Nature of Tasmania: Places

Showing posts with label Places - Romaine Park. Show all posts

Friday, 26 March 2010

A Few Birds

This morning was not a good time for photography. We had showers and overcast skies. However, having an SLR in my hands again (Canon 7D) I could not resist taking a short walk and trying it out. I didn't do too well but I did take a few shots as seen below. These were taken with the ISO set at 1250 (plus noise removal) which is quite amazing. The old 300D could never have handled that.

(Click to Enlarge)

Australasian Grebe chick - Tachybaptus novaehollandiae

Chestnut Teal - Anas castanea

Wednesday, 8 October 2008

Slime Moulds

What can I tell you about Slime Moulds? Well they are slimy .....and they look mouldy :-) That's close to the sum of my knowledge of the subject although they are indeed fascinating life forms. For a long time they were considered a form of fungi but these days they are placed in the Kingdom Protista or Protozoa.

Apparently the largest slime moulds can cover an area of up to thirty square meters. That's reminiscent of that old Steve McQueen classic, "The Blob". Even scarier is the thought that they can plot a course through a maze in order to get to a food source. (Ref) Don't forget, if you are searching on the Net for further information, that the Americans use the spelling 'mold'.

Here are a couple of Tasmanian Slime Moulds. If and when I identify them I will edit this post to include there names. The first three photos below are of a Slime Mould I found at Romaine Park the other day. It was growing on the sawn end of a large old Eucalytpus log.

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Slime Mould - Romaine Park

Slime Mould Detail - Romaine Park

The next photo was taken at Narawntapu National Park. I'm not even sure if this one is actually a slime mould or not. Maybe someone can shed some light. It was growing at the base of a large tree stump.

Slime Mould ? - Narawntapu National Park

.....and just for a bit of fun, here are the lyrics from the opening theme song of "The Blob", and a you tube video so you can sing along:

Beware of the blob, it creeps
And leaps and glides and slides
Across the floor
Right through the door
And all around the wall
A splotch, a blotch
Be careful of the blob

Monday, 6 October 2008

Romaine Park Birdlife

.....ID Help needed

A walk around the park today gave me a few opportunities to photograph the birds.

Now please pardon my ignorance but I'm not sure what the first one even is. Perhaps you can help. There were five or six of these flitting about in the trees around me but unfortunately they kept to the shadows making them difficult to photograph. Size wise they would be in the 150 to 180 mm range or there abouts. Any suggestions?

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Golden Whistler

Next up is a Grey Shrike-thrush. Michael Sharland in the book, "A Pocketful of Nature", talks about how trusting these birds are but apparently the ones in my garden have not read the book. This one today was a little better behaved and sat in the open for a few seconds allowing me to finally get a shot of one.

Colluricincla harmonica - Grey Shrike-thrush

This New Holland Honeyeater was daydreaming about being a reed warbler.

Phylidonyris novaehollandiae - New Holland Honeyeater

But he soon came to his senses...

Phylidonyris novaehollandiae - New Holland Honeyeater

When Alan Fletcher wrote on his blog the other day of Shining Bronze-cuckoos, I have to admit to being a little envious having never seen one. Then the very next day, while up the hill in my backyard, not one, but two Shining Bronze-cuckoos landed right in front of me. My camera was in sleep mode and by the time it powered up I had missed the shot. Still I was so happy to have seen them as I figured I would not see another for a long time. Well today I saw another one. This time I even managed a photo or two. They are pretty bad shots mind you but they will have to do until next time - maybe tomorrow :-)

Chrysococcyx lucidus - Shining Bronze-cuckoo

A Grey fantail was busy chastising the cuckoo but it was not deterred. The fantail then decided to give me a telling off before flying off and going about it's business. This next shot, if nothing else, shows how the barring on the underside of the cuckoo combined with the natural shadows above make for a great camouflage.

Chrysococcyx lucidus - Shining Bronze-cuckoo

The Tasmanian Native Hens are very common place and easy to take for granted but it was nice to see the young chicks out and about today. We were able to walk quite close to these but when some dog walkers approached their parents quickly took them into the reeds in the water. There were four chicks in total.