Foreign Fishing Vessels

-
Image
Hi  For a few months now we have been reporting Illegal Foreign Fishing Vessels (IFFVs) in our area. Some may have seen reports of Indigenous rangers in the Kimberley's, WA discovering IFFVs, often hiding in creeks and sometimes actually going ashore and camping. Concerningly, we have had the same issues around here. Apart from the illegal fishing aspect there is also a very real biosecurity risk. Indonesian has many diseases that we do not want in Australia - Foot and Mouth, Rabies etc. Last Monday we observed an IFFV in the area where we were conducting our marine research - but more about that later. Firstly, let's back up a little.  Last year we detected an IFFV near McClure Island - see the photo below. The crew were apprehended and the vessel destroyed. A couple of months ago we reported sightings of IFFVs around Croker Island and the adjacent mainland.  Around 3 weeks ago we discovered three IFFVs and one canoe hiding in the creek near where we subsequently setup our res
Read more