Earlier this month (after weeks of rain), my first born alerted me to a cluster of eerie, glow-in-the-dark mushrooms that popped up on a log next to our pergola.   They are a bioluminescent fungus, possibly Mycena chlorophos because of their small size (about 20 to 30mm each).  Note the little one on the left [...]

I have often been amazed by macro photos of the lilliputian world inhabited by tiny spiders and insects. So I have forgone eating for a few weeks and purchased a macro lens – money well spent!  The last dry day (when was that again?) I spent peering into the bushes taking photos of everything that [...]

I had an little bit of excitement at the cottages today.  I was cleaning at the Pioneer cottage and my daughter told me there was a Victoria’s Riflebird displaying above the cottage. Of course it was finished by the time I got there!  But we could hear the swooshing of wings coming from the forest, [...]

…honeyeaters that is! In January this year, when the Euodia trees were flowering, a couple of honeyeaters came in that I haven’t seen at Crater Lakes before. The white-cheeked honeyeater was bossy, singing loundly and chasing the other honeyeaters away. I read on birdlife.org.au that they are colloquially known as the ‘Moustached Honeyeater’, but I [...]

Earlier this year, when the Euodia Trees were bursting with blooms, a small group of Scarlet Honeyeaters were regular visitors.  I see them occasionally through the year on the bottlebrushes and grevillias, but in January and February they are easy to photograph near the pond as they come down for a drink. The adult males are resplendent in scarlet [...]

I was excited a couple of weeks ago to get some video of a Wompoo Fruit-Dove calling.  They are usually very shy, and will fly away if they see you looking at them.  So after I set the camera up, I turned away to look in the opposite direction, listening to the “wom poo” and [...]

At the Pioneer cottage today, 3 juvenile Riflebirds flew in and proceeded to try to outdo each other’s dancing skills.  A little way in the forest, on a horizontal log they bopped along wings outstretched, it was hilarious!  I rushed out, barefoot, braving wait-a-while and stinging trees, but  I missed filming it. Then two of the birds [...]

A few guest have told me about a Spotted Catbird who is nesting near one of the cottages.  She has built her nest amongst a tangle of “Wait-a-While” vines.  The Wait-a While (Lawyer Cane) has a stem covered with large thorns, palm like leaves with prickles and long tendrils covered with sharp hooks.  I was [...]

A pair of Topknot Pigeons blundered onto the palm tree outside my office yesterday afternoon. They flapped about, at times hanging awkwardly upside down, and managed to frighten away a pair of Wompoo Pigeons that had just arrived just before them.  The Topknot pigeons support amazing rocker hairdos; a grey Elvis bouffant at the front [...]

I always have an ear out for new birds sounds in the forest.  A few days ago I heard strange chattering and squawking coming from the tree near the driveway, so I made my way up there.  Derp!  It was a tooth-billed bowerbird.  This particular bird had some very convincing King Parrot going on, mixed with a whistling sound [...]