Animals
Wombat
The wombat is among my favourite animals, it is a rather compact marsupial which spends its days in burrows, feeds at night and lives quite slowly. This one seems to enjoy its carrot and cereals lunch.
Tasmanian devil
A poor photo of two Tasmanian devils. An inspiration for the Taz character… they are restless and stop from time to time, starting again just when you’re about to take the photo. Another devil, much quieter.
Koala
The koalas are an Australian icon. They look like teddy bears, but I also remember their growls as gum tree branches were brought to them, not like soft toys at all.
Kangaroo
The kangaroo is another icon. I caught one sleeping among the visitors in a park.
Smaller kangaroos are called wallabies.
I like the way the kangaroos can seem thoughtful, their physique also allows them to show curiosity in a very clear way. Or to pretend they’re not interested.
Semi-tame kangaroos are often interested in food, this one is bounding towards the camera. There are groups of beggars demanding food.
This female has got a joey in her pouch.
Echidna
Echidnas are very special Australian animals, the only monotremes with the platypus. They eat insects, and also porridge in the park, here is a young one.
Birds
Australia has its pelicans, this one seems to be showing off, and is surrounded by ducks and ibis. Ibis are just like our pigeons, very common in the cities. Emus are big birds but they don’t fly (like ostriches), one of them surprised me while I was taking kangaroo pictures.
Kookaburras are kingfishers, there are two types of these birds: the blue-winged kookaburra, and the laughing kookaburra, whose mad laughter woke me up at night. Here is a laughing kookaburra in a cage.
This dishevelled person must be excused as the tawny frogmouth is a night bird. Here is also a couple, looking awake.
Cape Barren geese are big birds from Tasmania and Southern Australia.
Native hens are in fact gallinules, black swan is an Australian species.
There are lots of parrots and cockatoos in Australia. The galahs are grey and pink cockatoos, you see their coloured flocks very often.
Fairy penguins are small blue-tinged pinguins, living in the sea and nesting on the coasts, where they come back by night.
The black currawong looks like a raven with a yellow eye.
In 1998, most of these photos were taken at the Featherdale Wildlife Park, in Doonside, next to Penrith. Avoid Taronga in Sydney, rather choose such a park where the cages are bigger, and, as you can see, some animals are free among the visitors.
The expressive kangaroos come from a station next to Alice Springs.
As for the 2003 photos, fairy penguins nest (among other sites) in Bicheno, Tasmania, most of the other animal photos were taken in East Coast Birdlife and Animal Park in Bicheno, or while walking in Tasmanian National Parks.