Thermal imaging try-out

I was lucky enough to be able to borrow a FLIR thermal imaging camera for a night, last November. I didn’t go far, just in the bush around the house. The experience of walking just with the FLIR, without a white light, was difficult and a little unnerving at first, but after a while it became easier.

Finding and observing animals was interesting (and the goal!), but viewing trees, vegetation and other physical features was just as eye-opening. It had been a hot day and the trees were still radiating plenty of heat. Click on an image to view the slide show.

Greater Glider

Greater Glider

Workshop and forest behind

House and forest behind

Eastern Grey Kangaroos ca 100 m away

Firewood rounds lying on the ground.

Steens road radiating heat

Sugar Glider in a stag on Steens Rd

.. and again

Manna Gum with hollow entrances

Steens Rd panorama

Mountain Brushtail Possum walking on the gorund

Mountain Brushtail Possum

.. and again

Koala – cropped & enlarged image

Wombat, invisible to the white light, but clear as day for the TI

Koala high in a Manna Gum

July-August 2017

This gallery contains 15 photos.

April 2017

Having not posted for a while, I’m filling in with pics of the forest and other goings-on from 2017.

Top dam

15 yo Victorian Blue Gum

A failed dam has become an ephemeral wetland.

Puff-ball puffing

Chook heaven

The season’s honey harvest.

Walking the boundaries.

Faithful companion, the late Molly.

Fallen timber is no obstacle …

.. to exploring.

 

 

The Strathbogie Tableland to the east of Mt Wombat

Mt Wombat fire tower

Boundary Hill (‘our’ hill) to the north east

Sunset from Mt Wombat; Kelvin View and the western horizon

View to the south west

A memorable day – whipbirds, swallowtails, doves and beetles

Whoa, 12 months since the last post! Anyway, the events of yesterday are worth recording.

First, a call distinctly like a whipbird, though likely just seriously good mimicry by a Golden Whistler, came to my attention mid-morning. After all, there are no wet gullies around here and the nearest resident Eastern Whipbirds are some kilometers away. But on second listening I was seriously considering the possibility, then this …

A blur of wings, but unmistakable – an Eastern Whipbird.

In the shadow of the grapevine

Unmistakable silhouette

It’s the second ever record of an Eastern Whipbird in our Boho South garden. The first was in the wet Summer of 2010 – a coincidence?

A little later, passing an orange tree, I noticed the unmistakable  black-red-white combination of a Dainty Swallowtail.

New Year’s Eve visitors

Some gate-crashers arrived on NYE – a motley bunch, but colourful. It’s always a pleasure to see the Golden Stag Beetle. A preying mantis at the light didn’t seem to bother the local moths, who seemed happy to land on the big fellow. Th pick of the bunch was a large grey moth with distinctly striped legs – no ID yet.

Golden Stag Beetle (Lamprina aurata)

Golden Stag Beetle (Lamprina aurata)

Golden Stag Beetle (Lamprina aurata)

Preying Mantis, Emerald geometrid (Chlorocoma?), et al.

ID pending