Wildlife of the Sunshine Coast
Posted in Queensland, Travel

Wildlife of the Sunshine Coast

Posted on by Willemijn

We are living in and travelling through a country that has the most deathly animals: venomous snakes, spiders, crocodiles, sharks and jellyfish. How are we doing so far? Here is the result of a one week journey to the Sunshine coast.

We came here thinking koala’s and kangaroo’s could be seen behind every corner. As probably most other Europeans do. Well, they are either very good hiders, or we are very bad searchers. Since the only ones we have seen so far are the following:

Koala sign
We are starting to believe that these are just a marketing trick.

So enough about what we did not see. Here is what we did see. There is a lot of wildlife in Australia, especially the bird life is very colourful and abundant.

Ibis
The ibis is so common here, we even stopped making pictures of them, but I found one from three months ago when it still impressed us.
Turkey
Also the not so cleverly behaving turkey’s are a common sight.
Forest kingfisher
I love kingfishers, I think they are beautiful birds. I have just learnt that this is the Kookaburra, the biggest kingfisher. Even more impressive!
No storks
Although this looks like a stork nest. These do not look like storks….
Jelly fish
Jelly fish look impressive, but can be really dangerous here.
Blue Blubber jellyfish
Luckily these are harmless Blue Blubber jellyfish and not Box jellyfish, that are the most dangerous animals, accounted for more than 80 known deaths since 1883.
Whale watching
June till October is whale season for the Sunshine Coast. We went on a whale cruise and got to see five whales (including two young). Looking at how close to shore they swim it will be possible to see them from the coast as well.

The other animals which we saw on our trip along the Sunshine Coast, but that where too quick for our camera, are: dolphins, a turtle, a crab, a lizzard and finally also a possum. I had seen a possum before and got very excited about it, until I discovered that the possum is what the impala is in Southern Africa, but the rest of the family had not yet. Note: the kids were at least as excited as I was….

Oh, in case you were wondering “what is so dangerous about the first duck picture?”. Here is the answer, look at the size of those creatures here:

Giant duck
Ducks the size of a two storey building.

Want to read more? Then also read about our Sunshine Coast hinterland/hiking adventures.

Author:

Mother, wife, explorer and loving the outdoors. We recently moved to Australia, so lots to explore here. We are keeping a blog about our experiences of moving and living on a different continent as a family.

6 thoughts on “Wildlife of the Sunshine Coast”

  1. For what it may be worth, kangaroos and wombats are not uncommon within Canberra itself. We live in one of the southern suburbs and have had kangaroos resting in the shade of a tree at the front of our house. In a nearby suburb there is a road sign encouraging people to watch out for the local wombats crossing the road.

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      1. I believe they are Ospreys. They look like Ospreys to me and their nest is quite typical of the species, as is the nest location. Some of our airports actually care for Osprey nest sites until chicks are fledged. They are not encourage on airports but if they are already there they are cared for!

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