Monitor Lizards (Goannas)

This is a Lace Monitor taken in the Grampions in Victoria. This was the first goanna that I encountered in the wild. (taken Mar2002) In a country that doesnt have that many large predatory animals it makes seeing one of these creatures at close quarters really exciting. Most of these images were taken with telephoto lens...it is not the type of creature I would want to corner or startle. If you want to see a larger image of any of these pics, just double click on them.

In Australia we refer to our monitor lizards as goannas. It might sound like an aboriginal word but it is actually a word early europeans came up with. It is really just a mispronunciation of the word iguanna (another type of large lizard found elsewhere in the world-but belonging to a different family).
There are about 50 species of these lizards world wide and Australia has 26 of them. The largest of one, the perentie can grow to about 2.4 m. They are powerfully built creatures which will readily takes to trees if startled. They live in most parts of the country except Tasmania, where it is too cold for them and while many of them live in desert areas they can also be found around water and in tropical rainforrest.

Keep River National Park, NT. This is a yellow-spotted monitor (Varanus panoptes ).

This photo shows the powerful claws used for climbing, digging and defence. It is about the size of a large mans hand.

A close up of a Lace monitors face. The two yellow bands under its chin are identifying marks for this species. Depot Beach NSW.

Lace Monitor - Fraser Island Qld.

Fraser Island, Qld.

This is a close up of tthe scales of a water monitor. They look more like little beads than scales.

Barcaldine, Qld. (above & below) Spencer's Monitor (Varanus spenceri )

The Kimberley, WA. Yellow-Spotted Monitor (Varanus panoptes ).

Welford NP, Qld. Yellow-spotted monitor. (above & 2 below).

Derby WA. Freckled Monitor (Varanus tristis)

Kangaroo Island SA. Heath Monitor (Varanus rosenbergi)
(above & below)

Cape Tribulation, Qld. Lace Monitor.

Fraser Island, Qld. Lace Monitor.

Umbrawarra Gorge, NT. This is a Mertens' Water Monitor. (Varanus mertensi). These monitors spend some of their time in the water looking for food and are good swimmers. After swimming in the cold water this one found itself a hot rock to lay on to warm up again. It flattened itself to get as much contact with the rock as possible. The photos below are of the same lizard. I watched it swim and forage for about 30 minutes and it carried on as though I wasn't there.

Keep River NP, NT. Mitchell's Water Monitor.

Giant Cuttlefish

This is a juvenile Giant Cuttlefish found along Australia's southern coast.  The photos were taken at the Marine Discovery Centre in Queenscliff, Victoria.
They are fascinating creatures to watch. Not only can they change the colour pattern of the skin but also its texture. As adults they can reach a metre in length and live for about 2 years. It has been recently discovered that they aggregate in very large numbers to breed in the Spencer Gulf in South Australia. The one in the picture is only about 15cm long.

These two photos were taken as it was stalking a fish. They use two specialised tentacles to strike out at their prey after they have stealthfully floated up close to it. On the underside of its body you can see two fins or rudders, which are made out of soft tissue only and it is able flatten them or make them more prominant at will.

This is a close up picture of the eye. The spots on the skin are called chromataphores and they are like little sacks of pigment, by flattening out or squeezing tight these little sacks they are able to change their skin colour and pattern at will. It can use this as a means of camouflage; to make themselves blend in with their surroundings and also to communicate with other cuttlles.

This last photo is of a juvenile Southern Pygmy squid (a close relative to cuttlefish), only a day after it hatched. It is only 1 cm long and this is a picture showing it starting to display different patterns with its chromataphores.....I call it "First Words".

Flight

This a a collection of pictures of birds in flight, landing and takeoff. They were taken at different places around the country. Sulphur-crested Cockatoo

Corellas

Yellow-tailed Black Cockatoo

Red-tailed Black Cockatoo

Corvid

Wagtail attacking a magpie. Even though you might think that the bigger the bird the better able to defend itself think again. In the world of birds bigger is not always better. In the air the smaller birds often have it over the larger ones as they are much more manouverable. Magpies can hassle an eagle to get it out of their territory and a small bird like a willie-wagtail can make a magpie move out of their territory. This one actually jumped on the back of the magpie to get it to leave.

Black Kite

Brahminy Kite

Australian Hobby. These birds can fly very quickly only Peregrine Falcon flys faster. Shortly after this shot was taken this bird attacked a budgie (small parrot) in midair and flew away with it.

Kite

Barn Owl - takeoff.

Willie-wagtail

Generally speaking gulls dont dive but these gull in the Spencer Gulf, SA. were. Instead of just ducking under for food they were lifting themselves out of the water a foot or to then diving in. They repeated it over and over. We wondered if the water was particularly salty and making them more boyant as even when they dived they didnt penerate the water very much.

Terns

Tern.

Whiskered Terns, Breamlea,Vic.

Tern.

Terns.

Tern.

Whiskered Tern, Breamlea, Vic.

Jabaru Stork.

Ibis.

Silver Gull.

Spoonbills,

Wedge-tailed Eagle.

White-bellied Sea-eagle.

Magpie Geese and a few Spoonbills.

Pied Heron.

White-bellied Sea-eagle with catch.

Egret.

Black Swans. Breamlea, Vic.

Burdekin Ducks, Port Douglas, Qld.

Spurred Lapwing, NSW.