Love is in the Air

11 Apr Love is in the Air

Valentine’s day is long gone, the thriving springtime is a distant memory and the. However despite the warm giddy feeling of romance hibernating for the winter, if you tilt your head to the skies above Agnes Water and the Town of 1770 you will find that there is still plenty of love in the air (literally).

 

Flying tigers

The most obvious and notable romantics littering the sky during Autumn are thousands of butterflies. The most common are Blue Tiger Butterflies, their colonies can reach such large numbers it can look as though there has been a bushfire nearby and large flakes of ash are floating along in the breeze. The male Blue Tiger butterfly collects pollen from several toxic plants. The butterflies themselves are immune to the poisons and the pollens contain pheromones that make the males irresistible to the females. The most popular place to admire these elegant insects is along the aptly named 1770 Butterfly Walk, located in the Joseph Banks Conservation Park. Fun fact – butterflies taste through their feet.

Party P-Lover Time!

Our 1770 LARC! Tours tour guide Sammy has noted that our favourite loved up birds are getting ready for a bedroom party. The Red Capped Plovers are a common sight during each of our daily tours. The most interesting thing about these birds is that they do not have a particular breeding season but instead will breed in response to local rainfall and flooding. With some recent rains just passed the male Red Capped Plovers have put on what we call their ‘party hats’. As their name suggests the top of their head is adorned with a red cap, when the time is right and the males want to impress the ladies, the plumage of the red caps brighten from a rusty brown to a vibrant red. The outcome of this coupling is the cutest chicks you’ll ever see, best described as cotton wool on toothpicks.

 

Not all love is made by day…

The Greater Glider is an Australian nocturnal flying marsupial, well almost flying. The gliders have a stretch of skin reaching from their elbows to their ankles giving them the illusion of having wings and allowing them to perform controlled glides through the air. Gliders are extremely solitary but for a brief period every Autumn, mainly during the month of April these mischievous marsupials come out to play. Meeting up in the middle of the night at the edge of it’s marked territory to rendezvous with a compatible neighbor. The Greater Gliders can be found high up in their preferred Eucalypt trees and many inhabit our surrounding National Parks.

 

The LARC!s have been a common sight along the beaches and waterways for 25 years now. Observing many forms of life make home, grow and expand, and the local fauna who recognize the hot pink amphibious crafts are not shy to put on a show creating some amazing photo opportunities.

Australian wildlife sightings are a special part of each one of our 1770 LARC! Tours adventures. We have a passionate team who love to share all their knowledge about our natural world, and are dedicated to protecting local flora and fauna. This unwavering love will be found in the air of 1770 all year round.