N – Native Hen and Nothofagus species

I live near a golf course and a creek which are great places to find native hens here in Tasmania.  These adults had been protecting the young chick but I had disturbed them while on a walk along my street. As I followed them, the chick kept hiding in the bushes till called by the adults to follow.

Tasmanian native hens are endemic to Tasmania and are a protected species. (I only learnt that while researching for this post.)

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Nothofagus species

There are three species of Nothofagus in Australia. Nothofagus gunnii is endemic to Tasmania, Nothofagus cunninghamii is also found in Victoria and Nothofagus moorei is found on the highlands of New South Wales and Queensland but not in Tasmania.

The easiest way to distinguish between the two species found in Tasmania is that Nothofagus gunnii has leaves that looked crinkled.

These two photos belong to my father. The one with my mother in it was taken by Jon Grey, a friend of my parents. Both photos were taken in the Mt Field National Park.

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Happy 89th birthday mum. You are missed by all who knew you.

M – Musk lorikeet and mistletoe

These musk lorikeets are often found on my neighbour’s apple tree and recently I have seen them on the bottlebrush bush in front of my lounge room. They chatter to each other all the time while on the apple tree.

I think the bird in these two photos may have been injured or perhaps it was a young bird still not sure of its flight. Normally when I come out of my house to photograph them, they will fly away very quickly but this one didn’t.

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Mistletoe species

I have lots of photos in my album labelled Flowers on Flickr. Many I don’t know what they are but I think this image is of a mistletoe flower. Mistletoes need a host tree so it can suck on the sap of that tree. If those more knowledgeable than I can tell me the correct name, please leave a comment. Please read comments as this is not a mistletoe.

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L – Lizards and Leschenaultia

While on tour on Fraser Island, we spotted a lace monitor near the area where we were eating our midday meal. These reptiles are also called goannas.

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Often on the road while travelling around Australia you will see these little blue tongue lizards. They are slow moving and can be run over quite easily.

Blue tongued lizard

Leschenaultia species

Western Australia is well known for its flowering plants. This is a small ground plant called Leschenaultia. I have also grown this at my place which has very sandy soil.

Leschenaultia

K – Kookaburra and Kangaroo Paw

Kookaburras often sit on the fence between me and my neighbours. They have a fantastic call which is where they get their nickname ‘laughing kookaburra‘ or ‘laughing jackass’. Make sure you check out their call from one of the links. They are actually kingfishers and were introduced to Tasmania, originally they were only found on the eastern seaboard.

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Kangaroo Paw

Another plant from touring Western Australia is the Kangaroo Paw. I have the black and yellow version growing in my backyard but I think I might have cut it back too far as it hasn’t flowered for a couple of years.

Kangaroo Paw

J – Joshua tree and jabiru

Whilst spending three months driving around many states of America, I came across the Joshua tree in California. This was near the Mojave Desert and Las Vegas. It is not actually a tree but is in fact a succulent or cactus. Many animals rely on the plant.

Joshua tree

Jabiru

The jabiru or black necked stork is found in northern Australia. I have seen it a couple of times when visiting Kakadu National Park. But I haven’t been close enough to take a good photo of it, so this time I have included a sign that shows the jabiru instead.

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I – Ibis and Iris

The straw necked ibis can be called a ‘bin chicken’ or ‘dumpster diver’ as they are often seen on top of dumpsters or rubbish bins in the northern parts of Australia. This photo was taken while on tour from Darwin to Broome in 2021.

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Iris species

There are many iris species in Australia. This purple one was taken between Albany and Esperance where I drove through the Stirling Ranges. Here is a PDF explaining many of the plants found in the Stirling Ranges.

Purple Iris

 

H – Humpback whale and heath flowers

I love going on trips that include whale watching. In Australia, you can do this off Hervey Bay and many other places along both the eastern and western seaboards especially when the whales are migrating north or south. I also whale watched off Cape Cod but even the regular whale there was not present that day.

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Heath flowers

These plants are scientifically named Epacris species. This image is of an Epacris impressa named because of the indentations at the base of each petal. I took this photo when driving to English Town in northern Tasmania.

Epacris impressa

F – Fringed Lily and Frilled Neck Lizard

This image of a fringed lily was taken between Esperance and Wave Rock at Hyden, Western Australia on my trip there in October 2012. As there are 50 species of Thysanotus (Fringed Lily) in Australia, I don’t know the precise scientific name for my image.

Fringed lily

Frilled Neck Lizard

I searched my photos on Flickr but couldn’t find any image I had taken of this animal. So I found one that had Creative Commons Attribution Licence that I could use.

These lizards are seen running on their back legs with their frills open. The Australian Geographic magazine had an interesting story about these reptiles.

Frill-necked Lizard, or Frilled Lizard also known as the Frilled Dragon, (Chlamydosaurus kingii)

 

E – Echidna and Eucalyptus species

A short beaked echidna is only found in Australia. It is one of three monotremes found in the world. The others are a platypus found in Australia and three species of long beaked echidna found in New Guinea.

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These images above were taken at Beauty Point in Tasmania at the Platypus House.

Eucalyptus species

When travelling around the world, one thing I miss is the smell of the eucalypt trees. Once when bus touring in Italy, I could suddenly smell them and noticed we were travelling down an avenue of eucalypt trees.

There are over 900 species of this plant and they are often called gum trees.

This first image was taken between Pemberton and Albany in Western Australia.

Eucalypt

This red one was taken between Bunbury and Pemberton via Manjimup in Western Australia.

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This photo was taken at my home. Can you see a bonus bird as well?

Can you see the hidden parrot?

 

D – Dodonaea species and donkeys

These plants were often called “Hop bushes” even though they were not related to hops used for brewing. The most common species is Dodonaea viscosa and it has many subspecies depending on which part of Australia the plant is growing in. It is also found throughout other parts of the world.

Native hop Dodonaea sp.

 

Donkeys

While travelling through the Yuma Proving Ground near the California/Arizona border I found these donkeys roaming wild. They are called wild burros as noted in this news report.

More donkeys at YPG

C – Cockatoos and correas

I have two different species of cockatoo that frequent my garden. Both are very noisy.

The first is the sulphur crested cockatoo that loves the walnut tree in my neighbour’s garden.

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The second is the yellow tailed black cockatoo which roost every night in another neighbour’s Banksia tree.

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Correa species

There are 11 species of Correa and they are all native to Australia. They can be of various colours. Some are ground cover and others are small shrubs like this one growing on Kangaroo Island.

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