The Birds of Granite Island, Victor Harbor
Granite Island, Victor Harbor
Granite Island lies a short distance off the coast from Victor Harbor, South Australia. The island is one of several in Encounter Bay. It is possible to walk the short distance from the town to the island via a wooden causeway. It is also possible to take a ride on the historic horse drawn tram that operates every twenty minutes every day.
Pacific Gull
When I checked my birding database I was surprised that I don’t have any records specifically confined to the island. This could just reflect the way I have the database set up. Being an island there are quite a few sea birds one can see on a visit to the island. Just a quick list of the sea birds I have seen – and this is from memory:
- Little Penguin
- Silver Gull
- Pacific Gull
- Little Pied Cormorant
- Little Black Cormorant
- Great Cormorant
- White-faced Heron
- Sooty Oystercatcher
- Pied Oystercatcher
- Caspian Tern
- Crested Tern
- Red-capped Plover
- Australian Pelican
A few other species of birds can be seen on the island itself. There are a few trees and large expanses of grass on the top of the island. Here I have seen:
- Australian Magpie
- Little Raven
- Masked Lapwing
- Crested Pigeon
- Galah
- Spotted Turtledove
- Welcome Swallow
- Willie Wagtail
- Singing Honeyeater
- Magpie Lark
- Common Starling
This is far from an exhaustive list and has been done from memory – a dangerous thing to do.
Little Pied Cormorants on Granite Island
The Breakwater, Granite Island
On my recent visit to Victor Harbor south of Adelaide I went for a walk out to Granite Island. The island is linked to the mainland via an old, historic wooden causeway. This walk is a very popular walking route for visitors to the town. You can also take the horse drawn tram to or from the island.
Granite Island, Victor Harbor
One of the features of the island is the breakwater section on the eastern end of the island. These rocks were placed there to give some protection to boats moored in the bay as well as those that use the nearby jetty. The rocks are always a good place to watch the waves crashing as the swells come in from the Southern Ocean.
Granite Island, Victor Harbor
Near the breakwater is a restaurant. Next to the restaurant there are wooden steps leading one to a higher part of the island. Along this series of steps is a small lookout platform. This is an excellent place to see the waves pounding on to the rocks. It would have to be one of my favourite spots in a totally beautiful location.
Granite Island, Victor Harbor
Encounter Bay, Victor Harbor
Victor Harbor and Encounter Bay
The lovely seaside town of Victor Harbor south of Adelaide in South Australia is situated on Encounter Bay. This beautiful bay owes its name to the chance meeting of two explorers in 1802.
British explorer Matthew Flinders and French explorer Nicolas Baudin were both charting the coastline of South Australia when they met in this remote location. The meeting was amicable, despite their respective countries being at war at the time.
Kayaks and yachts on Encounter Bay, Victor Harbor
Today, Victor Harbor is a bustling town with a rapidly growing population. Many people come here to live in retirement and many more come to visit, thousands making this their annual summer destination for holidays. Water activities such as kayaking, sailing, fishing, swimming are prominent. The town is also popular with people who like to walk or ride their bikes. Whole families walking or riding their bikes along the specially designated sealed tracks are a common sight.
Yachts in Encounter Bay, Victor Harbor
Australian Sea-lion, Granite Island
Australian Sea-lion, Granite Island
On our recent trip to Victor Harbor south of Adelaide I went with two friends for a walk across the causeway to the nearby Granite Island. This is a very popular walk for locals and visitors alike. We were delighted to see a very relaxed Australian Sea-lion lolling around in the water near the jetty. The way it behaved it was almost as if it was showing off its swimming skills to all the humans watching only a few metres away. Perhaps someone had trained it to behave in this way.
Australian Sea-lion
Australian Sea-lions are relatively common along the southern and western coasts of Australia. It largely breeds on the many islands along these coasts and I know of only one mainland breeding colony near Streaky Bay in the far west of South Australia. This species rarely venture more than 20-30km from the coast while feeding. From the size and colour of this individual in was most probably a female. Females range from 1.3-1.8m in length; the males at 2-2.5m are considerably larger and paler around the head.
Reference: A Field Guide to the Mammals of Australia (by Menkhorst and Knight).
Australian Sea-lion
The Bluff, Victor Harbor
On my recent visit to the seaside town of Victor Harbor south of Adelaide, I went for a walk over the causeway to Granite Island. Two of my friends, Keith and Trevor were also in town for the weekend so we had a very pleasant time together talking as we went on our walk.
The Bluff, Victor Harbor
As we walked over the causeway we had excellent views of the hill called The Bluff on the other side of Encounter Bay. This imposing hill to the south west of the town of Victor Harbor is a prominent landmark in an area of many landmarks. Some years ago I led a group of school children to the top while on camp nearby. It is not an easy climb. Now on a few years (and a few extra kilograms under the belt) I prefer to take the sealed road to the top. The view is spectacular from the top and well worth the drive. (I’m not so sure about the climb.)
The Bluff, Victor Harbor, from Granite Island
Later, when we were on the island, I had a good view again of The Bluff, this time from the lookout overlooking the southern side of Granite Island. The area near the foot of The Bluff has historic significance. For many years a whaling station operated near the beach there. Many whales were killed there, the height of The Bluff affording an excellent lookout for incoming Southern Right Whales.
The whales still come to this bay in the winter months and are another attraction of the town. The history of the whaling industry and information about marine life in general is displayed beautifully in the SA Whale Centre in Victor Harbor. This centre is currently closed for redevelopment. I think I recall reading somewhere that it will reopen later in 2007, complete with a new large aquarium.