A Quollity Animal.

I dont normally post pictures of captive animals - in fact I dont really take many pictures of captive animals - but this is an exception due to the extreme Quollity of this animal!

This is a Tiger Quoll, or Spotted-tailed Quoll - Dasyurus maculates - which is a cat sized marsupial predator.  In my part of Australia this species has suffered a huge decline in range and abundance since European settlement - although there have been some encouraging sightings of the species in recent years.  This animal is one of a (very) small group breeding group held at Serendip Sanctuary, about an hour from my house.

This Quoll (pronounced to rhyme with doll) was having a bit of laze about it what may be the last warm sun for a while.  Once I managed to find a way to shoot pictures through the leaves I was please to see the quoll open its eyes and have a bit of a look around.

What a Quollity animal!

You can can find more shots from around the world at Our World Tuesday, although I doubt you find too many other quoll posts!  SM

Set in stone

When we were poking about on the beach at Flinders on Monday I found these lines as part of the low rack face at the back of the beach.

I rather like them.

As is often the case - they look much better bigger.

You can find more macro shots at Macro Monday and I love Macro. 

Big Blue

This is another shot from our weekend at Flinders.  This was taken on a Public Holiday, in the late morning.  Don't you just hate crowds!

You can find more sky shots at Sky Watch Friday.  SM

Wild Bird Wednesday 196 - White-faced Heron

This species is basically my default heron - its the one I see most often, and the first one that I rule out if I think I may be on to a different species.

These birds are about 65 - 70cm tall, making them about 2/3 of the size of the Grey Herons I grew up with.  The formal name of the White-faced Heron is Egretta novaehollandiae which means Little New Holland Heron.  New Holland was the old name for Australia.  This species is found over much of Australia and as a result it can be seen in a wide range of habitats.  These pictures show it in a freshwater pond on Lord Howe Island, and in shallow sea water nr. Melbourne.

I have been unable to keep up with blog replies this last week - too much other stuff going on - but the next week looks rather more calm!

Click on the familiar blue button to join in with WBW!

An InLinkz Link-up

A Wider View

We were lucky enough to be invited down to Flinders on the Mornington Peninsula for the night this weekend.

A great, if short, getaway.

Here are some panorama style shots from an evening walk along the edge of the sea.

The house on the hill was not where we stayed - although I wish it was!

You can can find more shots from around the world at Our World Tuesday.

Plane Tree Sky

There is a plane, a tree and a sky.  But I dont think the tree is a plane tree!

Another phone shot during a week that makes me wish I was retired!

You can find more sky shots at Sky Watch Friday.  SM