Friday 31 July 2015

The Moon and His Friends


For the past month and a bit we have had a very interesting night sky in New Zealand. In late June we saw the appearance of the Bethlehem star for the first time in 2000 years. This occurs when Jupiter and Venus appear to overlap from the earth's perspective. Unfortunately at the time I was unable to get any photos.


In this photo you can see Jupiter and Venus, I'm unsure which one is on top, as well as the Crescent Moon and Mercury hanging out to the right.



Saturday 25 July 2015

Sealing around the Shore

About a month ago I went for a wonder around Red Rocks, are area on the Southern coast of Wellington.
From April/May - Augustish male seals come ashore here.


This bachelor colony represents the rejected males that failed to find females for the breeding season and winter period. Come spring they will head back out and go off to the South Island. 


The seals seemed to be huge posers. They liked to keep an eye on the people that were hanging around, when not sleeping, and most people made sure to keep a healthy distance. I sure did as I know they can move very quickly when they want to.


The abnormality of the colony was this little pup. He was the only one this size, the rest were twice and in some cases three times his size. There seems to have a bite on his flipper but otherwise he appeared happy to chill between his uncles and brothers.


This dude popped up just to make sure we weren't doing anything untoward. A bit of a poser I think.

Saturdays Critters