Australian Flora and Fauna

We were in Australia from the 12th December 2004 to the 8th March 2005. Not only does Australia have a wide variety of wildlife, we were also lucky enough to spend much of our time living in an unspoilt valley near Wollemi National Park in the Great Divide. Also, while in Singapore Mark replaced his trusty Canon IXUS 330 with the Canon S1 which has a stabilised 38-380 (35mm equivalent) lens and 3.2 megapixels. The image stabiliser is very impressive, permitting hand held photography with the 380mm lens at shutter speeds of just 1/60th of a second. In short the quality of the wildlife photos should have improved significantly!

All photos taken around Rylstone unless otherwise mentioned.

Marsuipials Reptiles Birds Insects Spiders Amphibians

Marsupials

Red-necked wallaby, Macropus rufogriseus banksianus

Eastern grey kangeroo, Macropus giganteus giganteus

Swamp wallaby, Wallabia bicolor bicolor

Female (pale) and young male (dark) walleroos, Macropus robustus robustus

Reptiles

Black snake

Jackie lizard

A black XXXX, seen in Kosciusko

Kosciusko

Birds

Rainbow Lorikeet, Trichoglossus haematodus

Crimson Rosela, Platycercus elegans elegans

Wattle bird (Spiny-cheeked Honeyeater), Acanthogenys rufogularis, on kangeroo paw

Eastern spinebill, Acanthorhynchus tenuirostris, on Kangeroo paw

White-browed Scrubwren, Sericornis frontalis frontalis

New Holland Honeyeater, Phylidonyris novahollandiae

King parrots, Alisterus scapularis, female (green head) and male (red head)

Australian Magpie, Gymnorhina tibicen tibicen

Superb Fairy Wren, Malurus cyaneus, also called a Blue Wren. On the right is a juvenile.

White faced heron, Ardea novaehollandiae

White-winged Chough, Corcorax melanorhamphos

Willy Wagtail, Rhipidura leucophrys

White-throated Treecreeper, Cormobates leucophaea, that came into the house where we were staying. On the right is the same bird climbing a grass tree flower.

Laughing Kookaburra, Dacelo novaguineae

Grey fantail, Rhipidura fuliginosa

Red-browed firetail, Aegintha temporalis

Sulphur-crested Cockatoo, Cacatua galerita, Kosciusko StatePark:

Insects

A large ant makes off with a beetle:

Heteronympha merope (Common Brown) (thanks to Alan Melville):

Junonia villida (Meadow Argus) (thanks to Alan Melville):

A Kosciusko March fly looks for a tasty meal from Mark's arm:

Kosciusko

Kosciusko

Dragonfly, Kosciusko State Park:

Kosciusko

A Mountain Cricket or Alpine Bush Cricket, Acripeza reticulata, the abdomen is striped blue and red.

Scarab beetle larva

Sawfly larvae, Kosciusko

Spiders

A Huntsman devours a beetle

Amphibians

Flowers

Prickly bottlebrush, Callistemon brachyandrus Lindl.

Alpine flowers seen in Kosciusko State Park:

Brachycome  sp.

Goodenia hederacea alpestris

Mammals

The scourge of Australian grasslands, Oryctolagus cuniculus

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