Wombat, Coles Bay, TasmaniaJust 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