Category Archives: Birds

STRANGE ANIMALS

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Small green frog – thinks he’s a handsome prince

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Weird hairy chicken

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Turkey with over decorated head

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Small green frog – happy just to be a small green frog.

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Fishbones from Darwin Museum

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Scrub Turkey with moderately decorated head.

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Children’s Python – not because they eat them, because they play with them

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Brahman Bull profile

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Quiet Wallaby – confused by sound of flowing water

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Apostle Birds – because they hang around in groups of twelve

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Fluro Blue Butterfly

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Blue Faced Fig Bird with bad haircut

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Poor old camp dog –  may have been bitten by a snake at some stage. The cure was to cut off the tips of the ears and tail to bleed out the poison! Or maybe he’s just the victim of too many camp fights.

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Big Pig

KAKADU POSTCARDS

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kakadu map

Random shots of Kakadu National Park taken with Pentax K20D

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Rock art – Nourlangie

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Kakadu Burn Off – Sigma 10-20mm lens

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Under the picturesque backdrop of the Kakadu Escarpment is Ranger Uranium Mine – carefully placed in the middle of a World Heritage National Park

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Ranger Uranium Mine –

all very safe, where nothing can go rong wronge ronge wrong

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Great Egret – 500mm mirror lens

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Nankeen Night Heron – 500mm mirror lens

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Jabiru – 18-250 pentax lens

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Hovering Egret – 500mm mirror lens

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Same Hovering Egret – 500mm mirror lens

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White Bellied Sea Eagle full of Barramundi – 18-250 Pentax lens

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Cruising Croc  18-250 Pentax Lens

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Watching Croc 18-250 Pentax lens

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Waiting Croc – 10mm super wide angle just kidding – 500mm mirror Lens

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Yellow Waters sunset

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Same Yellow Waters Sunset.

UBIRR JABIRU

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The view at sunset, across the Arnhem Land Floodplain, from the top of Ubirr is an incredibly spectacular site. – almost too good to be true. When we come to Kakadu it’s a place we always visit.

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This time, as we headed up to the top of the rock, perched on one of the sandstone outcrops was a Jabiru. What an amazing site. He was standing there when we arrived and an hour later was still posing for photographs as we left.

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I guess Jabirus like to stand on Ubirr, look out over the flood plain and watch the sun go down just like humans do.

WESTERN BOWERBIRD

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These birds seem to occur all over Northern Australia. They are hyperactive, noisy little guys with elaborate bowers. The purple plume on the back of their heads rises when they want to impress another bird.

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The male builds a bower and decorates it with white and silver objects to impress the female. The female builds a nest elsewhere to lay her eggs.

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This impressive bower was decorated with white snail shells, bits of broken glass and crumpled wads of silver foil. The males are incredibly fussy about the arrangement of the decoration around their bower. If you drop in an extra snail shell, the bird will quickly pick it up and remove it.

LEICHHARDT LAGOON

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LEICHHARDT LAGOON
Leichhardt Lagoon is a series of waterholes on the Leichhardt river near Normanton. There were plenty of crocodiles in the nearby Leichhardt River, great sunsets and lots of interesting birdlife so we stayed for three days. Did some painting, lots of walking and cycled along some rough old sandy tracks spotting crocs.
Great camp site, right beside the water.
The sunsets across the wetlands were mighty.
Stilts fed in the shallows around our camp
These two cool looking ducks waddled past us one morning
Young Stilt trying to figure out how all these legs work?
Large Egret showing off elaborate plumage.
Attractive looking Egret making herself more attractive.
Important looking Egret walking importantly
Pied Heron circling.
Pied Heron – cruising.
Pair of Curlews – the way they behave is as weird as their mournful cry. They stand dead still and stare at you, then walk a short distance, freeze, and stare again – very strange!
Mobile studio – right on the edge of Leichhardt lagoon.
Cobalt Blue and Permanent Rose are normally used as soft, transparent washes. In this painting, as well as using the colours as transparent washes, I mixed them with white gouache to make the random opaque purple shapes that interrupt the detail.
Surprisingly few insects at night meant we could cook and eat outside and enjoy the view across the wetland.
By now you might be thinking this place is pretty close to perfect, and it was except for this guy…
He owns the station the wetlands are situated on, and thought it a good idea to blast away with a shotgun every once in a while to frighten off all the birds?

Leichhardt Lagoon is a series of waterholes on the Leichhardt river near Normanton. There were plenty of crocodiles in the nearby Leichhardt River, great sunsets and lots of interesting birdlife so we stayed for three days. Did some painting, lots of walking and cycled along some rough old sandy tracks spotting crocs.

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Great camp site, right beside the water.

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The sunsets across the wetlands were mighty.

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Stilts fed in the shallows around our camp

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These two cool looking ducks waddled past us one morning

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Young Stilt trying to figure out how all these legs work?

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Large Egret showing off elaborate plumage.

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Attractive looking Egret making herself more attractive.

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Important looking Egret walking importantly

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Pied Heron circling.

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Pied Heron – cruising.

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Pair of Curlews – the way they behave is as weird as their mournful cry. They stand dead still and stare at you, then walk a short distance, freeze, and stare again – very strange!

painting at leichhardt lagoon

Mobile studio – right on the edge of Leichhardt lagoon.

wetland painting

Cobalt Blue and Permanent Rose are normally used as soft, transparent washes. In this painting, as well as using the colours as transparent washes, I mixed them with white gouache to make the random opaque purple shapes that interrupt the detail.

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Surprisingly few insects at night meant we could cook and eat outside and enjoy the view across the wetland.

By now you might be thinking this place is pretty close to perfect, and it was except for this guy…

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He owns the station the wetlands are situated on, and thought it a good idea to blast away with a shotgun every once in a while to frighten off all the birds?

NORTH QUEENSLAND COAST

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Mission Beach

Mission Beach

The beaches of North Queensland are the palm fringed, white sand, clear blue water type beaches you see on a postcard. That’s why it is impossible to find an uninhabited one unless you have a boat.

Cairns and Port Douglas have grown incredibly in the 10 years since we were here. All tourism based and very busy.

US Navy ship - Cairns

US Navy ship - Cairns

There were two awsome looking US warships visiting Cairns while we were there. 3,500 US sailors wandering around town having a great time.

US Troops sailing out of Cairns

US Troops sailing out of Cairns

We visited Green Island and on the way back one of the US ships was sailing out.  What a neat sight as the sun was going down. The other ship had to wait till high tide as it only had 27 inches of water under the keel.

Green Island Rail

Green Island Rail

These little birds were all over Green Island. They are some kind of Rail but I couldn’t find out any details.

If you don’t want to wait for the ferry back to the mainland you can opt for the $300 Chopper

Green Island Chopper

Green Island Chopper

After a few days in Cairns we decided to head west rather than going on up to Cooktown. The Coast was busy with school holidays we figured it would be slower and more relaxed over the mountains.

WATERFALLS

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Jourama Falls

Jourama Falls

Up in the mountains, between Ingham and Townsville, are some great waterfalls. Some of them spill into pretty spectacular rainforest, protected by National Park. Jourama Falls is a series of half a dozen waterfalls, dropping from the mountain top to the boulder strewn Jourama Creek below.

Jourama Creek

Jourama Creek

Strangler Fig - Jourama Creek

Strangler Fig - Jourama Creek

The water level in Jourama Creek can change quickly.  The rocks are worn smooth and some coated with a slippery algae that makes staying upright difficult. There are some great swimming holes (if you dont mind numbingly cold water) and camping in the National Parks is excellent.

Dangerous wildlife photography

Dangerous wildlife photography

Birdlife in these rainforests is great, although photographing them from directly underneath is not a real good idea.

Murray Falls

Murray Falls

Further north are Murray Falls,  set in a similar pocket of rainforest with a couple of short access walks. The falls are surrounded by deceptively slippery rocks which have claimed a number of lives. This has prompted National Parks to restrict access to the immediate area. However, their boardwalks and viewing platforms  provide excellent access without having to crawl over the rocks.

Murray Falls Boardwalk

Murray Falls Boardwalk

Strangler Fig - Murray Falls

Strangler Fig - Murray Falls

Wandering around in these rainforests with a 10mm lens is a lot of fun. All sorts of weird shapes and lines, and great colours to play around with.

Strangler fig roots

Strangler fig roots

Weird granite slab

Weird granite slab

We discovered this massive granite slab perched on a collection of small rocks – obviously the work of aliens. Or maybe the trees did it?

Strangler fig holding rock

Strangler fig holding rock

Further up Murray creek we found this big rock being gripped by a strangler fig, probably intending to balance it somewhere precarious to entertain humans

Defencive Green Ant

Defensive Green Ant

These little guys join leaves into a fist sized ball to build their nest. If the nest is threatened they all stand up in this aggressive pose to scare off the predator. Funny thing is, they don’t seem to bite. Aboriginal kids bite off and eat the green bulbous tail.

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Winds, following a recent cyclone, have brought down a number of trees along the edge of the rainforest. The broken roots and tangled vines make interesting drawing subjects.

Rainforest Mushrooms

Rainforest Mushrooms

More weird rainforest stuff. These mushrooms pop up in clusters through the undergrowth. They seem to emerge from a shell like case that opens like petals. As appetising as they look, we resisted the temptation to barbecue them with our steak.