Dangerous Dragon, Beautiful Butterflies, Death of a Dragonfly.

[Jen]

Beautiful pics Dennis

[AlexN]

Great shots Dennis... Good to see some of your photography back on the forums! I've got to say I've not had the cameras out since this weather set in..

My favs are #1, #2 and #6.. What was the water dragon doing at the time.. That is a text book defensive stance for a dragon, especially with the big gaping mouth... Not something that people usually see unless they get way too close to the lizard, or its fighting another lizard... One of my little bearded dragons do this sometimes when I handle him, as he's not too keen on the idea yet.. but he'll get used to it.. Luckily for me, his bark is worse than his bite at this stage!

Cheers mate,
Alex.

[Dennis]

Thanks Jen and Alex – having these wonderful creatures to take photos of has helped ease the withdrawal symptoms from astronomy due to the poor season in Qld.

Alex – this was an interesting encounter with Lizzie (our nickname for her) as I was in the lounge room shooting out of the window with the 400mm F5.6 and she was completely at ease on the lawn.

In the burst that I took as she ran towards the camera, it looked like she was simply yawning! We’ve seen her run for insects and other tid bits and her chomping action appeared a little different to this “yawn”? Although she tolerates us at a distance, if we get closer than say, 5 metres, she just runs away! She just won’t let us get close enough to feel threatened – she’s far too wily and quick.

The closest we can get is if we are swimming in the pool. Lizzie often watches from the pool coping, completely unfazed by the movement, splashing and noise and we can easily get to within 1 metre of her in this situation. It seems she doesn’t perceive us as a threat in the water, at her level?

Thanks for the explanations of the behaviours though, we really find it very interesting learning from watching the daily routines, reflecting on the beauty of nature, albeit in a small suburban back garden!

Cheers

Dennis

[jjjnettie (Jeanette)]

Dennis, a superb set of images.
The Waterlilly is gorgeous.

[Dennis]

Thanks Jeanette.

Lizzie came out this morning as we were having breakfast and climbed the BBQ wall to sun herself – she adores sitting in sunny places! She looks a very impressive climber; I hadn’t realized how well they can climb.

Cheers

Dennis