Final Preparation - 2 weeks with Australian Sea Lions & Yellow-footed Rock Wallabies

Preparing for a two week trip to Kangaroo Island, South Australia where I'm photographing the Australian Fur Seal (Arctocephalus pusillus), the World's fourth rarest seal species.  The Australian Fur Seal inhabits a small area of Western Australia and can be observed in a few localities on and around Kangaroo Island  in South Australia. The seal grows to a length of approximately 2.3 meters and weighs in at roughly 230 kilograms.

After a week or so on Kangaroo island, I'll head north spending a day or so at a favourite location near Port Augusta to photograph honey eaters and small birds.  I call this "birds on sticks" as many of the birds perch on branches above permanent water holes.

From here, I will be heading into the northern Flinders Ranges to locate (already know where they are) and photograph the beautifully coloured and marked Yellow-footed Rock Wallaby (Petrogale xanthopus), a species listed as vulnerable under the ICUN Red List classification.

During this time I will be camping from my four wheel drive vehicle.

Although only a relatively short trip (~14 days), I believe it should be enough time to capture some behavioral images of the seals and wallabies.  Hopefully, if the night skies are clear I'll also be able to photograph southern sky star trails.  Two positives photographing star trails in central Australia is the lack of light pollution; the nights are dark as coal when the moon is not present, and the lack of aircraft flying into your frame.  I found when photographing star trails in the US, the ever present aircraft flying overhead  a little annoying.

Comments

[Uwe Skrzypczak]

I am Wildlife Photograph and bookauthor from Germany ...
This is phantastic blog, thanks for sharing from the article and pictures.

[Iain Williams]

Thanks Uwe - I appreciate your comment. If I can be of any help to you in furture book projects, feel free to e-mail me directly, Iain