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.

Emerald Dove - Sri Lanka

Emerald Dove (Chalcophaps indica) - Sinharaja, Sri Lanka

Of all the pigeons found in Sri Lanka, the Emerald Dove is easily the most striking. It's brilliant green wings and red beak and feet make identification easy. It's a shy bird and as a result, although common,  is rarely seen. On my last trip to Sri Lanka I photographed this species in Sinharaja as well as in Wilpattu.

More photographs inside.

Grizzled Giant Squirrel - Anuradhapura, Sri Lanka

Grizzled Giant Squirrel (Ratufa macroura) - Anuradhapura, Sri Lanka

The Grizzled Giant Squirrel is a large tree squirrel found in Sri Lanka and India. According to the IUCN, it is a "vulnerable" species which is considered to be facing a high risk of extinction in the wild. As a result, it can be found on the IUCN's "Red List" of threatened species.

More photographs inside.

Crested Serpent Eagle - Wilpattu, Sri Lanka

Crested Serpent Eagle (Spilornis cheela spilogaster) - Wilpattu, Sri Lanka

The Serpent Eagle is one of the more common birds of prey found in Sri Lanka. Although it is found across tropical Asia, the Sri Lankan subspecies is endemic. In total, 21 subspecies of the Serpent Eagle have been identified across its range.

More photographs after the jump.

Weaver Ant - Colombo, Sri Lanka

Weaver Ant (Oecophylla smaragdina) - Colombo, Sri Lanka

Weaver Ants are one of the most common ant species found in Sri Lanka. I came across a nest in the garden and used the macro lens to photograph them. These ants are known for their skills in building nests by weaving leaves together using larval silk. Colonies can be extremely large and sometimes consist of up to about half a million workers.

More photographs inside.

Tailed Jay - Thalangama, Sri Lanka

Tailed Jay (Graphium agamemnon) - Thalangama, Sri Lanka

I photographed the Tailed Jay (Graphium agamemnon) on a couple of early morning trips to the Thalangama wetland in July. I hadn't photographed this species before and was fortunate to get quite close to it. Again, the fact that these photographs were taken in the morning helped as the butterfly wasn't very active.

More photographs after the jump.