Ways To Nature

Ocean Wanderer

Sarah Way — Fri, 28 Feb 2020 11:52:03 +0000

Come fly with me as the mighty Wandering Albatross (Diomedea exulans) features this Fauna Friday. From 2007-2010, I had the privilege of monitoring Australia’s only breeding population of Wandering Albatross on sub-Antarctic Macquarie Island (located half-way between Tasmania and Antarctica in the Southern Ocean). Wanderers, as they are affectionately referred to, are the world’s largest …

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Come and play with a Southern Fiddler Ray

Sarah Way — Fri, 21 Feb 2020 08:16:00 +0000

It’s been so hot lately, I felt the need to take Fauna Friday into the ocean for a refreshing dip this week and cool off with the Southern Fiddler Ray (Trygonorrhina dumerilii). Fiddler Rays are from the Family Rhinobatida, which also includes guitarfishes and shovelnose rays. Australia has two Fiddler Ray species (sometimes also referred …

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Sacred summer visitor

Sarah Way — Fri, 14 Feb 2020 09:06:06 +0000

The beautiful Sacred Kingfisher is making an appearance this Fauna Friday. Lately, a pair of Sacred Kingfishers, Todiramphus sanctus , have been greeting my customers and I, perched in the swamp sheoaks during our Wetland Wander walk at the Creery Wetlands Reserve in Mandurah. Sacred Kingfishers are from the family Halcyonidae, and are referred to …

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A conundrum of Corvids…

Sarah Way — Fri, 07 Feb 2020 09:26:05 +0000

While I’m out leading my walking tours, I often get asked if the large black birds that we frequently observe are crows or ravens and what is the difference. Love them or loathe them, today’s Fauna Friday is the Australian Raven. Hopefully if you’re in the latter camp, you may gain some appreciation for these …

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Whistling in the suburbs

Sarah Way — Fri, 24 Jan 2020 10:51:58 +0000

We’re looking to the skies this Fauna Friday and focusing in on the Whistling Kite (Haliastur sphenurus). Whistling Kites are raptors (birds of prey) and we are lucky enough in Mandurah (the largest regional city in WA’s south west) that we have a resident breeding population. Whistling Kites are medium-sized raptors (with a wingspan …

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Karrak calling…

Sarah Way — Fri, 17 Jan 2020 13:33:55 +0000

The distinctive calls of forest red-tailed black cockatoos (FRTBC) are becoming a regular feature of our urban wildlife soundtrack throughout some Perth suburbs– including here in Mandurah. Welcome to Fauna Friday. What an impressive and special visitor to our urban areas! The forest red-tailed black cockatoo Calyptorhynchus banksii naso –known as karrak to the Noongar …

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Cicadas -the sound of summer

Sarah Way — Fri, 10 Jan 2020 08:57:59 +0000

The creature behind the quintessential sound of summer is going to kick off Fauna Friday for a brand New Year: cicadas. Australia has over 200 species of cicadas, an insect with the enviable (?) title of being the loudest in the world – some calls can be as loud as 120 decibels (comparable to the …

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Microbats, Australia’s amazing flying mammals.

Sarah Way — Fri, 13 Dec 2019 10:17:04 +0000

In a nod to these long, hot summer nights, we’re taking to the air this Fauna Friday and peeking into the secretive, nocturnal world of Australia’s microbats. Bats rank second in diversity in the mammal world after rodents, and there are approximately 60 species of microbats in Australia. Bats are in the zoological order Chiroptera, …

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The Woylie, a soil & ecosystem engineer

Sarah Way — Fri, 06 Dec 2019 10:21:39 +0000

Welcome to Fauna Friday, which has changed its habitat from my Ways To Nature Facebook page, to my Ways To Nature web page blog! Yesterday was World Soils Day, so I want to talk about the amazing Woylie (Brush-tailed Bettong, Rat-Kangaroo) this Fauna Friday. World Soil Day raises awareness of the importance of healthy soils …

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Welcome to my Ways To Nature website and the first entry in my Nature Diary.

Sarah Way — Thu, 19 Sep 2019 12:13:07 +0000

My journey from employee to small business owner over the last nine months has been an amazing one so far – hectic, often overwhelming, but always inspiring! Actually, the journey probably started more than nine months ago….In 2014 I suffered serious injuries from a horrible car accident caused by a drunk driver. My body was …

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