Small discoveries, sea lions and a very pink galah

Shan
A brick-red sea star.

We have been seeing a wonderfully varied collection of animals, from a bright red sea star to sea lions stretched out at Point Labatt.

A brick-red sea star.
A brick-red sea star.
A crab tucked into a rocky crevice.
A crab tucked into a rocky crevice.
An unidentified armoured creature, possibly an isopod.
An unidentified armoured creature, possibly an isopod.
Pink-and-grey galahs feeding on the ground.
Pink-and-grey galahs feeding on the ground.

Andy has been logging sightings on iNaturalist, where people with rather more specialist knowledge help put names to what we have found. That is part of the pleasure: noticing something first, then learning enough about it to look a little more closely next time.

Sea lions at Point Labatt.
Sea lions at Point Labatt.
A patterned moth identified as a heliotrope moth.
A patterned moth identified as a heliotrope moth.

The red sea star was identified as a brick-red sea star. The crab was still waiting to be uploaded, and the little armoured creature remains an open question: possibly an isopod, but we are leaving that one with a question mark. The moth was identified as a heliotrope moth.

The WA galahs looked particularly pink after the birds we had been seeing in NSW. At Point Labatt there were around 40 to 50 sea lions, including a mother nursing her pup. Plenty to watch, from the very small to the very comfortable-looking.

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Banksias in the coastal scrub.
Andy

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