On New Year’s Eve in Melbourne it was very wet and thundery with lots of lightening. Not a night for being outside and watching fireworks so we stayed inside and watched the TV instead. I noticed some movement on our window in the light reflection and rain and discovered this gorgeous creature which was really…
Loopy Caterpillar III
This is in fact a member of the Looper Caterpillar group. It has a fake face and hides its real face by curling it up and presenting the fake one, while blowing itself up to scare off predators, mainly birds. Thankfully it didn’t scare off the photographer!
Loopy caterpillar II
Remember yesterday’s shot? This is the same caterpillar only a minute or two after the first photo. I was adjusting my settings and then looked at it again only to find it had changed its demeanor.
Loopy caterpillar
Looks innocent enough but have a close look at it and note the white and black markings about 3/4 way down the body. When you see tomorrow’s photo of the same caterpillar you’ll see a dramatic transformation designed to scare off birds.
Sprung!
Oh, oh, I’ve been sprung. Time to get out of here I think. Once he realised he was being watched, he flew off.
Yum, plum!
Think he’s really enjoying his stolen fruit!
Caught in the act!
I was outside one evening in the hope I might see some nocturnal life and returned to the backyard disappointed having seen nothing of interest. But then I could hear some cracking sounds and when I looked around the corner, there was a thief helping itself to our plums.
The bee and the dandelion
This flower flopped over as the bee landed on it – obviously the bee was getting heavy with pollen collected.
The bee and the dandelion
The bee and the Dandelion
The bee and the dandelion
I didn’t know till a couple of days ago that the bees collect pollen and store it on their legs – at least, that’s how it looks in my photos. I hope you enjoy this set.
Crimson Rosella
This is a Crimson Rosella in our scrub – would love to get closer shots and will keep working at it. In the meantime I thought his colours very appropriate for Christmas!