Nature walks with my camera: Camping in Kosciusko

After a long drive we arrived at Kosciusko NP and set up our first nights camp at Tom Groggin.

I was quite excited when this Noisy Friarbird flew over my head and landed in a nearby tree. Another new spotting and a very interesting looking bird. The bald head gives this Friarbird it's name. It also has a distinctive knob on the top of it's bill and as it's name suggests it is very noisy!

It turned out that they were very common in the area and their loud squawks became quite annoying very quickly!

It was a hot day and the river was a perfect place to cool off. The water was crystal clear and after seeing this Spiny crayfish by my feet I was quickly out of the water to put my sandals back on!

Spiny Crayfish, Euastacus sp.

Flame robins were a common sighting.

Flame Robin (male), Petroica phoenicea

Flame Robin (female), Petroica phoenicea

A Satin Bowerbird was another exciting find. The adult male has striking glossy blue feathers whilst the younger males and females are an olive-green colour with dark scalloping pattern on their underbody and a pretty lilac eye.

Satin Bowerbird, Ptilonorhynchus violaceus

Young males start getting their adult plumage in their 5th year, but it takes up to it's 7th year before the transformation is complete. Then it will go off to build and decorate a bower with bright blue objects to attract a female.

As I wandered up an old 4WD track, something caught my attention out the corner of my eye. I thought it was a kangaroo - but it wasn't hopping through the bush it was running. I was shocked to find a dingo trotting straight towards me. I fumbled with my camera that was fully zoomed out from just having looked high into the trees. By the time I got the dingo into my viewfinder it had noticed my presence and quickly took off in the opposite direction. This blurry shot is all I got.

Dingo

Zoomed in crop.

A second later a terrified rabbit shot past me. I think I just saved it's life.

I was quite surprised to have seen a dingo. I know there are plenty of wild dogs around but I didn't think that I would see the very same dingo, that you would see in outback Australia, in Victoria.

Crimson Rosella, Platycercus elegans

Kangaroo

We moved on to Island Bend where we shared our campsite with numerous young stick insects and colourful bugs.

I'm still currently trying to ID this next bird. I'm really hoping it's a Tawny-crowned Honeyeater for another tick to my list. It was a hard angle to photograph from and birds always look different when they puff up their feathers. If anyone has any ideas on ID please leave a comment at the bottom.

On a hike up to Mt Jagungal we came across a huge flock of Little Ravens. There were hundreds of them hanging out on the summit and flying in the surrounding thermals. They are very hard to tell apart from Australian Ravens just by looking at them, however the Little Raven is very sociable and form large flocks that fly over the main range feasting on Bogong moths so I'm fairly confident at calling this one.