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Thursday, March 14, 2013

365 Days in Nature - Days 73 - 80

Day 80 - a beautiful green tree snake trying to climb our gallery front wall - non-venomous, so Peter picked it up and relocated it to a tree!

Day 79 - an interesting winged insect



Day 78 - this photograph of my darling husband, Peter, feeding the Rainbow Lorikeets, shows how tame these wild birds can become. I also love this shot of them 'lining up', with one impatient customer halfway down the line - "Come on, get on with it, when's it my turn?"


Day 77 - The St Andrews Cross Spider usually sits, upside down, in the middle of it's web forming a cross. The adult is 5 to 15 mm in body length - abdomen striped yellow and brown. I like this shot as the web is so fine you cannot see it so the spider appears to be floating in mid-air. I try not to disturb their webs as they are huge and catch multiple insects and mosquitoes.


Day 76 - One of our Large Green Tree Frogs

Day 75 - Rainbow Lorikeets, Galahs and Crested Pigeons

Day 74 - Grey beetle

Day 73 - Delicate Mouse (Pseudomys delicatus)  a tiny Australian Native Mouse found in the arid regions across Northern Australia. I photographed these three fantastic specimens at the Sydney Wildlife Park. They are tiny, only growing up to 75mm (3") head/body length. They are an endangered species.

Thursday, March 7, 2013

365 Days in Nature - Days 65 - 72

Day 72 - this is the Australian Seagull - or Silver Gull - the most common species found all around the Australian Coastal fringes. This one I photographed on a beautiful little beach at Hawley in Tasmania.

Day 71 - Female Citrus Swallowtail Butterfly - it was trying to find a safe place to lay its eggs - of course, on my mother-in-law's lemon tree. 


Day 70 - In the heat of the day in Summer, the dairy cows graze beside the Manning River and then go in up to their bellies to cool off. It is a beautiful scene.


Day 69 - Rose Crowned Fruit Dove


Day 68 - A very unusual visitor. We have red-bellied blacks and green tree snakes, which we relocate. The eastern brown snake (Pseudonaja textilis), often referred to as the common brown snake,  is considered the second most venomous land snake. It is native to AustraliaPapua New Guinea and Indonesia. I know you're not supposed to kill snakes but this one was extremely aggressive and chased one of our customers across the paddock and up onto the verandah. 


Day 67 - Praying Mantis


Day 66 - Wild Maned or Wood Ducks (not the most common wild duck in Australia) in our paddock - unlike many ducks, they nest in a hollow branch of a tree, not on the ground. When their nestlings are ready to leave the nest, they either carry them to the ground or else just push them out, even when the nest is high up in the tree as it often is. This group were enjoying the grass seeds, which they eat by putting their beaks either side of a stalk and gradually graze up. This morning there were 20 in the flock.

Day 65 - a dead Bess Beetle!