Off the southern tip of Tasmania’s Bruny Island (or as the locals call it, the Bottom End) there are several rocky islands inhabited by colonies of both Australian and New Zealand fur seals. The two species are very similar, although the New Zealand fur seals tend to be a bit smaller and darker. The sea was very rough on the day that I visited and we weren’t able to maneuver the boat very close, but it was the perfect distance to capture landscape shots of the crashing waves below the colony.
Nikon D800 with Nikkor 70-200mm lens (at 70mm) ISO 800, f/4 at 1/6400th of a second

Tasmania, like most of Australia, is a great birding spot. There are twelve endemic species on the island (meaning found only in Tasmania). All of them have never been recorded on the mainland. I was able to get decent looks at eight of the twelve. This is the only parrot that makes the list — the green rosella (although the endangered orange-bellied parrot and the swift parrot are known as breeding endemics — they breed only in Tasmania but migrate to the mainland outside of breeding season). Rosellas are beautiful birds, and in addition to the green rosella, there are five other species found throughout Australia and the surrounding islands (on a previous trip, I managed to photograph the crimson and the eastern rosella). The green rosella is the largest of the six species. They are actually a bit more on the yellow side, with blues, reds and greens mixed in. They typically feed on the ground and primarily eat seeds, berries, nuts, flowers and fruit, as well as the occasional insect. This guy was munching on a purple thistle weed and didn’t seem to mind all the prickers — at least not at the time.
Nikon D810 with Nikkor 200-400mm lens (at 400mm) ISO 400, f/4 at 1/1250th of a second

I visited two islands off of mainland Tasmania. One was Maria Island and the other Bruny Island. Unlike Maria which is all national park with no vehicle traffic or accommodation other than camping (or staying in the old prison barracks), Bruny Island has more than just wildlife among its residents, and is a vacation spot for mainland Tasmanians and tourists alike. I went to the island primarily for the rare white wallabies that live there. They are actually Bennett’s wallabies, also known as red-necked wallabies. Most are a dark brown, but some exhibit a recessive gene that produces the white fur. I was hoping to find a few amongst the mob (that’s what you call a group of them) grazing outside my cottage in the early mornings and evenings. Not only did I find a few, but I came across this mother with her non-white joey. At first she was a bit skittish, but eventually went about her business, allowing me to take quite a few photos, both with existing light and with flash, and with the joey in and out of the pouch.
Nikon D810 with Nikkor 200-400mm lens (at 220mm) ISO 3200, f/5.6 at 1/160th of a second, Nikon SB-900 flash

In addition to all the great wildlife, Tasmania is an incredibly beautiful place. For an island that’s only about the size of West Virginia, there’s such a wide geographic diversity. I ended up taking a lot more landscape photos than I usually do. This one was at a place called Wineglass Bay in Freycinet National Park on the east coast. Freycinet is a fairly popular park by Tasmanian standards, but I avoided the crowds by hiking in just before sunset (which meant that I’d have to hike an hour and half back out — up a fairly steep and rocky trail — in the dark). It was well worth it to have the beach to myself as the sun dipped below the horizon. The orange lichen on the rocks is very characteristic of the north east coast of Tasmania.
Nikon D810 with Nikkor 17-35mm lens (at 17mm) ISO 100, f/20 at 2, .5, 1, 4 and 8 seconds

Every trip I take, I seem to discover a new favorite animal. On this trip, that animal was the eastern quoll. These nocturnal, carnivorous marsupials are about the size of a small domestic cat. They come in two color varieties, both a light brown (referred to as fawn) and a near black, like this guy. Siblings can exhibit either color, with fawn being three times more common. Eastern quolls have been considered extinct on mainland Australia since 1963, but they continue to thrive throughout most of Tasmania, most likely due to the lack of foxes or dingoes. There are, however, three other species of quoll that live in Australia and another two that live in Papua New Guinea. On Tasmania there are two, including the spotted tail quoll, which I was also lucky enough to photograph. Quolls closest relative (and enemy) is the Tasmanian devil. The above eastern quoll was photographed in the wilds of north eastern Tasmania.
Nikon D810 with Nikkor 200-400mm lens (at 290mm) ISO 500, f/6.3 at 1/200th of a second, Nikon SB-900 flash

No wildlife trip to Tasmania is complete without a few encounters with the devil. This young Tasmanian devil, known as an imp, was photographed on Maria Island, a beautiful island off the mainland of Tasmania (which in itself is an island off the mainland of Australia). As some of you may know, Tasmanian devils have been fighting for their existence as of late and are considered an endangered species. They are suffering from facial tumour disease, which is a contagious cancer that has drastically reduced their numbers. Some estimates report that 80% of all wild Tasmanian devils have been wiped out due to the disease since it was first identified in the mid 90s. Many captive breeding programs are doing their best to save the devil from extinction. On Maria Island, healthy devils were released into the wild in 2012, and since then a population has continued to thrive, safe from the disease that is spread across much of the rest of Tasmania. The Maria Island program remains controversial, however, as the devils have themselves, decimated the population of several native species like the fairy penguin and the Cape Barren goose, which are easy targets for the insatiable appetite of the devil. I photographed this little guy as he was eyeing a wallaby carcass that was being devoured by an older devil. Like most of the wildlife in Tasmania, the devil is almost strictly nocturnal. PS: seems like a lot of jpeg compression is going on when I uploaded this image (it happens sometimes on certain images). Click on image for larger size that is a bit sharper and closer to the out-of-camera file.
Nikon D810 with Nikkor 200-400mm lens (at 330mm) ISO 800, f/5.6 at 1/250th of a second, Nikon SB-900 flash

Just got back home tonight after a great trip to Tasmania — a land of marsupials, monotremes and amazing landscapes and birds. Of all the creatures I met, perhaps the most personable was the wombat. And I saw quite a few of them. My favorite was this little guy who lives in Coles Bay, just outside of Freycinet National Park on the east coast. And I say little because he was a young wombat, but these guys are anything but small and can typically grow to about 77 pounds. They look like huge furry boulders moving across the landscape, constantly munching grass. Their closest relatives are koalas, although from what I’ve read, they’re not all that closely related. They can be active in both the day or the night, unlike much of the other wildlife that I photographed which was strictly nocturnal. My days involved getting up at 4 AM for the early light and then staying out late at night for spotlighting. Much more on wombats and the rest of Tasmania in future posts, but for now it’s time for some much needed sleep.
Nikon D800 with Sigma 15mm fisheye lens, ISO 800, f/7.1 at 1/1600th of a second