Category Archives: Wildlife

Corroboree Billabong – the Sony A9III in the field

4X4, ampihians, Arnhem Land, Australia, birds, camera, Landscape, NT, reptiles, river/creeks, Uncategorised, Wildlife, ,

The Doc took the Sony A9III out into the field for its first use. A few test photos on the ground at Bullo River Station, but the first proper test was the helicopter trip around the property. Report coming, with images, in due course.

With any new camera there is learning curve concerning how to best set it up and use it. A few mistakes were made and a few images lost, but no disaster. The Doc was worried at setting the frames per second (fps) too low in the helicopter, but the culling of images showed that not to be the case.

The camera can go up to 120 fps in High Plus speed mode. 120 fps was not used on the helicopter, but it was on the Corroboree Billabong cruise, when The Doc had limited time to get images, including the old saltwater crocodile. The camera was amazing and this feature will come in useful for action shots. You must use it sparingly and cull images cull images, hard.

Having visited Corroboree Billabong before with Wetland Cruises, The Doc knew it would be a good day trip out of Darwin. Corroboree Billabong has the highest concentration of crocs in the world. It has both fresh water and salt water crocodiles. Corroboree Billabong is located on the Mary River floodplain.

The landscape images were being taken by the Sony P&S, not the A9III, as the A9III was fitted with a 135mm lens.

The harsh light in the middle of the day meant no brilliant images from the billabong.

The roadtrains and billabong images first, followed by the crocs close ups.

Now the croc images. The croc was getting close to 5 metres in length, so very dangerous to the stupid and unwary.

Priestly Spiny Orbweaver – Outback Queensland

4X4, Australia, Eromanga, insects, Landscape, macro, Qld, States, Wildlife

After leaving Eromanga the first overnight stop was St George at the Balonne Inn. The Doc stayed there two nights and went to visit Alton National Park for a day visit. While there he photographed an unknown spider. The Doc has finally identified it as a Priestly Spiny Orbweaver (Gasteracantha sacerdotalis). This sighting is over 400 kilometers west of any other sighting of this species, as most sightings are along the Queensland Coast.

Labichea lanceolata subsp brevifolia – flowers

Australia, flash, flowers, insects, Landscape, macro, Mt Annan, NSW, Plant, Uncategorised, Wildlife

A plant from south west WA, with a resident spider, but the spider is presumably from western Sydney as it was growing at the Mt Annan Botanic Gardens. The spider’s adaptations suited life on this species. The colour and shape of its legs closely matched the shape and colour of the stamens and new growth areas on the plant. Look at centre top of the frame, where the legs are similar in colour to new growth. The shape of the front legs look a lot like the shape and colour of the stamens (other posted images show the stamens better). Without knowing more about the spider species, perhaps the spider usually lives on an Eastern Australian flower that shares the same colour (yellow being common) and a similar flower shape. Even the dark colour at flower centre, is roughly the same shape as the spider’s abdomen!

EDIT: the spider comes from a family commonly called crab spiders or flower crab spiders.

Pacific black duck

Australia, Ballina, birds, lakes, Landscape, NSW, river/creeks, States, Uncategorised, Wildlife

Look carefully and you can see a duck attacking the one taking off, you can just see the top of its head. Tevan Swamp, Ballina, Northern NSW.

Dead Dingo

4X4, Australia, Kimberley, Landscape, mammals, Uncategorised, WA, WA, Wildlife

Today we move from the Dashing Dingo to a dead one, roadkill in a remote part of the Kimberley. The Doc was saddened by this find, as the female dingo was heavily pregnant and probably killed by someone traveling fast along the road. With her enlarged nipples and stomach, the bitch was not long from giving birth to a litter. It was fresh kill, so the body was not bloated, just enlarged from the litter.

Giant green tree frogs

ampihians, Australia, AWC, Cape York, Piccaninny Plains, Qld, Uncategorised, Wildlife

The Doc is still making his way through images from the Excellent Adventure. This time we visit AWC’s Piccaninny Plains Station (Ranch) up in Cape York. These are  giant tree frogs from our night wildlife spotting. It is the biggest species of tree frog in the world (shared with a frog from Cuba). Click to see full size image.

Tasmanian echidna – Tachyglossus aculeatus setosus

4X4, Australia, Flinders Island, Landscape, mammals, marsupials, Tas, Uncategorised, Wildlife

Also known as an albino echidna because of its lighter colour. The other name is pale-coloured echidna which is more accurate, as it is much lighter in colour than the mainland echidna.