Recently in Tasmania Category

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

Tasmanian Pademelon also known as the Rufous-bellied Pademelon or Red-bellied Pademelon, it's the only endemic pademelon to Tasmania. It's like a small kangaroo or wallaby - and they're very cute, kinda chunky and chubby.

This one is wild, but feeding in a garden at dusk, on the Tasman Peninsula. I've had them "pad" up to me in the dark and giving me a curious look before bouncing off again

Little, Blue or Fairy Penguins, Bruny Neck, Tasmania, originally uploaded by blather. Get the high resolution version »

Little, Blue or Fairy Penguins, Bruny Neck, Tasmania. Every night, after dark, the adult penguins come ashore and head for their burrows, where their young are waiting - and making a lot of noise! A ranger is there every evening to supervise the humans.

In this photograph, the blurred young penguin at the bottom of the image is the one making the fuss, while its parents are trying to not pat attention - they've already regurgitated a full meal since they got home!

At Bruny Island Neck Game Reserve, a wooden walkway has been built so that the visitors don't disturb the sand or any of the penguin or shearwater (muttonbird) burrows.

This photograph was taken with a 70-200mm 2.8 IS L-series lens, with a red covering over a torch so as not to confused the penguins.

Little, Blue or Fairy Penguins, Bruny Neck, Tasmania, originally uploaded by blather. Get the high resolution version »

Little, Blue or Fairy Penguins, Bruny Neck, Tasmania. Every night, after dark, the adult penguins come ashore and head for their burrows, where their young are waiting - and making a lot of noise! A ranger is there every evening to supervise the humans.

In this photograph, the blurred young penguin at the bottom of the image is the one making the fuss, while its parents are trying to not pat attention - they've already regurgitated a full meal since they got home!

At Bruny Island Neck Game Reserve, a wooden walkway has been built so that the visitors don't disturb the sand or any of the penguin or shearwater (muttonbird) burrows.

This photograph was taken with a 70-200mm 2.8 IS L-series lens, with a red covering over a torch so as not to confused the penguins.

Remarkable Cave (yes, that's what it's really called!), originally uploaded by blather. Get the high resolution version »

Remarkable Cave, Tasman Peninsula, Tasmania. It gets its name because when the tide is out, the cave is the shape of Tasmania!

Bruny Neck, between North and South Bruny, looking south, originally uploaded by blather. Get the high resolution version »

Bruny Neck, between North and South Bruny, looking south. To the left of the steps are burrows of little (fairy) penguins and short tailed shearwaters (muttonbirds)

Albino Bennet's Wallaby, Adventure Bay, Bruni Island, Tasmania, originally uploaded by blather. Get the high resolution version »

These albino wallabies were quite a find, living in the woods near the the campsite at Adventure Bay, on Bruny Island. Tame enough to come into the trailer park, and calm enough to let me get close in the woods.

Albino Bennet's Wallaby, Adventure Bay, Bruni Island, Tasmania. Macropus rufogriseus rufogriseus, or Bennet's Wallaby, is the Tasmanian subspecies of the red-necked wallaby.

Albino Bennet's Wallaby, Adventure Bay, Bruni Island, Tasmania, originally uploaded by blather. Get the high resolution version »

These albino wallabies were quite a find, living in the woods near the the campsite at Adventure Bay, on Bruny Island. Tame enough to come into the trailer park, and calm enough to let me get close in the woods.

Albino Bennet's Wallaby, Adventure Bay, Bruni Island, Tasmania. Macropus rufogriseus rufogriseus, or Bennet's Wallaby, is the Tasmanian subspecies of the red-necked wallaby.

Fortescue Bay, Tasmania, originally uploaded by blather. Get the high resolution version »

Fortescue Bay, Tasmania

Tesselated Pavement, near Eaglehawk Neck, Tasman Peninsula, originally uploaded by blather. Get the high resolution version »

Tesselated Pavement, near Eaglehawk Neck, Tasman Peninsula.
Tessellated pavement is a rare sedimentary rock formation that occurs on some ocean shores, so named because it fractures into square blocks that appear like tiles, or tessellations. It is formed when rock that has cracked through plate tectonic movement of the Earth's crust is modified by sand and wave action

Tesselated Pavement, near Eaglehawk Neck, Tasman Peninsula, originally uploaded by blather.
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Tesselated Pavement, near Eaglehawk Neck, Tasman Peninsula.
Tessellated pavement is a rare sedimentary rock formation that occurs on some ocean shores, so named because it fractures into square blocks that appear like tiles, or tessellations. It is formed when rock that has cracked through plate tectonic movement of the Earth's crust is modified by sand and wave action

Albino Bennet's Wallaby, Adventure Bay, Bruni Island, Tasmania, originally uploaded by blather.
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These albino wallabies were quite a find, living in the woods near the the campsite at Adventure Bay, on Bruny Island. Tame enough to come into the trailer park, and calm enough to let me get close in the woods.

Albino Bennet's Wallaby, Adventure Bay, Bruni Island, Tasmania. Macropus rufogriseus rufogriseus, or Bennet's Wallaby, is the Tasmanian subspecies of the red-necked wallaby.

Pirate's Bay, seen from The Blowhole, Tasman Peninsula, originally uploaded by blather.
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The dramatic view from the Blowhole near Eaglehawk Neck, Tasmania. This is the view of Pirate's Bay. The wonders of wide angle lenses and circular polarisers!

What you can't tell from the photograph is how strong the wind was - I took this at F18, 1/15s on ISO100 - but I could barely keep the camera steady. I clamped myself to a safety railing, and took about a dozen exposures, hoping that one would be sharp. I also had to try and stop rain hitting the lens!

White Faced Heron in abstract, originally uploaded by blather.
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Taken near Murdunna, Tasmania.


The White-faced Heron, Egretta novaehollandiae, (formerly Ardea novaehollandiae), often known incorrectly as the Grey Heron, is a common bird throughout most of Australasia, including New Guinea, the islands of Torres Strait, Indonesia, New Zealand, the islands of the sub-Antarctic, and all but the driest areas of Australia. It is a relatively small heron, pale, slightly bluish-grey in colour, with yellow legs and white facial markings. It can be found almost anywhere near shallow water, fresh or salt, and although it is prompt to depart the scene on long, slow-beating wings if disturbed, it will boldly raid suburban fish ponds.
en.wikipedia.org/wiki/White-faced_Heron

Silver Gull, Australian Seagull, originally uploaded by blather.
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Larus novaehollandiae, silver gull, standing at the tesselated pavement near Eaglehawk Neck on the Tasman Peninsula, Tasmania. That's a wave breaking behinfd the gull.


I've been slagged off by folk in New Zealand and Australia for photographing such nondescript and common species as the red and silver gulls, and the ibis.

The truth is, I'm not someone who lusts after the uncommon - I think there's a greater challenge in illustrating the beauty in "everyday" animals.

Australian Black Swan, originally uploaded by blather.
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Cygnus atratus, the Australian black swan, near Port Arthur, Tasmania

White Faced Heron, originally uploaded by blather.
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I had to work at getting thise close to this bird with a 400mm lens - Herons and egrets are very jumpy birds. I spent about half an hour edging over closer across the rocks until I was shooting portraits.Taken near Port Arthur, Tasmania.


The White-faced Heron, Egretta novaehollandiae, (formerly Ardea novaehollandiae), often known incorrectly as the Grey Heron, is a common bird throughout most of Australasia, including New Guinea, the islands of Torres Strait, Indonesia, New Zealand, the islands of the sub-Antarctic, and all but the driest areas of Australia. It is a relatively small heron, pale, slightly bluish-grey in colour, with yellow legs and white facial markings. It can be found almost anywhere near shallow water, fresh or salt, and although it is prompt to depart the scene on long, slow-beating wings if disturbed, it will boldly raid suburban fish ponds.
en.wikipedia.org/wiki/White-faced_Heron

Tasmanian Native Hen, originally uploaded by blather.
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Gallinula mortierii, a flightless water bird, one of twelve species of birds endemic to Tasmania (they don't exist anywhere else). While in New Zealand, flightless birds have done badly since humans colonised, the native hen has done quite well thanks to the extensive new grassy areas.

I photographed this bird at Adventure Bay, Bruny Island. I met an old lady there - British originally, but lived in Queensland most of her life. She was travelling around in her camper van, and was very taken with these birds. She referred to them as "turbo chooks" which I found very endearing.

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...

The Tasmanian Echidna has more fur and less spines than its mainland relative. Echidnas eat ants, termintes and other small invertebrates, which is traps on its tongue using sticky saliva.

Australia's egg-laying marsupial mammal. Also known as "spiny anteater", is a mammal belonging to the Tachyglossidae family of the monotremes. It is the only surviving member of its genus in the latter order, together with the platypus. There are four species, living in New Guinea and Australia. The echidna is named after a monster in ancient Greek mythology.

The echidna, along with the Platypus, are the only egg-laying mammals, known as monotremes. The female lays a single soft-shelled, leathery egg twenty-two days after mating and deposits it directly into her pouch. Hatching takes ten days; the young echidna, called a puggle, then sucks milk from the pores of the two milk patches (monotremes have no nipples) and remains in the pouch for forty-five to fifty-five days, at which time it starts to develop spines. The mother digs a nursery burrow and deposits the puggle, returning every five days to suckle it until it is weaned at seven months.
(Wikipedia)

But the real trivia - echidnas have a four-headed penis! "but only two of the heads are used during mating. The other two heads "shut down" and do not grow in size. The heads used are swapped each time the mammal has sex." (Wikipedia) Oh, and they have a poisonous spur on their hind leg too.

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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...

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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.
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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.
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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.