Australia April 2009

[Autobot]

1 - Adelaide Hills Echidna



2 - Norman Bay from Mt Oberon, Wilsons Promontory Victoria



3 - Yulludunida dreaming - Mount Kaputar



4 - Entering Dr Darks Cave Blue Mountains NSW



5 - Fire on the Forest Floor, Tasmania


(This post/poll automatically generated by the Photo Competition system)

[Autobot]

Congratulations to the winner of the Australia April 2009 competition, with 7 votes:

• iandsmith - Yulludunida dreaming - Mount Kaputar

The key to all entries for this competition is below.

1 - Adelaide Hills Echidna
by eggs.

2 - Norman Bay from Mt Oberon, Wilsons Promontory Victoria
by wello.

3 - Yulludunida dreaming - Mount Kaputar
by iandsmith.

4 - Entering Dr Darks Cave Blue Mountains NSW
by johnw.

5 - Fire on the Forest Floor, Tasmania
by tasadam.

[tasadam]

Congrats Ian for your fine photo.
For the record, in the Australia comp I generally enter a Tasmanian image and will do so when I have something to offer unless the numbers are great from other members, but I always vote non-Tasmanian in this comp.
Cheers!

[johnw]

Well done Ian, I enjoyed your photo . Two in a row for you I think. Keep it up.

I like your unusual looking fungi Adam. Where was that shot taken?

[tasadam]

The fungus was on the start of the walk to Winterbrook Falls at the end(?) of Smith Plains Road. Most amazing forest I have found for fungus.
More here - http://tasadam.redbubble.com/sets/30404/works

[eggs]

Well done Ian

A great phot from some very interesting mountains.

Just a note on my photo of the echidna. It only struck me after I had taken the photo how different this was from the many echidnas I have encountered in Tasmania. The Tassie ones are very brown with shorter spikes and a lot of fur showing.

It was this notable difference that was part of the reason I submitted it.

Eggs

[Son of a Beach]

That difference did strike me. I've certainly never seen one that black in Tasmania. I hadn't noticed the lack of obvious fur until you mentioned it now, and I took a second look. Now that you mention it, there definitely is more fur on the all the Tasmanian echidnas I've seen.

[tasadam]

Well done Ian

A great phot from some very interesting mountains.

Just a note on my photo of the echidna. It only struck me after I had taken the photo how different this was from the many echidnas I have encountered in Tasmania. The Tassie ones are very brown with shorter spikes and a lot of fur showing.

It was this notable difference that was part of the reason I submitted it.

Eggs

My wife and I both noticed how different your mainland echidna was - so much so that we dug up some photos for comparison, so I was able to quickly find this one, thought I would add it here for reference.

Tasmanian echidna, Cradle Cirque

tas-echidna.jpg (97.17 KiB) Viewed 12689 times

[photohiker]

I've a photo somewhere of a rusty brown one from Kangaroo Island.

Coming from 'the mainland', the first time I saw am Echidna in Tas I was struck by the prominent fur. They're interesting critters.

[johnw]

The fungus was on the start of the walk to Winterbrook Falls at the end(?) of Smith Plains Road. Most amazing forest I have found for fungus.
More here - http://tasadam.redbubble.com/sets/30404/works

Thanks, lovely images. I'm hoping to return to that general area myself on some future trip, and re-attempt Black Bluff, probably via the Winterbrook/Tramway track next time. Would be great to see some of that fungi.

[johnw]

I have (I think) a DVD at home somewhere that includes a short explanation of the reason for the differences between Tasmanian and mainland echidnas. I believe that the reason for the fewer spines and more fur on the Tasmanian ones is simply due to the colder climate. They need to keep warm. In my experience I've also noticed that the mainland ones are generally larger. I suspect that may be climate-related as well, but I'm no scientist. I've never seen an echidna anywhere though as black as the one in eggs' photo .