October brings with it a distinctive spring peak a clear balmy evenings, a delight for our night time wildlife and our Kingfisher Bay guests on our night time nature walks in and around the resort.An abundance of blossoms, berries kept our resident bats bedazzled for hours each evening. The beautiful Grey Headed Flying Fox (pictured. Photo courtesy of Ku-ring-gai Council) was most commonly seen hanging upside down, scrambling through the masses of nectar filled blossoms, whilst the gracious, yet erratic, flight of the much smaller Micro-bats flew silently above in search of their next meaty bug meal.
Cautiously sharing the hunting grounds of the trees are the Gliders – one of the most popular animals with our night time walkers. These small yet aerobatic possum like creatures spend their nights launching themselves off high branches, gliding up to 50m before landing, gripping and sprinting up the trunk of the tree into the cover of the food filled branches.
The most commonly seen on the western side of Fraser Island are the Sugar Glider and Squirrel Glider, which are about the size of your hand, however the smaller and more illusive Feather-tailed Gliders are the size of a match box and a spectacular sight when seen.
The Great Sandy Strait is also filled with mysterious and marvellous creatures. However night time brings the weird and wonderful to the shallows for our viewing. Torch light reveals techno-coloured Squid, which have the ability to change into a moving circus of lights, colours and patterns.
Stingrays were on the hunt for hidden crustaceans buried in the sand and are fascinating to watch from above. Using their highly developed sensory glands around their mouth they’re able to pick up even the tiniest of electrical current produced by living creatures in the balmy waters around them. Night time feeding frenzies are a sight to be seen from the Kingfisher jetty, as schools of bait fish are targeted by larger lurking predatory fish.
This month was filled with the wonders of Fraser Island’s night life and the clear star filled sky was the cherry on top.
Stay tuned for our bird report coming soon to a blog near you – cheers Ranger Kelly.
