Steve Happ Photography Ramblings and dissertations

Northern Tasmania

After Queenstown, I headed west to the coast of Tasmania at Macquarie Heads and Strahan. Macquarie Harbour is a historic place with a treacherous entry to the harbour. This yacht was going out the entrance. I was amazed that such a little boat was going out into the Southern Ocean.

Hells Gates

Going north I passed through Zeehan and Rosebery and stopped the night at Montezuma Falls. In the afternoon I scooted up to Cradle Mountain and at the lookout at 930 meters you could see the amazing Belvoir Vale, which is a vast highland grass/heath valley.

Belvoir Vale, Cradle Mountain

Hellyer Gorge had a nice walk along the river with lots of noisy birds but not much variety.

Flame Robin (Petroica phoenicea)

Next stop was Boat Harbour, just west of Burnie on the north coast of Tasmania. I had one sunny day at the beach and now it is miserable again. 🙁

Superb Fairy-wren

At Sisters Beach I took a walk along the beach front and spied this very noisy Grey Shrike-thrush.

Grey Shrike-thrush (Colluricincla harmonica strigata)

North Tasmania bird list

Masked Lapwing
Grey Shrike-thrush (Colluricincla harmonica strigata)
Grey Fantail
Superb Fairy-wren
Flame Robin (Petroica phoenicea)
Green Rosella
European Goldfinch

Lake St Clair National Park

I deleted all my photos from last night this morning. I was in a rush to photograph this Yellow-throated Honeyeater and formatted my chip without remembering I still had photos from yesterday. doh! The main photo that I deleted was of a Fan-tailed Cuckoo, but I have photos of them, so whew! This morning I think I saw a Pink Robin but it was too quick to get a photo. double doh!

Yellow-throated Honeyeater (Nesoptilis flavicollis)

Finally I got some decent photos of this elusive Tasmanian endemic. I wonder why they call them Yellow-throated Honeyeater ???

Yellow-throated Honeyeater (Nesoptilis flavicollis)

So good I had to post two photos.

Olive Whistler (Pachycephala olivacea apatetes)

Another good score – the Tasmanian sub-species of the Olive Whistler.

Grey Fantail (Rhipidura albiscapa albiscapa)

And another Tasmanian race albiscapa.

Tasmanian Scrubwren (Sericornis humilis)

I like the background here of sawn wood.

Tasmanian Scrubwren (Sericornis humilis)

I think this one is a juvenile because he is so dark.

Lake St Clair bird list

Yellow-throated Honeyeater (Nesoptilis flavicollis)
Fan-tailed Cuckoo
Grey Fantail (Rhipidura albiscapa albiscapa)
Black-faced Cuckoo-shrike
Tasmanian Scrubwren (Sericornis humilis)
Olive Whistler (Pachycephala olivacea apatetes)

Lake St Clair National Park

I arrived at Derwent Bridge before 9am so I went to the Information Centre for Lake St Clair National Park. I wanted to find out about the boat rides across the lake. But – gah! – $70 return. What a ripoff. I just went for a walk along the tracks which turned out to be quite good with a new Tasmanian endemic honeyeater.

Strong-billed Honeyeater (Melithreptus validirostris)

The Strong-billed Honeyeater has a stout pointed bill and a rather flat forehead.

Strong-billed Honeyeater (Melithreptus validirostris)

A juvenile on top with yellow bill and some colour around back of neck.

Yellow-throated Honeyeater (Nesoptilis flavicollis)

Super bad photo of this Tasmanian endemic honeyeater. I still have not got a decent shot of one. doh!

Tasmanian Thornbill (Acanthiza ewingii)

Green Rosella (Platycercus caledonicus)

This is a really nice shot of a male with lots of yellow.

Tasmanian Scrubwren (Sericornis humilis)

I got some good shots of some of the endemics today.

Black Currawong (Strepera fulignosa)

Wow, really bizarre shot of this Black Currawong’s massive tongue grabbing onto an insect.

Echidna

Lake St Clair bird list

Tasmanian Scrubwren (Sericornis humilis)
Yellow-throated Honeyeater (Nesoptilis flavicollis)
Strong-billed Honeyeater (Melithreptus validirostris)
Grey Fantail (Rhipidura albiscapa albiscapa)
Tasmanian Thornbill (Acanthiza ewingii)

Echidna

Highland Lakes

Leaving Mount Field, I trekked down the hill to the Derwent River and had lunch at Hamilton where I charged up all my batteries and dried all my mattresses and blankets. The sun was shining for a change and it was actually quite hot. I should have got some supplies at Ouse, because there is nothing here at Derwent Bridge. Just high-priced tourist crap. I found a camp at the Tungatinah Lagoon. It was ok but nothing special. There were about three other lakes and lagoons which looked much nicer.

Black Currawong (Strepera fulignosa)

In the afternoon I went for a walk along the lagoon and into the bush for a bit. Not much around.

Green Rosella (Platycercus caledonicus)

There were just a couple of Green Rosellas feeding on the grass near the lagoon embankment. They flew up into the trees when I surprised them and myself.

Yellow Wattlebird (Anthochaera paradoxa)

And everywhere I go there are Yellow Wattlebirds. Next to the ocean, up in the high mountains, I have seen them.

And there we have it. Half the colours of the rainbow : Black Currawong, Green Rosella and Yellow Wattlebird. doh!

Tungatinah Lagoon bird list

Yellow Wattlebird (Anthochaera paradoxa)
Black Currawong (Strepera fulignosa)
Green Rosella (Platycercus caledonicus)
Welcome Swallow

Mount Field National Park – Tasmania

After Bruny Island, I went back to the Tasmanian mainland and headed west to Mount Field where I stayed at the wonderful Left of Field Camp Ground. Adrian, the owner, took us on a walk in the afternoon to see the platypuses (platypi ?) in the creek. The creek was flowing strongly and near the bridge we were surprised to find this platypus in a bit puddle near the bridge. He was covered in mud and scooping up something out of the puddle.

Platypus (Ornithorhynchus anatinus)

I cropped this one massively to get a good look at his eyes and head. He is covered in mud. Later he jumped into the creek and washed it all off.

Platypus (Ornithorhynchus anatinus)

We crossed the bridge and went for a circuit around the sewerage treatment ponds. One of the kids saw a snake and Adrian Reckoned it might have been a tiger snake.

Ants in disturbed nest

I think these are jumping jack ants, and it looks like a larva or is it larvae?

Brown Falcon (Falco berigora)

Plus a bonus photo of a Brown Falcon I got when I was leaving Bruny Island.

Bruny Island – Tasmania

When I got to Hobart and drove straight through to the south and stayed at the Kingston Scout Camp for the night. What an excellent camp – they had hot showers, a kitchen camp – all for ten bucks a night. A bargain! In the morning I went for a walk around the archery range. There was not much around. The highlight would have been some Tasmanian Native-hen chicks.

Tasmanian Native-hen chicks

After breakfast I drove south to Kettering and was the last car on the ferry to Bruny Island. It was reasonably cheap – about $35 return. I had a horde of tourists behind me so I turned left at the first opportunity to get off the main road. I ended up in Barnes Bay, a nice little cove on the north of the island. It was quite prolific with birds around all the native trees and shrubs that the locals had planted.

Dusky Woodswallow (Artamus cyanopterus)

Green Rosella (Platycercus caledonicus)

I finally got a decent shot of a Green Rosella. Yay! Can do better, but.

Striated Pardalote (Pardalotus striatus striatus)

This is the only shot I got of this Striated Pardalote, sub-species striatus.

Yellow-rumped Thornbill (Acanthiza chrysorrhoa leachi)

As far as I know there are three types of Thornbills in Tasmania – Tasmanian, Brown and these Yellow-rumped Thornbills, sub-species leachi.

New Holland Honeyeater (Phylidonyris novaehollandiae canescens)

These New Holland Honeyeaters had me going for a while. I thought they were something new – doh! These are the local Tasmanian race but I cannot read it in the book so I have to look on the internet. Just looked and it is race canescens.

It was a shame that it started to rain – again! So I continued south and stopped off at the lookout and rookery for the fairy penguins. At the Neck, I found the camping ground and settled in for the afternoon.

Short-tailed Shearwater (Ardenna tenuirostris)

Last night I went to see the Fairy Penguins coming home. But it started to get dark and it was raining so I gave it a big miss. I did get some very dark photos of shearwaters. I think this is the right species – maybe ? Edit: yep. Just got confirmation from Nikolas. I guessed right. 🙂

Bruny Island Bird list

Tasmanian Native-hen
Superb Fairy-wren
Brown Thornbill
Dusky Woodswallow
Yellow-rumped Thornbill (Acanthiza chrysorrhoa leachi)
New Holland Honeyeater (Phylidonyris novaehollandiae canescens)
Green Rosella (Platycercus caledonicus)
Yellow Wattlebird
Common Blackbird
Masked Lapwing
Australian Wood Duck
House Sparrow
Striated Pardalote (Pardalotus striatus striatus)
European Goldfinch
Scarlet Robin (Petroica boodang leggii)
Short-tailed Shearwater (Ardenna tenuirostris)

Central Highlands of Tasmania

I took off from Oatlands in the Southern Midlands and went west along a dirt track for 27 kilometers until I hit Lake Sorell. A little further on I found a camping area and decided to stay for the night. The wind was howling about a million knots and it was not very pleasant. But the sun was out.

Yellow Wattlebird (Anthochaera paradoxa )

I was quite surprised to see the Yellow Wattlebirds up so high. The altitude up here was about 700 meters. The bush was pretty nearly alpine country.

Yellow Wattlebird (Anthochaera paradoxa ) – chicks

I did not know what these were until the adult Yellow Wattlebird came to have a check-up on them.

Black Currawong (Strepera fulignosa )

Pretty normal for a currawong to be up in high alpine country and they hang around your camp like they do in the Snowy Mountains.

Lake Sorell bird list

Yellow Wattlebird (Anthochaera paradoxa )
Black Currawong (Strepera fulignosa )

Southern Midlands – Tasmania

I spent a day at the Tasman Peninsula and took this photo near Eaglehawk Neck. Note the massive yellow bill and black swept back crest on top of the head.

Crested Tern (Thalasseus bergii)

I spent the night near Sorell and headed up the highway past the Craigbourne Dam where I photographed this White-bellied Sea-eagle. I have not seen many raptors in Tasmania. Why, I have no idea.

White-bellied Sea-eagle (Haliaeetus leucogaster )

I spent the night at Oatlands and took some photos around Lake Dulverton, just on the edge of town.

Musk Duck ( Biziura lobata)

This is a male Musk Duck with the big flap of skin under the chin. Very easy to identify.

Black Swan (Cygnus atratus) – chick

There were quite a few Black Swan cygnets on the pond and on the grass.

Black Swan (Cygnus atratus) on nest

This Black Swan was sitting on the nest made out of reeds in the middle of the lake.

Flame Robin (Petroica phoenicia) – male

A pair of Flame Robin were posing at the picnic shed.

Flame Robin (Petroica phoenicia) – female

Hardhead (Aythya australis) – female

European Goldfinch (Carduelis carduelis)

The European Goldfinch is an introduced species.

Hoary-headed Grebe (Poliocephalus poliocephalus)

Southern Midlands bird list

Crested Tern (Thalasseus bergii)
White-bellied Sea-eagle (Haliaeetus leucogaster )
Musk Duck ( Biziura lobata)
Eurasian Coot
Pacific Black Duck
Black Swan (Cygnus atratus)
Hardhead (Aythya australis)
Hoary-headed Grebe (Poliocephalus poliocephalus)
Masked Lapwing
European Goldfinch (Carduelis carduelis)
Common Blackbird
Common Starling
Yellow-tailed Black-cockatoo
White-faced Heron
Flame Robin (Petroica phoenicia)