New camera zoom

My previous camera, a canon Powershot SX 30is did some very hard work of the past but finally the adverse conditions it has had to cope with on some of my excursions proved too much and the zoom feature packed up.
As cameras are super-ceded at a rapid rate the Sx30is is well in the past but I love the versatility of the compact zoom for the nature photography which I enjoy so decided to stay with Canon and go for the Powershot SX60hs that has even more features and has RAW capability, wireless and many other features that I probably won't use.

Just to see how it would perform from wide angle to full 65X optical zoom I took  some shots of a Red-necked Wallaby that was enjoying the morning sun just below the verandah.

Wide angle (spot the wallaby)

 

Full 65X zoom

All were hand held and at full zoom that is quite a test for the image stabiliser I have taken quite a few photos since and I am very pleased with the camera, just need more subjects..

Need a rename?

Investigating a fluffy white blob in a tree hollow and I found it to be a very hairy caterpillar which on a close look had quite striking colouring .

 Identifying the species did not take too long although there are a couple of similar looking caterpillars. It is the larvae of one of the moths in the ANTHELIDAE family Anthela varia and the poor moth which is quite attractive, has the common name of "Hairy Mary", obviously derived from the caterpillar. Why poor Mary gets lumbered with the description rather than Harry or Gary or any other I don't know.
The species is predominantly found in the coastal areas of Australia and the caterpillars which grow to about 90mm feed on eucalyptus leaves as well as other trees such as Macadamia and Pecan. 
 

Pre blog post

Before I commenced this blog we had a visit from a lizard that I have not seen since, so I thought I should revisit the two occasions when I managed photos of this visitor as a record of the visit.

The first was on the 9th of April 2010 when this lizard, which I was able to identify as a Tree Skink or Striated Skink Egernia striolata, was sunning on a rock next to our house.

It stayed around the area for months but tended to be quite wary and quickly going undercover between logs which is where my next photo was taken on 21st September 2010.

The skink is listed as reasonably common although the range seems to be more to the inland areas of Queensland, NSW and Victoria. The habitats are dry Eucalyptus forests through to rainforest where they are found under bark and logs or hollow stumps and fallen timber. Like other skinks the food sources are insects, frogs and spiders.

 

Velvet covered

Our feral deer population is getting ready for the next round of breeding and the bucks have just about finished growing their new antlers. They have started their destructive rubbing on young trees and saplings but it is certain to get worse in the near future as most antlers are still covered with velvet.
A group have been around our property of late and today five were in the area near the house.

The deer problem seems to be in the too hard basket for any of the government departments to come up with any effective control and their area of spread just gets bigger.

Wingspread

A pair of Wedge-tailed Eagles has been around the area over the past week or so and yesterday I was able to get a photo against an overcast sky, as they cruised across the front paddock.

With a wingspan of around 2m it is Australia's largest bird of prey with a wide range, including Tasmania and southern New Guinea.