Much like the magnificent frigatebird and the resplendent quetzal, the superb fairy wren is a rather immodestly named bird. You can see why, however, with its bright blue feathers and upright tail. It is actually a fairly common bird in many parts of Australia but still a treat to see and photograph. I encountered this one in Narawntapu National Park on the northern coast of Tasmania.
Nikon D810 with Nikkor 200-400mm lens (at 400mm) ISO 400, f/4 at 1/4000th of a second

I took many pictures of wombats on my trip to Tasmania. Many of those shots were taken with my fisheye and wide angle lenses, showing the wombat in its environment. Others were taken with the sun’s rays spilling over the horizon with beautifully colored clouds in the background. But with an animal as endearing as a wombat, sometimes a simple, straightforward portrait is all it takes.
Nikon D810 with Nikkor 200-400mm lens (at 400mm) ISO 800, f/4 at 1/160th of a second

A Bennett’s wallaby joey taking a peak at the world from the comfort of mama’s pouch. You might remember the white wallaby I posted recently. This is the same species in the more common brown color.
Nikon D810 with Nikkor 200-400mm lens (at 400mm) ISO 1600, f/4 at 1/125th of a second

I saw quite a few waterfalls while in Tasmania. Most of them I hiked to in the middle of the day when the sun was high in the sky and conditions weren’t very conducive to photography. This waterfall, however, called Pencil Pine Falls, I was able to photograph early in the morning. It was easily accessible via a short walk from the visitors center at the entrance to Cradle Mountain National Park in the central mountains of Tasmania.
Nikon D800 with Nikkor 17-35mm lens (at 35mm) ISO 100, f/18 at 5 seconds

There are over fifty different species of macropod that occur in Australia and neighboring New Guinea. Macropods include kangaroos, wallabies and similar large-footed hopping marsupials. Of those, only five occur in Tasmania — the forester kangaroo, Bennett’s wallaby, bettong, potoroo and this guy, the Tasmanian pademelon. Pademelons are smaller than wallabies, which are themselves smaller than kangaroos. This baby pademelon was very small, only about a foot tall. I liked the way that it kind of looked furious that I was taking its picture. Pademelons are solitary and nocturnal and it was just before sunrise when I took this photo.
Nikon D810 with Nikkor 200-400mm lens (at 360mm) ISO 800, f/4 at 1/500th of a second

I posted an eastern quoll a few weeks ago. This is a spotted tail quoll, the other quoll that lives in Tasmania. I took this one at the Bonorong Wildlife Sanctuary just outside of Hobart.

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