Instagram story viewer> @forrestfov> Posts

Alexander Forrest

@forrestfov

7.7K

followers

825

following

Time freezer 📸
Adventure/Expedition | Commercial Drone Pilot | Diver | Wildlife | Gold Coast based
👇 Let’s connect!

POSTS STORIES REELS TAGGED

Download All

Endless waves with surfers close by, and migrating whales passing just beyond the break.

Snapper Rocks accompanies the world-famous Superbank. It’s the Gold Coast’s answer to a growing reputation as Australia’s premier surfing destination.

Twenty-odd years ago, the nearby rivermouth welcomed a sand pumping project. Distributing material northwards, it aimed to accelerate the natural sediment flow recovery process of nearby beaches.

Snapper Rocks was then connected to the northern beach, Kirra, creating one of the longest and most celebrated surf breaks ever.

It creates moments of wonder in the swell.
Once the southbound humpback whale migration commences, these same waves become a backdrop to thousands of travelling giant cetaceans passing within hundreds of metres of shore.

#snapperrocks #superbank #goldcoast #humpbackwhale #surfphotograph taken in Snapper Rocks by @forrestfov

3

4

7 hours ago

A bird which has achieved distribution throughout Australia and beyond, purple swamp hens and their young are wide spread.

Chicks grow quickly, and become independent after just two months!

Before chicks can access the water and pick their own food, parents will seek out small animals and offer mouthful sized portions of vegetation to feed to their chicks.

#australianbirds #wildlife_captures #explore #goldcoast #babyanimal taken in Gold Coast, Queensland by @forrestfov

3

0

3 days ago

Platypuses are facing more dangers than ever - threatening their presence in Eastern Australia’s waterways and stature as a national icon.

🐂 Waterway erosion and structural damage to riverbanks (farming, weed invasion and four wheel driving)
🤢 Pollution leading to starvation (litter, salinity, sediment change, run-off, mining)
🦊 Invasive predation (cats, foxes and their resulting bacteria transfer)
☀️ Climate induced drought
are all primary causes to the suspected decrease in population numbers.

Experts are now calling for a national database to place the platypus on the threatened species list and halt local extinctions

For a critter integral to Australia’s national identity, platypuses are presently less protected than bilbys, koalas, numbats, wombats and a myriad of other species.

#conservation #platypus #australia #naturephoto #australianwildlife taken in Gold Coast, Queensland by @forrestfov

3

7

5 days ago

Australia’s dragons.

Lace monitors grow up to two metres long, crowning them as one of Australia’s largest lizards.

In their younger years, lace monitors claim insects and other small prey. The largest and oldest individuals are able to tackle birds, small mammals and other reptiles, in between scavenging carrion.

Some very large individuals may even feast on prey half of their own body weight.

#wildlifephotography #herplife #naturephotography #australiannature #canonanz taken in Mt Warning NSW by @forrestfov

3

11

9 days ago

Imagine running a marathon in five seconds.

Humpback whales may expend up to 10 megajoules of energy to perform this single 5s surface action, a similar amount needed to complete one marathon.

The explosiveness of this impressive sight has been discovered to approach the upper limits of vertebrate muscle performance.

Because breaching requires such high levels of raw energy, repeated displays may even signal that a whale is in good body condition.

#humpbackwhale #whalewatching #marinebiology #oceanscience #australianwildlife taken in Cook Island Nature Reserve by @forrestfov

3

24

12 days ago

In search of the perfect wave.

#surfline #thetweed #dolphinwatching #dronevideography #wildlife_vision taken in Cook Island Nature Reserve by @forrestfov

3

10

13 days ago

I’d never seen a cow-calf pair travel so consistently at the surface.
These humpback whales didn’t dive once for at least fourty minutes - it was incredible.

Yet historically, this vulnerable behaviour made them a dream target in the eyes of whalers…

Females and their calves were often found in predictable coastal environments - unknowingly delivering themselves on a platter, for the tragic commercial whaling industry of the 1900s. ⚓️

Other accounts from the whaling era tell tales unlike anything we might witness today:

An early Tasmanian account from 1807 told of a ‘bridge of whales’, allowing passage between the River Derwent’s opposing riverbanks, in Hobart. 🐋

The oil trade that saved Sydney from early bankruptcy was ran on whaling.
Vessels ordered to transport the earliest convicts, were repurposed for whaling - catalysing to the first major industry in the country. ⛵️

In Twofold Bay, an unbelievable truce formed with a wild orca pod led by Old Tom, who herded migrating humpbacks toward whalers in exchange for the prey’s lips and tongue. 🫍
Old Tom’s skeleton was kept and housed, the location now converted into a wonderful museum - @oldtomkillerwhale - recounting the unique story.

It was the historic morning in Albany, Western Australia in 1978, when a spotter pilot sighted the final bull sperm whale.
He radioed the fleet to leave him in peace, as the country’s industry finally closed its doors.

Old slaughter zones have now been transformed into blue corridors once more.
Protections are reversing the effects of whaling, in an effort to protect ocean inhabitants for generations to come.

#oceanmood #visitnsw #whaleseason #dronevideography #wildlife_vision taken in Cook Island Nature Reserve by @forrestfov

3

9

14 days ago

This wild platypus may look like she’s smiling, but this is how she chews her food.

Via a strategy surprisingly similar to the way chipmunk feed, platypuses will store their meals in specialised cheek pockets during foraging. 🐿️
Attempting to swallow that prey underwater would risk precious time that could be used for hunting, and may also lead to a belly full of freshwater.

Visible in the freeze frame - that process instead takes place during the next surface. 🫧
Ridges in their pliable bill are utilised in place of teeth, to grind down that meal and send it directly to their intestines (platypus don’t have stomachs)!

Their benthic shovels serve for a range of purposes in addition to hunting itself.
The bill is renowned for providing platypuses with a “sixth sense”, adapted to precisely track prey from centimetres away via tens-of-thousands of receptors.

Have you spotted a platypus hunting in the wild? Researchers are now calling for a national database to uncover their actual population numbers, and you can play a part!
Just register your sightings with local monitoring organisations. 🍃 taken in Gold Coast, Queensland by @forrestfov

3

7

15 days ago

The adorable world of cow-calf pairs.

Faced with the challenge of raising the next generation, an adult female will birth a calf at a maximum of every 2-3 years.
A single female may rear 30 offspring in her lifetime!

Each calf requires diligent teaching of the migration path, feeding areas, behaviours, vocal language and more areas of upbringing which we are only beginning to discover.

The youngsters are vulnerable till weaned, but they grow up fast, and learn quickly!

#humpbackwhales #whaletail #dronephotos #cuteanimal #babyanimalstagram taken in Australia by @forrestfov

3

37

17 days ago

The migration does not wait for a calm sea.

#dronevideography #cetacean #whalewatching #australianwildlife #visitnsw taken in Cook Island Nature Reserve by @forrestfov

3

13

18 days ago

Newborns are supplemented by extraordinarily nutrient-dense milk, giving them plenty of energy for surface activities…
Also giving this boatie an epic whale watching encounter!!

A humpback whale nursing will consume milk that has 10x more energy than what humans are raised on.

It’s been described to almost resemble the texture of soft clay - that’s how packed with fat and nutrients it is.

The perfect recipe for a casual 50kg weight gain (PER DAY).

#marineworld #goldcoastphotographer #oceanscience #conservation #whalewatching taken in Gold Coast, Queensland by @forrestfov

3

11

19 days ago

Red-tinted landscapes, as far as the eye can see.

Western Australia’s isolated Pilbara Region is full of secrets; existing on the vast flat surface, and locked within its ancient geology.

🗣️ Endless stories and deep human connections, some thousands of years old.
🦕 Fossils from the most ancient of microbial lifeforms.
🦂 Native species, adapted to mother nature’s harshest conditions.
🌋Billion-year-old granite formations, that formed before the tectonic plates even began jigsawing the globe.

Those who have lived in the Pilbara recall the intangible imprint it leaves on them.
One account stating “I only have to close my eyes and be there”.

Would you dare to visit this isolated outback land? taken in Pilbara, Western Australia, Australia by @forrestfov

3

3

20 days ago