The platypus is a very hard creature to photograph. First, they are quite rare. Second, they scare very easily. But the most difficult thing about them is that they are almost always spotted on the surface of water. Sometimes very reflective water. I always like to get the camera on the ground to get eye level shots of smaller creatures, but in the case of the platypus, that makes it very difficult to see the majority of the body. Still that’s what I did for this shot. I also got plenty of shots from a higher angle, where you can see more of the platypus. I’ll post those shots soon, but for now, I kind of liked this angle of this most unique creature. As I’ve mentioned the last couple of days, WordPress is really killing my images by softening them after I post. Please click on the image to see the full resolution, and much crisper focus.
Nikon D810 with Nikkor 200-400mm lens (at 400mm) ISO 800, f/4 at 1/1600th of a second

I didn’t photograph many insects in Tasmania, but I did manage to get a few shots of this lovely ladybird beetle. Not much is written about the Tasmanian ladybird, but ladybirds in general are related to (and sometimes the same thing as) ladybugs. This one was spotted on a fallen tree trunk in Narawntapu National Park a few hours before I photographed the kangaroos that I posted yesterday. As I mentioned yesterday, please click on the image for a sharper view. Still trying to figure out why WordPress is softening my images so much lately.
Nikon D810 with Nikkor 105mm macro lens, ISO 400, f/4.5 at 1/250th of a second

Lots from Tasmania in the last month, I know, but there was so much to photograph there. A few more before I start mixing in the rest of the world again. This was a very enjoyable afternoon for me as I was completely alone with these forester kangaroos in Narawntapu National Park. The sun had already dipped below the horizon and the sky was lighting up the clouds. I had been there for a few hours so they were quite comfortable with my presence at this point and were going about their kangaroo business of feeding, mating and in this case, boxing. This wasn’t a serious bout, but more a play fight before going back to grazing. Click on the image for a full size look — for some reason, several of my photos lately haven’t been handled very well by WordPress and are looking a bit soft unless full size.
Nikon D800 with Nikkor 70-200mm lens (at 200mm) ISO 800, f/6.3 at 1/50th of as second

The golden brushtail possum is actually just a color variation of the common brushtail possum. They are quite rare to see in the wild and exist only in Tasmania and south of Sydney on the mainland. I was able to photograph this one at the Bonorong Wildlife Sanctuary, which rescues orphaned and injured animals with the aim of getting them back into the wild. Bonorong is also one of the many sanctuaries doing its best to save the Tasmanian devil from extinction. The golden brushtail is not an albino, but instead, gets its white coloration from a genetic mutation.
Nikon D810 with Nikkor 17-35mm lens (at 20mm) ISO 1600, f/2.8 at 1/1600th of a second

I think this might be my favorite photo of the Tasmanian trip. I had my camera down on the ground and my flash on a tripod off to the right, about equal distance from me and the devil. Because I was on the ground and the background was a good distance behind the devil, I was able to illuminate just the face and nothing else. A well placed bush, also helped cut the light from hitting anything in the background. There were a couple of faint highlights back there on the resulting image, but I was able to hide them with a vignette and a tone curve. The Tasmanian devil has the strongest bite compared to body size of any animal. Those considerable teeth are built for crushing bone. This young guy was actually just having a good yawn while waiting patiently for an older devil to abandon a wallaby kill.
Nikon D800 with Nikkor 70-200mm lens (at 200mm) ISO 800, f/8 at 1/250th of a second, Nikon SB-900 flash

When I first visited Australia ten years ago, the one thing that really stuck with me was how many amazing birds there were to photograph. I had to work a bit harder in Tasmania, but there was still such a great variety of feathered creatures to capture. This is a flame robin, a very small, but very striking bird. I saw about five of them in my fifteen days, but this was the closest I was able to get. As an added bonus, it just so happened to have a grub in its beak.
Nikon D810 with Nikkor 200-400mm lens (at 400mm) ISO 800, f/4 at 1/2500th of a second

Weird title, I know, but that’s what it looks like this young forester kangaroo is doing. The rainbow is actually a lens flare, courtesy of aiming my camera into the sun. It was early morning on Maria Island and I was just heading home for breakfast when I saw a group of forester (aka eastern grey) kangaroos going about their kangaroo business, backlit by the rising sun.
Nikon D810 with Nikkor 200-400mm lens (at 400mm) ISO 800, f/5 at 1/4000th of a second

I wasn’t sure which of these shots I liked best, so I figured I’d post the sequence. This is a Cape Barren Goose, native to southern Australia, including Tasmania. They were all over Maria Island, although as I mentioned last week when I posted the Tasmanian devil, they may not be there for long. The geese nest in open grassland, making their chicks easy prey. Many of them have taken to spending more time on the beach to get away from the devils. Some conservationists aren’t happy about the introduction of the devils to Maria Island because they weren’t there originally, but neither were the geese. They were introduced in 1968. Maria Island aside, the Cape Barren Goose is doing quite well in the rest of its limited range throughout southern Australia. They are very large and attractive geese that rarely swim, although they are capable of drinking saltwater.
Nikon D800 with Nikkor 17-35mm lens (at 35mm) ISO 800, f/2.8 at 1/500th, 1/640th and 1/640th of a second, respectively

The common brushtail possum lives up to its name. I saw a lot of them — both in Tasmania and on my previous trip to Australia ten years ago. The Tasmanian version of the common brushtail, however, has a much different look than the ones I saw on the mainland. They are much more chocolate/brown in color, as opposed to silver/grey. And they tend to spend more time on the ground, rather than in trees. This guy, however, was nestled into a nice flowering pine, as if sitting on his throne, and waving to me as I took his picture. Like most of the wildlife in Tasmania, the common brushtail is strictly nocturnal — nowhere to be seen during the day, but once the sun went down, everywhere.
Nikon D810 with Nikkor 200-400mm lens (at 200mm) ISO 3200, f/8 at 1/200th of a second

I’ve photographed echidnas before (on my previous trip to Australia back in 2006). Even so, they were at the top of my list to get photos of on this most recent trip to Tasmania. For an animal that seems to aimlessly wander around, and rarely picks its head up from the ground, they somehow still manage to pack a ton of personality into their little spiked bodies. They are monotremes — along with the platypus — the only egg laying mammals left on earth. This echidna gave me a rare treat by lifting his/her head up, allowing me to get a shot of the open eyes. The echidnas on Tasmania are the same species as the ones on mainland Australia, but they have less spikes and are furrier of face.
Nikon D810 with Nikkor 200-400mm lens (at 220mm) ISO 200, f/5.6 at 1/15th of a second