Not the daytime soapy, but a bold little chick, and the beautiful Victoria’s Riflebird. First the beautiful. (Click to enlarge the image) A male Victoria’s Riflebird has been checking out the post on our pergola, and last Saturday I managed to snap him trying to attract the attention of nearby female.  He was also displaying [...]

Today a Wompoo Fruit-Dove sat quietly in the figtree opposite my office, certain that I could not see him/her. Despite their size and bright colours, they are very hard to spot amongst the foliage.  I love the deep wom-poo call they make, and I sometimes call back to them, though I know I’m not fooling [...]

Last night we had some very heavy rain.  The tree fern near our verandah, weighed down with the rain, bent right down to the balustrade, so it had to be cut down.  This is the same tree that a Victoria’s Riflebird nested in last year. The image below is from the end of October last [...]

A Grey Goshawk swooped in and settled on a branch outside my office window today.  He had clutched in his feet an unfortunate bird, caught on the wing perhaps, he then proceeded to pull strips off it or defeather it (not sure as it was a fair distance away). Oh well, that’s life.  It scared [...]

I braved the rain tonight and videoed the Orange-thighed Treefrog calling from the forest near the cottages.  The mating call is a series of rising ‘waaarks’ ending in soft trills. The frogs form large, noisy choruses during summer breeding season which can be quite deafening. Click to enlarge the image.  

I nearly stepped on this metallic looking beetle on the path to the Tuscany cottage today.  I popped him on a nearby stump and he obliged me by posing for a few photographs.  After an extensive Google search, I think he is a Golden-green Stag Beetle.  He really is quite a pretty colour. The male beetles [...]

…but 10 years to find something is a bit long.  The Northern leaf-tailed gecko is so well camouflaged that I haven’t seen a single one in all the time I have been here, then I discover they were under my nose all a long.  Last night we went spot-lighting down the road to Lake Eacham with Simon, [...]