24 September 2009

Wildlife photos

The following photos were all taken in Kakadu National Park, most of them at Yellow Water.

A white, or sacred ibis.

A sulphur-crested cockatoo enjoying the nectar from a grevilliea flower. One of our guides reckons that if he could only get enough of the nectar for commercial purposes he would make his fortune. He claims it tastes much better than honey.



A comb-crested jacana, or lily-trotter. Where the water lilies grow bigger leaves they truly can walk across them without getting wet feet.


A pair of sea eagles.



Radjah shelducks.


A plumed whistling duck.


An estuarine crocodile or "salty". The freshwater crocodiles swallow their food whole and are not a danger to humans unless you threaten them or their eggs. Even then the worst you are likely to suffer is a nasty bite. Salties can dismember large prey. They can, and occasionally do, eat humans. We were taught a healthy terror of crocodiles while in Northern Australia.

These guys are wading in the Alligator River East at Cahills Crossing. There are estuarine crocodiles in this river. From the lookout we were counting 4 or 5 of them upstream to the right. The man on the left is not safe from a croc, which can hide in a foot of water and outrun a horse over short distances. The fisherman is plain tired of living.


A darter.



This is an azure kingfisher. It's a very small bird, taken at maximum possible zoom, so it's not a great photo, but what a beautiful bird!




One of the Yellow Water lilies.

No comments: