Readers’ wildlife photos

If you got ’em, send ’em in, please!

Today we have photos by Dean Graetz of Australia. His captions are indented, and you can enlarge his photos by clicking on them. Aussie backyards have some cool stuff, especially the birds!

A Southern Hemisphere Backyard

Here is a sample of the inhabitants of our backyard in Canberra, Australia.  Mid-March, at latitude 35°S, is a time of rapidly shortening daylength, and of harvesting the fruits of a coolish Summer.  Our non-native garden shrubs (Buddleia davidii, aka ‘Butterfly Bush’) are popular attracting this new and hard to identify, visitor.  We think it is a ‘Brown’, or Heteronympha species:

A large butterfly with a 10 cm wingspan, this female Orchard Swallowtail (Papilio aegeus), is always eye-catching, and always harassed by ever-present Cabbage White butterflies:

The common Meadow Argus (Junonia villida) which, after enjoying a nectar feed, often unhurriedly suns itself on our warm garden pathways, adding colour in two places:

The also common, and charmingly named, an Australian Painted Lady (Vanessa kershawi) choosing feed on a desert wildflower (Xerochrysum sp.) which we also grow as another inducement for butterflies.  All the butterfly photos were shot from a 3-5m distance with zoom lenses:

A pair of aged adult Crimson Rosellas (Platycercus elegans) feeding on our neighbour’s tall shrub.  These parrots are everyday sightings in Canberra gardens that are not far from surrounding native woodlands where they breed as hollow nesters:

A juvenile Crimson Rosella in the process of changing its dull green plumage to the bright reds and blues of the sexually mature adult.  The coloured feather contrasting patches are so sharp that these birds enjoy the common name of ‘Patchworks’:

An adult Satin Bowerbird (Ptilonorhyncus violaceus), sex not obvious, having enjoyed a vigorous bath now eyeing the photographer.  At age 7 years, a male bird will change from this khaki plumage to a brilliant blue-black glossy version, build a bower in a grassy woodland, decorate it with blue objects (same colour as its eyes), such as flowers, clothes pegs, bottle tops.  The purpose is to attract, court and mate with numerous females.  Hard to believe?  Go here to watch:

A juvenile Kookaburra (Dacelo novaeguineae) now regularly arrives and sits patiently surveying our back yard for any living food items, such as lizards, mice, or snakes.  These birds readily habituate to hand feeding by the lonely to become a mendicant friend for life:

An adult male Australian King Parrot (Alisterus scapularis) enjoying the last of an unripe pomegranate in a neighbour’s tree.  The dark lower beak is staining.  These are frequent visitors to Canberra at this time of the year.  Being predominantly fruit eaters – their favourite is cherries – has required nearby fruit growers to cover their entire orchards with parrot (and hail) proof tents:

Close by, and part of a family flock, was this juvenile female King-Parrot, elegantly holding an unripe olive with toe and beak.  They skillfully rotate each olive with their blunt tongue to flense off all the edible flesh.  To us, hard green olives are unappealing, but this female ate steadily for about 15 minutes before flying off with a noticeably full crop: