Recently in Australia Category

Crimson Rosella, Platycercus elegans elegans, originally uploaded by Dave Walsh Photography.

Crimson Rosella, Platycercus elegans elegans, at the campside at Tidal River, Wilsons Promontory National Park, Victoria, Australia

Eastern Grey Kangaroo, at Tom Groggins, Mount Kosciuszko National Park, originally uploaded by Dave Walsh Photography.

"you talking to me? Well I'm the only one here..."

Eastern Grey Kangaroo, at Tom Groggins, Mount Kosciuszko National Park

Freaky Kangaroo, originally uploaded by Dave Walsh Photography.

"I told you I was freaky.... you just won't believe me" - Flight of the Conchords.
Eastern Grey Kangaroo, with an injured or sick eye at Tom Groggins, Mount Kosciuszko National Park

Hoop, originally uploaded by Dave Walsh Photography.

Bicycle stand on fake grass, Federation Square, Melbourne

Pedestrian on steps Federation Square, Melbourne, originally uploaded by Dave Walsh Photography.

Pedestrian on Kimberely Sandstone steps Federation Square, Melbourne

7-Eleven store in Federation Square, Melbourne, originally uploaded by Dave Walsh Photography.

7-Eleven store in Federation Square, Melbourne

Girl walking down Hosier Lane, originally uploaded by Dave Walsh Photography.

Woman walking down Hosier Lane, beside Graffiti and moped, Melbourne

Laughing Kookaburra, originally uploaded by Dave Walsh Photography.

Laughing Kookaburra, Dacelo novaeguineae, at Tom Groggins, Kosciuszko National Park, New South Wales, Australia.

Now, I'm sure there's gonna be Australians who wonder why I'm posting such a common bird, but I'm very taken with them. I saw lots of kookaburras while in Australia, but these are my favourite images of what is essentially a huge kingfisher with attitude.

My first encounter was in 2007, a few days after arriving in Australia for my first visit. I was staying at a house in the New South Wales bush, sleeping with only the screen door separating me from the outside world.

In what seemed like the middle of the night I *seemed* to awake to what sounded like a mad person laughing racously in my room, or perhaps even in my head. Maybe I was still asleep. The fright caused me to levitate a good half metre above the mattress.

It was the dawn chorus, lead by at least a brace of kookaburras.

And here's what they sound like:
www.youtube.com/watch?v=S0ZbykXlg6Q

Dead trees in Lake Hume, Victoria ., originally uploaded by Dave Walsh Photography.

Dead trees in Lake Hume, Victoria. Driving from the Snowy Mountains pass the town of Tallangatta (which was moved in the 1950s to create this lake) I was really struck by the eerie vision of thousands of dead trees rising above the waters of this man-made lake.


Lake Hume, or Hume Weir, is an artificial lake on the Murray River, east of Albury-Wodonga, and downstream from the river's junction with the Mitta River. Created in the 1930s, it is the furthest downstream of the major reservoirs on the Murray River system, and has the capacity to release water at the fastest rate. As a result, Lake Hume is used by Australian irrigation authorities as the storage of first resort. Lake Hume typically falls to less than one-third of its capacity by March each year, but during normal years fills to at least two-thirds capacity again before November. Changing climatic conditions have caused this to vary in recent years, and in 2007, Lake Hume to an incredible 1% of its capacity, barely more than the water in the Murray and Mitta rivers flowing through it.

Grey Headed Flying Fox, originally uploaded by Dave Walsh Photography.

Grey Headed Flying Fox and young taking off from tree, Smiths Lake, New South Wales. We crept into some dense bush with lots of thorns to see these guys - alas when we discovered them, we were leaving the area, and the sun was high in the sky, making them very difficult to photograph from underneath. But I was rewarded with this cutie.... well, a cutie with a 1 metre wingspan!

Dead trees in Lake Hume, Victoria, originally uploaded by Dave Walsh Photography.

Dead trees in Lake Hume, Victoria. Driving from the Snowy Mountains pass the town of Tallangatta (which was moved in the 1950s to create this lake) I was really struck by the eerie vision of thousands of dead trees rising above the waters of this man-made lake.

And of course, this picture is available for licensing and as a fine art print!
archive.davewalshphoto.com/c/davewalshphoto/image/I0000gQ...

Lake Hume, or Hume Weir, is an artificial lake on the Murray River, east of Albury-Wodonga, and downstream from the river's junction with the Mitta River. Created in the 1930s, it is the furthest downstream of the major reservoirs on the Murray River system, and has the capacity to release water at the fastest rate. As a result, Lake Hume is used by Australian irrigation authorities as the storage of first resort. Lake Hume typically falls to less than one-third of its capacity by March each year, but during normal years fills to at least two-thirds capacity again before November. Changing climatic conditions have caused this to vary in recent years, and in 2007, Lake Hume to an incredible 1% of its capacity, barely more than the water in the Murray and Mitta rivers flowing through it.

Tawny Frogmouth, originally uploaded by Dave Walsh Photography.

Tawny Frogmouth, regarding me disdainfully, while perched on a suburban recyling bin at Smiths Lake, New South Wales. Often mistaken for an owl the frogmouth is actually related to the nightjar (and owls have binocular vision, like humans). While it does have anisodactyl feet (one pointing backwards) like an owl, it doesn't fly to hunt - rather it perches, and waits for it food to come by - insects, frogs and rodents, to come by, then it strikes with its beak.

Sydney Opera House, Australia, originally uploaded by blather.
Click for high resolution »

Looks a lot different up close!

The Sydney Opera House is located in Sydney, New South Wales, Australia. It was made a UNESCO World Heritage Site on June 28, 2007. Based on the competition winning entry by Danish architect Jørn Utzon, the Sydney Opera House is one of the world's most distinctive 20th century buildings, and one of the most famous performing arts venues in the world. It is situated on Bennelong Point in Sydney Harbour, close to the Sydney Harbour Bridge. The building and its surroundings are one of the best known icons of Australia. (wikipedia)

ANZAC War Memorial, Sydney, Australia,, originally uploaded by blather. Get the high resolution version »

ANZAC War Memorial, Sydney, Australia. Finished in 1934 after designs and art by C. Bruce Dellit and sculptor Rayner Hoff, it commemorates the Australian War dead of World War One.

Many of the original sculptures didn't make it in the memorial, thanks to censure by the Catholic church, and its bishop, Michael Sheehan.

blather. Get the high resolution version »

Largest bird in Australia, growing up to 2m tall! Photographed in captivity at Something Wild Animal Sanctuary, near Mount Field National Park, Tasmania, Australia

Get high resolution version »
Tasmanian Echidna, originally uploaded by blather.

I kept spotting these little short beaked echidnas while driving in Tasmania, foraging around at the side of the road. I kept stopping to photograph them, but they either balled up like a hedgehog, or the light was bad, or the vanished into the bush. Finally, my efforts paid off...

Short-tailed shearwaters - muttonbirds - circling the moon, originally uploaded by blather.
Click for high resolution version »

Short-tailed shearwaters or muttonbirds circling the moon before crash-landing at their burrows amongst a little or fairy penguin colony at Bruny Neck on Bruny Island, Tasmania. They fly so low that their wings were brushing the watchers. Then there's a crash when the land in the bushes and you can just about see them vanishing into their burrows....

My Bloody Valentine: Tasmanian Devils in mating frenzy on Valentines Day, originally uploaded by blather.
Download high resolution version »

Valentine's Day Massacre: Captive Tasmanian Devils undergoing pre-mating tussles at Tasmanian Devil Conservation Park, near Taranna, Tasmania, Australia.

Save the Tasmanian Devil

Note: the lighting is natural.

Common bottlenose Dolphin, leaping from the bow waves of the Esperanza, off the coast of Tasmania this evening, originally uploaded by blather.
High resolution version »

Bottlenose Dolphin, Tursiops truncatus, near Adventure Bay, Tasmania. We had a pod of dolphins playing and leaping at the bow. Magic!

This was photo one of a sequence of four - all taken within 2 seconds!

Australian White Ibis - high quality version »

Photographed in Hyde Park, Sydney, Australia. These birds look like a mixture of a heron and one of HR Giger's Alien nightmares. They're ubiquitious in Australian urban spaces, but it takes a tourist to take notice...