Australia: And the rest!

This Koala with a baby literally stopped traffic as she sat in a tree beside the road!



I presume it's a female.







Meanwhile, at the top of the same tree, this presumed male made some very impressive roaring noises in response to another unseen animal in the forest across the road. I'm glad I could see what was making the noise, or I would have feared something much larger!



This Common Brush-tailed Possum is a regular visitor to my sister-in-law's balcony.



Rumbled!



Damselflies mating - Olympic Park, Sydney. Can someone help me identify them?



I think this is an Eastern Water Dragon Physignathus lesuerii.



And a skink sp!





Long Reef, Sydney.





The Nobbies, Phillip Island, Vic.



The Three Sisters, Blue Mountains, NSW.

Australia: Corvids and other big (mostly) black birds!

The white-backed form of Australian Magpie, down in Melbourne.





And the black-backed form (a juv) up in Sydney.



Pied Currawong.





Australian Raven.



And this one... it was in the Otway Ranges along the Great Ocean Road west of Melbourne, so within range for Forest and Little Raven. It didn't call or fly, so I can't really decide what it is. Anyone know?

Australia: Kingfishers and various passerines

Azure Kingfisher.



The ubiquitous Laughing Kookaburra.





Australian Pipit.





Bell Miners - extraordinary birds! They sound exactly like tree-frogs and look like green and yellow teddy bears!



Brown Gerygone, a relative of Malaysia's own Golden-bellied Gerygone.



Brown Thornbill. These seem to be the default small warbler-like bird of the bush. Wherever I went, whenever I saw a small bird in a bush, tree or bit of scrub, it would almost inevitably turn out to be one of these - very irritating after a while!

Some other little birds:



Striated Thornbill.



Weebill.





Speckled Warbler.



Brush Wattlebird - another one that's hard to get excited about!





This one, on the other hand, was a lifer - a Spiny-cheeked Honeyeater.

Honeyeaters are a really diverse group. A few more here:





New Holland Honeyeater.



White-cheeked Honeyeater.



White-eared Honeyeater.



Yellow-faced Honeyeater.



Eastern Spinebill - another honeyeater!

We have three whistler species in Malaysia - here are a couple from Australia.





Golden Whistler.







And Rufous Whistler.





Shrike-thrushes are closely related to whistlers - these are Grey Shrike-thrushes.







Having seen Eastern Bristlebird on a previous trip, I was pleased to see Rufous Bristlebird near Melbourne - very close but difficult to see in the open!



Superb Blue Wrens are really common, but being small and active, are hard to photograph well. This is a female.



However, I got lucky when I found a nesting pair right in front of the wader hide at Olympic Park. They were feeding young, and this male came back to the same perch just in front of the hide every time!













This last pic is of another male, also feeding young in the same area. I love the amazing headshape when seen from the front!



A few more 'bits 'n' bobs' to finish off.



Double-banded Finch was a new bird for me.





A couple of Eastern Yellow Robins.



It was odd to see Eurasian Skylarks. Just one of quite a few European bird species brought in by early English settlers to remind them of home!



Silvereye is the common Australian white-eye.



White-throated Treecreeper - no relation to the European and Asian treecreepers - though filling a similar ecological niche.

Spotted Pardalotes are good fun. Not only do they look good, they are insatiably curious, and will come and investigate any odd squeaking noises down to point-blank range.