Benz World Blog » Wildlife

Satin Bowerbird

Jason Benz — Wed, 23 Dec 2020 07:21:59 +0000

This is a satin bowerbird in Girard State Forest in New South Wales. The male birds use bits of blue plastic to decorate their courtship area and attract females. This behaviour attacted a biologist Aussies call The Bro aka David Attenborough.

I think this one was eyeing up the blue stripes on the side of my van.

I am now at Armidale State Forest which is full of mountain bike trails where I can recreate the Endor speeder chase with the whirring sound the old motor makes on my solar powered bike.

This image has been accepted by Shutterstock for Stock Photography and is available for download here.

Kookaburra Cash

Jason Benz — Fri, 26 Apr 2019 08:50:28 +0000

This family of Kookaburras on a wattle branch was taken at Crows Nest National park in Queensland.

It is hard to predict which stock photos do well. Even when they start to sell you do not know if you have a small part of a big market or a big part of a small market. However, I had a good feeling about this image as my previous best selling bird was an average shot of a Kookaburra on a metal rail. Only 5.7% of those buyers were searching for “Kookaburras”, most were searching for “Australian” and this shot had iconic Australian birds sat on Australia’s national tree in front of Australia’s national colours. So it did not surprise me when this became the best selling image from 2018.

I am staying in the Blue Mountains until the Australian federal election on 18th May. While I am here I am upgrading the power control board in my van and uploading stock photos.

This image has been accepted by Shutterstock and is available for download here.

Wild Cassowary

Jason Benz — Fri, 14 Sep 2018 03:31:57 +0000

This is a wild Southern Cassowary. I had seen one before in Australia Zoo but it was standing still in an enclosure about 5 meters away. This did not prepare me for the wild face to face encounter with what is essentially a deadly living dinosaur.

Having arrived at Murray Falls in Queensland, I was sat in my van eating some brie and crackers with the side door open. Looking out into the forest I saw this Cassowary walking towards me. I grabbed my camera which had a wide angle lens on. Normally I photograph birds with a telephoto but it did not matter as within seconds it was stood in front of me although it looked further away through the camera. Moments after taking this photo it put its head into the van and lunged at my lunch. I instinctively moved my body between the bird and the food and said “no no no” This was enough to discourage it and it wandered off. I quickly switched lenses a continued photographing it as it disappeared back into the forest.

Two days after this encounter some rangers arrived warning visitors about this partially curious cassowary and advising strategies to deal with it. Most National Parks have signs advising you not to feed the animals. This park had additional notices warning you feeding Cassowaries can result in a $3,000 fine. I have not fed any wild animals but as a photographer, it makes my life easier when previous visitors have.

I am currently in Cairns to restock before a week at Noah beach in the Daintree National Park which is part of Australia’s Wet Tropics World Heritage Area.

This image has been accepted by Shutterstock for Stock Photography and is available for download here.

Female Fairywren

Jason Benz — Fri, 20 Apr 2018 06:39:16 +0000

This tea bag sized female fairywren is a daily visitor to the Manna Gum camp in the Main Range National Park. The males are more colourful and in Western Australia, they look like this. I have many other birds I had never seen before which needed identification before I post them. I also briefly saw a Disappearing Mouse. It got its name because it was believed to be extinct for 60 years before reappearing in this park. I would post it but it disappeared before I photographed it.

Most of the photo opportunities appeared after making a cup of tea and looking out the van window. The noise from bushwalking keeps birdlife at a distance but they are all worth doing as in this patch of Gondwana Rainforest you can imagine dinosaurs appearing while walking through the world’s oldest woodlands. As I go North the forests will change and the toothy creatures will no longer be imaginary as I venture closer to croc country

The National parks in Australia are outstanding. The campsites are set in areas of overwhelming natural abundance. Here in Queensland, they are often the untouched crest of an ancient volcano. Most sites have a few miles of dirt track before you arrive at an oasis by a river.

I am resupplying in Clifton and Toowoomba for three days before two weeks in the Crows Nest National Park. The park is unlikely to have good phone coverage so the next post will be after 5th May.

Eastern Whipbird

Jason Benz — Wed, 07 Mar 2018 10:20:32 +0000

This is an Eastern Whipbird in the Lamington National Park in Queensland, Australia. It is heard far more often than it is seen, The sound it makes is like an amplified slide whistle. I have been camped here for the last three days and it has only briefly stopped raining twice, but then it is in the middle of a rainforest. I had to extended my stay for an extra day as my starter battery needed replacing. I leave for the Niminbah Valley on Friday morning.

This image has been accepted by Shutterstock for Stock Photography and is available for download here.

Rednecked Pademelon

Jason Benz — Mon, 05 Mar 2018 08:46:46 +0000

This is a Red-necked Pademelon in the Lamington National Park in Queensland, Australia. They are smaller than Kangaroos and Wallabies but have the same body shape. This one was particularly tame, only the sound of an old diesel engine struggling up the hill made it raise its head from the task of keeping the campsite lawn mowed. The mountain park is surrounded by Gondwanan rainforest and is even cooler than Canungra. It is the first time on this trip it has dipped below 27C so it is time to rug up.

This image has been accepted by Shutterstock for Stock Photography and is available for download here.

Estrildid Finch

Jason Benz — Sat, 21 Oct 2017 08:46:55 +0000

This bird is a Red-browed Firetail which is a type of Estrildid Finch. I photographed it this afternoon at Lamington National Park in Queensland, Australia. It is close to New South Wales but there is no road crossing the border. The only way in is a long winding dead-end track which climbs into the heart of the Green Mountain Gondwanan forest.

Butterbum Thornbill

Jason Benz — Sun, 21 May 2017 22:45:21 +0000

This is a Yellow-rumped thornbill, Also known as a Butterbum to Australian bird watchers. They feed on insects and seeds. They can also mimic the calls of other birds. I guess this makes them multilingual. This one was photographed on The Spit, Gold Coast, Queensland next to the set of the new Aquaman movie.

This image has been accepted by Shutterstock for Stock Photography and is available for download here.

Cane Toad

Jason Benz — Sat, 25 Feb 2017 22:20:03 +0000

This amphibian was photographed at Judd’s Lagoon in Queensland. It has been identified as a juvenile cane toad on Frogs.org.au. I suspect it marks the front line in their colonization of Australia. The story of how cane toads got here is an object lesson in the unintended consequences of introduced species. They arrived in 1935 following the apparent success of these toads saving sugar crops from beetles in Puerto Rico and Hawaii. Australia proved to be paradise for the cane toad, and they set about eating rodents, reptiles, other amphibians, birds, bats, invertebrates, plants, dog food and even ping pong balls. In fact anything they could fit in their mouth apart from the cane beetle that they were introduced to control. A single toad can produce 500,000 tadpoles in her lifetime. Native animals suffered a triple whammy. If they could avoid being eaten by the toads they would find their own food supply depleted by them. They die if they eat the toads because the skin is toxic and glands behind the eyes secrete a milky white poison which is strong enough to kill a human.

Grey Butcherbird

Jason Benz — Sat, 11 Feb 2017 22:36:36 +0000

This grey butcherbird visited our garden in Southport, Queensland, Australia. They prey on insects, lizards and birds. They have an extraordinary vocal range and this one was especially talkative. It sounded like it was telling a frantic story interspersed with imitations of other bird calls.

A similar image of this bird has been accepted by Shutterstock for Stock Photography and is available for download here.