One morning, almost two hours after sunrise, the native birds visiting our garden were making a massive din; squawking and calling. There were Sulphur-crested Cockatoos, Noisy Miners and probably some others as well. The noise drew my attention because it sounded alarmed, something was worrying all these birds. I assumed the it was someone’s cat, or, more exotically, a feral fox that had come into the yard. Cautiously, I went outside where I was surprised, and very much delighted, to see a Common Brushtail Possum (Trichosurus vulpecula) standing up in our back garden. These are nocturnal animals so not what I was expecting during the day. It stayed standing on its haunches for a while, meaning that I had enough time to grab my camera from inside the house. The possum remained upright for a little while when I returned. Its focus was fixed across the garden in the direction of a large iron bark, like it was not interested in me. I was captivated by the possum so I never examined what it was looking at. Then, it suddenly darted across, to where it was looking, causing the birds to make even more noise. The possum ran about two meters up the iron bark before effortlessly jumping onto the top of the wooden slat fence between us and our neighbour. The possum ran along the top of that narrow fence towards the rear of the garden, where I lost sight of it behind the garden shed. The cockatoos perched on the power line continued to observe it for a few seconds more, calling loudly among themselves while looking downwards to where the possum must have been dashing. Possums and cockatoos compete for tree hollows so I could understand why those two species did not get on.
My encounter with that possum was one of the random shots I took in June. That month marked the true start of winter in Canberra. While Canberra does not receive snow in winter, the temperature does sink to below zero in the mornings, making it harder to find animal subjects for photography. Therefore this post is light-on for animals and filled more with some nature-themed random photographs from several locations. I hope that you like the photographs below.
There were a group of Sulphur-crested Cockatoos (Cacatua galerita) in the backyard at the time. Some of them were in our trees while others were enjoying the power line that runs parallel to our back fence. This line is out in the open giving those large birds a good view of any threats that may have been heading towards them. They were also in the warm sun, important on a cold day. These birds are famous for the noise that they make but that morning their calls were different to the sound that I usually hear. I think that different tone helped alert me to the daylight possum visit.
Sulphur-crested Cockatoos on a power line behind our house
(Canon EOS 7D Mk II with a Canon EF100-400mm f4.5-5.6L IS II USM [ISO 100, 200mm, f/8.0 and 1/640 SEC])
Later that morning I was out gardening. The clouds had come over so the sky was not as blue as it had been in the photographs above. While I was gardening, I realised that an immature male Australian King-parrot (Alisterus scapularis) landed not far from me. When he is older his whole head will be a beautiful, rich red but at present he was still wearing green, with red blotches starting to force their way through. I think that these birds are incredibly beautiful but I was less than pleased that this one was eating my Kangaroo Paw plants, that I have been trying to establish with little success. He was expertly snipping them with his orange, hooked beak before chewing the cutting off my precious plant. I tried to get the camera lower to avoid the wire running through the photograph but that small movement scared the bird off. This little patch of our house is a favourite location for these gorgeous birds, with an ascending carpet of green rising from the ground when I inadvertently disturb a group of birds feeding. Winter is not my favourite time of year but the presence of such wonderful birds is a nice form of compensation for the cold.
![Australian King-parrot eating my precious Kangaroo Paw plants(Canon EOS 6D Mk II with a Canon EF100mm f/2.8L Macro IS USM [ISO 100, 100mm, f/10 and 1/200 SEC])](https://images.squarespace-cdn.com/content/v1/5b474d53b40b9dfc79289e98/1625209037444-9LQMT7NYZFKIIT3W2TVL/Australian_King-parrot_Hughes_0396_20210614.jpg)
Australian King-parrot eating my precious Kangaroo Paw plants
(Canon EOS 6D Mk II with a Canon EF100mm f/2.8L Macro IS USM [ISO 100, 100mm, f/10 and 1/200 SEC])
Later again, while I was still gardening, having moved a few metres further into our front yard where we had a lot of mulch and other lear litter. I was removing some weeds when I noticed a very small juvenile huntsman spider crawling over the tiny bits of mulch. When I moved a leaf to get a better photograph the small spider curled its legs back under itself, making a tiny ball, where it stayed completely still, two lines of eyes peering upwards. Once I had taken a few shots I replaced the leaf. This spider will one day become a feared predator of the leaf litter but at this stage was probably more prey than predator given its size.
Immature huntsman spider hiding in the leaf litter of our garden
(Canon EOS 6D Mk II with a Canon EF100mm f/2.8L Macro IS USM [ISO 100, 100mm, f/10 and 1/180 SEC] with Canon 430EX III-RT flash)
This post does not really have a theme other than it is an accumulation of a series of unconnected groups of photographs. Winter has arrived, with morning temperatures often being below zero, meaning chilly sunrises accompanied by frost and sometimes fog. This winter has also seen many overcast and windy days, with abnormally high bouts of bad weather on weekends in my view.
One frosty Sunday morning found me at the Queanbeyan River scouting out a possible location. While I enjoyed my walk in the area I was not convinced about the location. The suburbs of Queanbeyan finished nearby so the area did not seem too wild. The river was also in a bit of flood so I could not cross to the other side where I think there may have been more to see. The only animal life that I encountered were two Pacific Black Ducks (Anas superciliosa) that were keen to keep their distance from me while they swam along the river. I did like the shot below that I took that morning of the small island backlit by the morning sun hitting the fog behind it. I also amused myself taking photographs of the frost plus the sunlight illiminating the back of a yellow leaf that looked ready to fall because of winter.
Fog on the Queanbeyan River
(Canon EOS 7D Mk II with a Canon EF100-400mm f4.5-5.6L IS II USM [ISO 250, 100mm, f/8.0 and 1/100 SEC])
Two Pacific Black Ducks swimming on the fog-covered river
(Canon EOS 7D Mk II with a Canon EF100-400mm f4.5-5.6L IS II USM [ISO 1000, 400mm, f/8.0 and 1/200 SEC])
Sunlight hitting a leaf
(Canon EOS 7D Mk II with a Canon EF100-400mm f4.5-5.6L IS II USM [ISO 320, 400mm, f/8.0 and 1/400 SEC])
Frost on a tree root and plants
(Canon EOS 6D Mk II with a Canon EF100mm f/2.8L Macro IS USM [ISO 800, 100mm, f/16 and 1/80 SEC])
The last Sunday of the month had better weather so mid-afternoon I went for a walk with my macro lens around our suburb of Hughes. I was not expecting much because of the time of year and I walk far, just to an overgrown area with some re-planted gums. I found a few subjects to photograph and I also enjoyed being out in the sun. Winter still has a couple of months to run but we are past the winter solstice so the days are at least gradually getting longer.
Spider webs cover an old cicada shell on a tree
(Canon EOS 6D Mk II with a Canon EF100mm f/2.8L Macro IS USM [ISO 100, 100mm, f/8.0 and 1/180 SEC] with Canon 430EX III-RT flash)
Borer trails on the exposed trunk of a tree
(Canon EOS 6D Mk II with a Canon EF100mm f/2.8L Macro IS USM [ISO 100, 100mm, f/9.0 and 1/200 SEC])
Sun lighting the back of a worse-for-wear leaf
(Canon EOS 6D Mk II with a Canon EF100mm f/2.8L Macro IS USM [ISO 320, 100mm, f/9.0 and 1/100 SEC])
Scale insects on a eucalyptus branch
(Canon EOS 6D Mk II with a Canon EF100mm f/2.8L Macro IS USM [ISO 400, 100mm, f/7.1 and 1/640 SEC])
Stump of a sawn-off branch
(Canon EOS 6D Mk II with a Canon EF100mm f/2.8L Macro IS USM [ISO 100, 100mm, f/7.1 and 1/80 SEC])
Sorry, this was not a great post but I just wanted to share some of the photographs that I have been taking. Winter is a quiet season for the wildlife in and around Canberra. A lot of animals are still around, it is just harder to see them but still an enjoyable experience trying.
Thanks for reading this post and thanks also for looking at my photos. I hope you come back again to read more about some of the wonderful natural things that the Australian Capital Territory has on offer. All the best until the next post.