Low-level flight

Another kind of bird can sometimes be seen at the Boat Harbour North Headland.

Land-based whale watching at Boat Harbour, NSW

A Humpback whale (Megaptera novaeangliae) breaching.

I visited the Port Stephens area with two associates with the hope of seeing a whale or two before seriously bad weather was expected to set in later this week.

Australia Walkabout Wildlife Park 2021 #5: Meerkat

Meerkat (Suricata suricatta)

Meerkats (Suricata suricatta) are indigenous to southern Africa.

Xhosa and his mob came from Taronga Western Plains Zoo to their new forever home at AWWP in 2021.

Meerkat (Suricata suricatta)

Australia Walkabout Wildlife Park 2021 #4: Devils, Dingo and Echidna

Maliki the alpine dingo (Canis lupus ssp. dingo). His older companion Malloo was housed elsewhere (while recovering from a bout of tick paralysis) at the time.

Bucky the Tasmanian devil (Sarcophilus harrisii)

Short-beaked echidna (Tachyglossus aculeatus)

Australia Walkabout Wildlife Park 2021 #3: Koalas

Koala (Phascolarctos cinereus)

The Koala (Phascolarctos cinereus) has been officially designated as Endangered in New South Wales, Queensland the Australian Capital Territory as of February 2022.

Gumnut the Koala (Phascolarctos cinereus) is housed with the echidnas

Australia Walkabout Wildlife Park 2021 #2: Kangaroos

Red kangaroo (Osphranter rufus), previously known as Macropus rufus.

The Red kangaroo (Osphranter rufus) is Australia’s largest living marsupial. Males of the species have reddish fur while females are grey (there are no females currently at the AWWP).

Zoe, the one Eastern grey kangaroo (Macropus giganteus ssp. giganteus) that you must not attempt to touch. She can get a bit stroppy.

The Eastern grey kangaroo (Macropus giganteus ssp. giganteus) is the second largest living marsupial in Australia.

Australia Walkabout Wildlife Park 2021 #1: Wallaroos and wallabies

Common wallaroo (Osphranter robustus), previously known as Macropus robustus.

On my first-ever visit to the Australia Walkabout Wildlife Park there was only one walleroo, and her name was Tegan. She is no longer with us, but there are now at least five of these animals at the sanctuary.

Compared to the Eastern Grey kangaroo, the Common Wallaroo has a squarer face, a shaggier coat and a pale-coloured tail. The feet are also much darker.

The darker wallaroo on the right is Texas, a male.

Common wallaroo (Osphranter robustus)

Swamp wallaby (Wallabia bicolor) with an agile wallaby (Notamacropus agilis) in the background

2019: Flying out of Sydney during the bushfires

I flew out of Sydney during December 2019 and returned just under 3 weeks later. Black Summer had already commenced at this point and Sydney was a hot, windy, stinking, orangey hellscape.

It was pretty much the same when I returned, except for the burned eucalypt leaves — blown at least 70km from the fires where they originated — that I found in the yard.

Here are a few photos from the flight out.

Sydney Airport, in what is usually the brightest part of the day.

Singapore 2019 #09: Jellyfish

Moon jelly (Aurelia aurita)

These are some of the jellyfish on display at the S.E.A. Aquarium at Sentosa.

Spotted jelly (Mastigias papua)

Singapore 2019 #08: Dyeing poison dart frog

Dyeing poison dart frog, azure form (Dendrobates tinctorius) and Yellow-banded poison dart frog (Dendrobates leucomelas)

The Dyeing poison dart frog (Dendrobates tinctorius) is a single species with many forms, or a single species with many subspecies, or a collection of many different species — depending on whom you ask. According to Wikipedia, the species is distributed throughout the eastern portion of the Guiana Shield and Venezuela, including parts of Guyana, Suriname, Brazil, and nearly all of French Guiana.

The Yellow-banded poison dart frog (Dendrobates leucomelas) is found in Venezuela, Guyana, Brazil and Colombia.

The Marañón poison frog (Excidobates mysteriosus) hails from Peru.

These specific animals are housed at the S.E.A. Aquarium at Sentosa.