Oriental White-eye - Sri Lanka

Oriental White-eye (Zosterops palpebrosa) - Thalangama, Sri Lanka

The Oriental White-eye is a common bird found in the lowlands in both the dry and wet zones of Sri Lanka. It can be found in the mid hills as well but is rarely seen at higher elevations. On my last trip to Sri Lanka I was able to photograph these birds in Thalangama, Yala and Kandy.

More photographs inside.

Black-fronted Babbler - Thalangama, Sri Lanka

Black-fronted Barbet (Rhopocichla atriceps siccata) - Thalangama, Sri Lanka

I photographed a flock of Black-fronted Babblers in Thalangama while they foraged through the undergrowth. I hadn't photographed them prior to this and was quite happy that I was able to move quite close to them and fire off a number of frames.

More photographs inside.

Around Sydney - Australia

The Skyline - Sydney, Australia

I hadn't been out in the city with the camera for sometime so decided to go for a bit of a walk last night. I started off near Mrs Macquarie's chair near the open air cinema but didn't have any particular route in mind. I wasn't after any specific shots last night, just a walk and an an intention to photograph whatever came up.

More photographs inside.

Common Wood-Shrike - Yala, Sri Lanka

Common Wood-Shrike (Tephrodornis pondicerianus) - Yala, Sri Lanka

The Common Wood-Shrike is a member of the helmetshrike family Prionopidae and is found throughout Southern Asia. The sub-species found in Sri Lanka is sometimes considered a separate species, the Sri Lanka Woodshrike. I photographed them in Yala and Anuradhapura in July.

More photographs inside.

Forster - New South Wales, Australia

Main Beach - Forster, Australia

The 26th of January is Australia Day, one of a handful of public holidays over here in Australia. Since it fell on a Thursday this year, we took Friday off and headed up to Forster for the long weekend.  We stayed at one of our friends apartments which is just a block away form Main Beach.

More photographs inside.

Garden Orb Weaver Spider- Sydney, Australia

Garden Orb-weaver Spider (Eriophora transmarina) - Sydney, Australia

I took the macro lens out over the weekend hoping to photograph some spiders in the garden. I found a number of Garden Orb Weavers in the shrubs along the driveway and spent some time photographing them. The fact that they spend a lot of time under their webs made the whole task a lot harder.

More photographs inside.

Leopards - Wilpattu, Sri Lanka

Leopard - Wilpattu, Sri Lanka

On our last trip to Sri Lanka we were able to visit Wipattu while we were staying in Anuradhapura. Due to time constraints we were able to do just one drive in the park. However, we were quite lucky as we atually managed to see 3 Leopards in the park.

More photographs after the jump.