Wildlife

Wildflowers and wildlife as photographed subjects. Kwongan in flower, Carnaby's black cockatoo, quokkas on Wadjemup, honey possums, whale sharks and humpbacks at Ningaloo, dugongs and turtles, the thylacine as it survives in the Murujuga petroglyphs, the rabbits the fence was built against, and bleached coral.

Part of Western Australia

146 moments in this segment.

1854 - Stamp-Western Australia 1854 1d Black Swan imperf. Western Australia imperforate 1854 1d Black Swan stamp believed to be the first bird stamp - SG #1. The honey possum feeds only on nectar and pollen, which ties it to whatever is flowering in any given month.
1868 - Tarsipes rostratus Gould 3. The honey possum feeds only on nectar and pollen and is endemic to the southwest, where it depends on banksia and kwongan flowering through the year.
1871 - Mammals of Australia (Krefft) The Dingo, or Native Dog. In The Mammals of Australia. Cane toads reached the Kimberley from the east and continue to move west.
1877 - Valley Heights Platform 1877. S:Valley Heights (322m) William Cox referred in 1815 to "The Valley" as a suitable site for watering and feeding stock. No. 1 Fence alone ran 1,833 kilometres and was described on completion in 1907 as the longest unbroken fence in the world.
1888 - Aboriginals under temporary bark gunya (shelter), ca. 1888. Aboriginal Australians under temporary bark gunya (shelter), D.Le Souef, ca 1888. Numbats, woylies and dibblers survive where predator control is sustained and nowhere else.
1896 - MolochLyd. Illustration of a Reptilia species, Moloch horridus, commonly referred to as the Thorny Devil. North of the southwest the arid and tropical zones hold entirely different assemblages, so the state spans several distinct faunas.
1900 - Mowering with two goannas
1900 - Mowering with two goannas, cropped & tweaked. Mowering with two goannas, probably somewhere around Roebourne around the turn of the century. The noisy scrub-bird was believed extinct until it was found again near Albany in 1961.
1901 - Feral cat with galah. Islands off this coast have become the last refuge for several mammals that are gone from the mainland. Foxes, cats and cane toads have driven the losses that fenced sanctuaries and island refuges now exist to hold back.
1911 - Macrotis lagotis. The western swamp tortoise is among the most restricted reptiles in Australia. The southwest's small mammals have been reduced by foxes and cats to fenced reserves and offshore islands.
1912 - Bush natives, frog hollow - cyclopedia of western australia. Aboriginal Australians at Frog Hollow, Western Australia, circa 1912. Carnaby's black cockatoo depends on the same woodland and kwongan that clearing has removed.
1922 - Australian zoologist vol 3 p 152 illustration. Illustration of Tarsipes rostratus. The honey possum feeds only on nectar and pollen and is endemic to the southwest, where it depends on banksia and kwongan flowering through the year.
1924 - Picking wildflowers in Kalamunda Hills, 1924. Wildflower picking in the hills behind Perth, once a common weekend outing. The southwest is a global biodiversity hotspot of about 356,717 square kilometres, and its endemism rests on ancient, nutrient-poor soils that no ice sheet ever scraped and no volcano ever renewed.
1949 - ADF 490 + ADUs, on test, 1949. A WAGR ADF ("Wildflower") class railcar, no. ADF 490 Boronia (right), with two ADU class trailers (left), on a test run.
2009-06-01 - Flatback turtle nesting on 80 Mile Beach, Western Australia. A flatback turtle nesting on Eighty Mile Beach in northwest Western Australia. The beach lies on Karajarri and Nyangumarta Country between Broome and Port Hedland. Flatbacks nest only on Australian beaches.
2009 - Wildflower paradise along the Indian Ocean of Western Australia between Geraldton and Perth. Wildflowers of the southwest in season. The region holds over half the world's sundew species.
2009 - Shark Bay, WA, home of a lot of sea grass and happy Dugongs. 2009. Dirk Hartog made the first recorded European landing on the west coast here on 25 October 1616, at Cape Inscription.
2011 - Anigozanthos manglesii Kangaroo Paw DSC 0135. Anigozanthos manglessii, Kensington Bush, Perth, WA, 13/10/2011. Average annual rainfall across the southwest has fallen by as much as 20 percent since the 1970 s, with maximum temperatures rising.
2011 - Boranup. 100 year old regrowth forest. Wildflower season runs roughly August to November and moves south with the warmth, corresponding to Kambarang in the Noongar calendar.
2012 - Osprey. 2012. Take aways again. I cant eat any more so I will hide it somewhere.
2012 - Millstream National Park, Pilbara, Western Australia, Python Pool. Python Pool in the Millstream-Chichester National Park. Deep burgundy soils and rocks are from the high concentration of iron.
2013 - Cape Arid National Park, Western Australia 450. Grey Bush Kangaroos at Cape Arid NP. Cape Arid is an area along the south coast of Western Australia. White sandy beaches and granite headlands are features along this coast.
2013 - Gija Jumula. Gija Jumulu is a 750 year-old Boabab tree that stood in the way of a new bridge that was to be constructed near Telegraph Creek in the northern part of Western Australia. Boabs grow only in the Kimberley and the adjoining Northern Territory, and some individual trees are centuries old.
2013 - Carnaby's Black Cockatoo, Perth, Western Australia. Female (pale bill, grey eye-ring) on the left, male (dark bill, pink eye-ring) on the right. It nests in hollows that take a century or more to form in old trees.
2014 - Curious Quokka. A curious quokka gets extra close in the evening on Wadjemup / Rottnest Island, Western Australia. The island they live on is also the largest known deaths-in-custody burial site in Australia, and no picture taken here is separable from that.
2014-10-12 - Kimberley Land Council – Savanna Fire Management. The Kimberley Land Council on savanna fire management. Burning early in the dry season produces cooler, patchier fires than late-season wildfire and reduces greenhouse emissions, which allows ranger groups to earn carbon credits. The practice follows patterns of burning that long predate the carbon market.
2015 - The Glowing Wattle. Flickr description Acacia celastrifolia is a showy native wattle common to the South West of Western Australia. These one to three metre shrubs are easily spotted growing in the Eucalypt woodlands throughout the Darling Ranges east of Perth. Photo: Fred. Kwongan is the Noongar word for this heath, and the vegetation it names carries much of the region's endemism.
2015 - Kangaroo Paw, Wireless Hill. The Mediterranean climate here, wet winters and dry summers, is one of only five such zones in the world. Kwongan is the Noongar word for this heath, and the vegetation it names carries much of the region's endemism.
2015 - Big Boab. The Big Boab at Wyndham caravan park. Boabs grow only in the Kimberley and the adjoining Northern Territory, and some individual trees are centuries old.
2015 - Numbat, Myrmecobius fasciatus (taxidermied) at Göteborgs Naturhistoriska Museum 2435. The numbat is Western Australia's mammal emblem and survives in remnant wandoo and jarrah woodland, largely where foxes and cats are controlled.
2015-08-10 - Bush Heritage Australia: Saving the Night Parrot. Bush Heritage Australia on efforts to find and protect the night parrot, a species long thought extinct before it was recorded again. Ranger groups working on Country are central to the search across the arid interior. The bird's locations are closely held to prevent disturbance.
2016 - Calyptorhynchus latirostris. It nests in hollows that take a century or more to form in old trees. Carnaby's black cockatoo is endemic to the southwest and depends on the woodland and kwongan that clearing has removed.
2016 - Drosera zonaria. A carnivorous plant from the Droseraceae family. Western Australia, 14 May 2016. The Albany pitcher plant, Cephalotus follicularis, grows here and nowhere else on Earth.
2016 - Six unit EMU on Narrows. It failed: rabbits were through the line before construction finished, which forced a second fence in 1905. The rabbit-proof fence survives as the State Barrier Fence, repurposed against emus, dingoes and wild dogs.
2016 - Eucalyptusmarginata29911069190 03d89b284f o. Eucalyptus marginata, Jarrah. Kensington Bushland, Kensington, Perth, Western Australia. Nutrient-poor soil is the reason for the diversity: no single species can dominate ground this poor, so many coexist.
2016 - Pterostylis karri. 's sundew species.
2016-11-17 - Banksia Woodlands & Pygmy Possums. Banksia woodland in the southwest of Western Australia and the small marsupials that live in it. Banksias flower in overlapping sequence, which is what allows nectar feeders to persist year round. The woodland type has been heavily cleared around Perth.
2016-12-13 - S01E05 Rottnest Quokkas. A segment on the quokkas of Wadjemup / Rottnest Island, the small macropod that gave the island its Dutch name in 1696 when Willem de Vlamingh took them for large rats. Wadjemup held an Aboriginal prison from 1838 to 1931, with a gap from 1849 to 1855. Over 3,600 Aboriginal men and boys were imprisoned there and at least 370 died and lie in unmarked graves.
2016-12-28 - AWC return Bilby to south-western Australia for first time in several decades. Australian Wildlife Conservancy returns the bilby to southwestern Australia for the first time in several decades. Bilbies dig deep burrows that shelter many other species. Release depends on first removing or excluding introduced predators from the site.
2017-02-23 - Don't make them go extinct - Saving Perth's Carnaby's Black-Cockatoo. BirdLife Australia on the decline of Carnaby's black cockatoo around Perth. The species depends on banksia woodland and pine plantation for feeding and on old hollows for nesting. Both have been reduced by clearing on the Swan Coastal Plain.
2017-04-18 - Bringing Back The Bilby | WWF-Australia. WWF-Australia on bilby recovery work, including breeding and release into protected sites. The greater bilby is the last surviving bilby species after the lesser bilby was lost. Its remaining range includes the Western Australian deserts.
2017-05-10 - Help Us Save Numbats. Perth Zoo on its numbat breeding program, which supplies animals for release into Western Australian reserves. Numbats bred in captivity are released to sites where foxes and cats are controlled. The zoo is in South Perth on Whadjuk Noongar Country.
2017-06-01 - Flatback turtle (Natator depressus) resting on sea bed, Western Australia.. A flatback turtle resting on the sea bed in Western Australia. The flatback nests only on Australian beaches and does not undertake the oceanic phase typical of other sea turtles. Its main rookeries are on the northwest coast.
2017 - Shark Bay seagrass bed. Shark Bay's high temperatures and salinity protect some of the oldest forms of life on Earth. The seagrass beds provide food for several species of fish. The bay holds dugongs, turtles and one of the largest seagrass meadows in the world.
2017 - Macropus fuliginosus. The numbat is the state's mammal emblem and holds on in remnant wandoo and jarrah woodland where foxes and cats are controlled.
2018-06-14 - Saving Honey Possums (with Bush Heritage Australia). Bush Heritage Australia on work to protect honey possums, a tiny nectar-feeding marsupial found only in the southwest of Western Australia. The animal depends on year-round flowering of banksias and other proteaceous shrubs. Loss of that flowering sequence removes its food supply.
2018 - Somewhere in Karijini. This photo was taken during a hike in a less touristy part of Karijini National Park. For days we were alone in this vast beautiful landscape. We heard a dingo pack howling in the middle of the night not far from our tents. The noisy scrub-bird was believed extinct until it was found again near Albany in 1961.
2018 - Emu Point, 2018 (03). The beach at Emu Point, a suburb of Albany, Western Australia. No. 1 Fence alone ran 1,833 kilometres and was described on completion in 1907 as the longest unbroken fence in the world.
2018 - Dromaius novaehollandiae. (Latham, 1790), Shark Bay, WA, Australia, 11 January 2018. Willem de Vlamingh found Hartog's pewter plate half-buried in sand on 4 February 1697 and took it to Amsterdam, where the Rijksmuseum holds it.
2018 - Melaleuca linguiformis fruit. Fruit of Melaleuca linguiformis near Norwood Road in the Wittenoom Hills, northeast of Esperance, Western Australia. The Albany pitcher plant, Cephalotus follicularis, grows here and nowhere else on Earth.
2018 - Setonix brachyurus. (Quoy and Gaimard, 1830), Quokka, Wadjemup / Rottnest Island, WA, Australia, 12 January 2018. Roughly 450,000 to 500,000 people visit the island each year, largely for these animals.
2018 - Stenanthemum pumilum. The range rises out of flat wheatbelt country in the Great Southern and holds a concentration of endemic plants found nowhere else.
2018 - Middleton Beach, 2018 (04). Middleton Beach, Western Australia, looking towards Emu Point. It failed: rabbits were through the line before construction finished, which forced a second fence in 1905.
2018-09-21 - The wildflowers of Western Australia. A long survey of Western Australian wildflowers, filmed across the southwest. The southwest flora includes many species found nowhere else, with flowering concentrated after winter rain. The video works through species group by group.
2019 - Osprey at Point Peron, July 2019, Image 4. An Osprey at Point Peron, Rockingham, Western Australia. Foxes and cats have pushed many of the small mammals here onto islands and into fenced reserves.
2019 - Star Finch (Neochmia ruficauda subclarescens) Wyndham WA. Photographed on the King River south of Wyndham, Western Australia. Foxes and cats have pushed many of the small mammals here onto islands and into fenced reserves.
2019 - Melaleuca linguiformis habit. Melaleuca linguiformis growing near Norwood Road in the Wittenoom Hills, northeast of Esperance, Western Australia. The region holds over half the world's sundew species.
2019 - Melaleuca pulchella habit. Melaleuca pulchella growing near Norwood Road in the Wittenoom Hills. Average annual rainfall across the southwest has fallen by as much as 20 percent since the 1970 s, with maximum temperatures rising.
2019 - Melaleuca linguiformis flowers. Foliage and flowers of Melaleuca linguiformis near Norwood Road in the Wittenoom Hills, northeast of Esperance, Western Australia.
2019-10-07 - AWC brings Bilbies back to the Mallee. Australian Wildlife Conservancy on returning bilbies to arid Australia inside predator-free fenced areas. Greater bilbies were once found across most of the continent and are now restricted to parts of the arid zone, including the Western Australian deserts. Cats and foxes are the reason for the contraction.
2019-12-01 - Recovery of Dryandra's numbat and woylie populations. Parks and Wildlife Service Western Australia on the recovery of numbat and woylie populations at Dryandra Woodland. Both species were reduced to remnants by introduced predators. Sustained fox baiting is the basis of the recovery work at the site.
2019-12-04 - The Banksia. A film about banksias, the proteaceous shrubs and trees that dominate much of the southwest. Their flower spikes feed honeyeaters, black cockatoos and honey possums. Many species regenerate from seed released by fire.
2020-01-16 - Feral cats - Australia's native animal annihilators 😼🦜 | Meet the Ferals Ep 2 | ABC Australia. An ABC documentary on feral cats and their effect on Australian native animals. Cats are the main obstacle to reintroducing numbats, bilbies and woylies outside fenced areas in Western Australia. The film follows control and monitoring work.
2020 - Wedge-tailed Eagle on Branch. I saw this bird in the Watagan National Park, NSW. The honey possum feeds only on nectar and pollen, which ties it to whatever is flowering in any given month.
2020 - Dingo paw prints Fraser Island. Even when they cannot be seen, there are often signs of their presence. Foxes, cats and cane toads have driven the losses that fenced sanctuaries and island refuges now exist to hold back.
2020 - Mt Augustus seen from Emu Hill Lookout, July 2020. Mt Augustus seen from Emu Hill Lookout, Shire of Upper Gascoyne, Western Australia. It rises out of flat country as a single ridge of sandstone over an older granite core.
2020 - Emu Hill Lookout, July 2020. Emu Hill Lookout, Shire of Upper Gascoyne, Western Australia. Richard John Anketell built the main section with 120 men, 350 camels, 210 horses and 41 donkeys.
2020 - Looking south from Emu Hill Lookout, July 2020. Inspectors patrolled the line by bicycle, and by 1910 were using buckboard buggies drawn by two camels. Thomas Austin released 24 wild rabbits in Victoria in 1859, and this state answered with three fences totalling 3,256 kilometres between 1902 and 1907.
2020 - Emu running on the beach at Monkey Mia, July 2020. The Emu got startled by some children and bolted but soon calmed down again. No. 1 Fence alone ran 1,833 kilometres and was described on completion in 1907 as the longest unbroken fence in the world.
2020-09-28 - Western Australian Humpback Whale Southern Migration. Footage of the southern leg of the Western Australian humpback migration, when whales return toward Antarctic waters with calves. Calves born in the Kimberley travel south along the coast with their mothers. The southern leg runs later in the year than the northern.
2021-03-03 - AWC battling the scourge of feral cats. Australian Wildlife Conservancy on feral cat control across its reserves. Cats hunt small mammals of exactly the size range that Western Australian recovery programs are trying to re-establish. Fenced exclosures and baiting are the two main tools.
2021-03-06 - These WA native plants are perfect for pots | Australian native plants | Gardening Australia. Gardening Australia on Western Australian native plants suited to container growing. Many southwest species need sharp drainage and low phosphorus, which pots can provide where garden soil cannot. The segment covers kangaroo paws and other southwest genera.
2021-05-03 - A prescribed burn in Western Australia has decimated one of only two numbat habitats | ABC News. ABC News reports that a prescribed burn ran through one of only two remaining natural numbat habitats in Western Australia. Numbats shelter in hollow logs, which burn. The report covers the disagreement over how burns are planned where numbats live.
2021-06-11 - Field Trip - Honey Possums. A field trip in search of honey possums in southwest Western Australia. The species relies on continuous flowering of banksias and related shrubs rather than on insects. Surveys use small traps checked and released on site.
2021-06-14 - Turtles of the Dampier Archipelago need wider investigations by scientists | ABC Australia. ABC reports that turtles of the Dampier Archipelago need wider scientific investigation. The archipelago lies off Murujuga / Burrup Peninsula in the Pilbara, on Ngarluma and Yaburara Country. Industrial development on and around the archipelago runs alongside major turtle nesting beaches.
2021 - Wadjemup 100121. Looking across Thomson Bay towards the Quokka Arms hotel. The rabbit-proof fence survives as the State Barrier Fence, repurposed against emus, dingoes and wild dogs.
2021 - Wildflowers at Edel Land National Park. Wildflower season runs roughly August to November and moves south with the warmth, corresponding to Kambarang in the Noongar calendar.
2021 - Banksia menziesii yellow 210721-3. Banksia menziesii - yellow inflorescence, nearing the end of flower. The southwest is a global biodiversity hotspot of about 356,717 square kilometres, and its endemism rests on ancient, nutrient-poor soils that no ice sheet ever scraped and no volcano ever renewed.
2021-07-07 - Onlookers in awe as humpback whales migrate north| 9 News Australia. Nine News on humpback whales moving north along the Western Australian coast. The western humpback population migrates between Antarctic feeding grounds and Kimberley calving waters. The northward leg passes close to the coast in winter.
2021-09-29 - Quokka Birthday 2021 on Rottnest Island. The Wadjemup / Rottnest Island authority marks the notional quokka birthday, an annual event on the island. Quokkas survive here in numbers because the island has no foxes or cats. Wadjemup was also an Aboriginal prison from 1838 to 1931, with a gap from 1849 to 1855, holding over 3,600 Aboriginal men and boys, at least 370 of whom died and are buried in unmarked graves.
2021-11-17 - Honey Possum feeding in Pink Bottlebrush at Bush Heritage Australia's Monjebup Reserve (WA). A honey possum feeding on a pink bottlebrush at Bush Heritage Australia's Monjebup Reserve in southwest Western Australia. Honey possums live entirely on nectar and pollen. The reserve is managed to keep a continuous flowering sequence available across the year.
2022-01-16 - New lifeline for West Australian native numbats as conservation efforts ramp up | ABC News. ABC News on conservation work for numbats in Western Australia, including translocation and predator control. The numbat is the state's faunal emblem and survives in a small number of wild populations. Feral cats and foxes are the main threat to reintroduced animals.
2022-03-13 - Black Cockatoos of SW Western Australia – Carnaby’s, Baudin's and Forest Red-tailed Black Cockatoos. A detailed field guide to the three black cockatoos of southwest Western Australia, Carnaby's, Baudin's and the forest red-tailed. All three are restricted to the southwest and all three are threatened. The video covers calls, bill shape and feeding differences between them.
2022-03-20 - 'Cockatubes' helping put Carnaby's Cockatoos in the mood | ABC News. ABC News on artificial nest hollows, called cockatubes, installed to help Carnaby's black cockatoos breed. Carnaby's is a threatened species of the southwest that nests in large tree hollows which take many decades to form. Clearing has removed much of the old hollow-bearing timber.
2022-05-05 - Numbat population in Upper Warren bigger than first thought. The University of Western Australia reports that the numbat population in the Upper Warren area is larger than earlier surveys suggested. Numbats are termite-eating marsupials now confined to a few sites in the southwest. Survey method changes account for part of the revised estimate.
2022 - Hamersley Range Rock Monitor (Varanus hamersleyensis) blending in with rocks in Dales Gorge (Karijini NP). Hamersley Range Rock Monitor (Varanus hamersleyensis) blending in with banded ironstone rocks which line the sides of Dales Gorge (Karijini National Park), Western Australia.
2022 - Carnaby’s Black Cockatoo enjoys a snack. Shot at Kalamunda National Park on Lumix FZ80. It is one of eight endemic bird species in the southwest Endemic Bird Area.
2022 - Western Grey Kangaroo in Kalamunda National Park. This photo was taken in Kalamunda National Park. Shot with a Lumix FZ80.
2022 - Melaleuca villosisepala habit. Melaleuca villosisepala on Coujinup Road, about 7km north of the South Coast Highway and about 40km east of Ravensthorpe, Western Australia.
2022 - Isopogon longifolius habit. Habit of Isopogon longifolius along Sandalwood Road, near Cape Riche, Western Australia. Average annual rainfall across the southwest has fallen by as much as 20 percent since the 1970 s, with maximum temperatures rising.
2022 - Distribution of the honey possum on the wheat belt. The honey possum feeds only on nectar and pollen and is endemic to the southwest, where it depends on banksia and kwongan flowering through the year.
2022 - Isopogon longifolius fruit. Foliage and fruit of Isopogon longifolius along Sandalwood Road, near Cape Riche, Western Australia. Nutrient-poor soil is the reason for the diversity: no single species can dominate ground this poor, so many coexist.
2022 - Wattle trees over Dale Road - Helena NP - Western Australia. Yellow-flowering wattle trees over red gravel Dale Road under partially cloudy conditions - Helena NP - Western Australia.
2022-08-22 - Noongar Traditional Owners share endangered bettongs with the Narungga people | WWF-Australia. Noongar traditional owners share endangered bettongs with another Aboriginal group for translocation, filmed by WWF-Australia. Woylies, or brush-tailed bettongs, survive in only a few areas of south western Australia. Translocation decisions here were made between Aboriginal groups rather than only by agencies.
2022-11-24 - An amazing Manta Ray tour out of Coral Bay in Western Australia. Manta rays filmed at Coral Bay on Ningaloo Reef. Manta rays are present at Ningaloo year round, unlike whale sharks which aggregate seasonally. They feed on plankton along the reef edge.
2023-05-15 - Swimming with whale sharks | Ningaloo Nyinggulu | ABC TV + iview. An extract from Ningaloo Nyinggulu, the ABC series made with Baiyungu, Yinggarda and Thalanyji people about Ningaloo Reef and its coast. The reef is a fringing reef, World Heritage listed, and whale sharks aggregate there each year. Nyinggulu is the local name for this stretch of reef and coast.
2023 - Pelican Point reserve, June 2023. Pelican Point Reserve, Pelican Point, Bunbury, Western Australia. The southwest is an Endemic Bird Area with eight endemic bird species.
2023 - Pelican Point beach, June 2023. Pelican Point Beach, Pelican Point, Bunbury, Western Australia. The noisy scrub-bird was believed extinct until it was found again near Albany in 1961.
2023 - Frog's Hollow, Lowden, October 2023. The so-called Frog's Hollow, Lowden, Western Australia, an outdoor collection of frog statues. Carnaby's black cockatoo depends on the same woodland and kwongan that clearing has removed.
2023 - Rainbow lorikeet (Trichoglossus moluccanus) sitting in a hole in a dead tree along the Derbarl Yerrigan / Swan River, Oc. A Rainbow lorikeet (Trichoglossus moluccanus) sitting in a hole in a dead tree along the southern shore of the Derbarl Yerrigan / Swan River, Rivervale, Western Australia.
2023 - Banksia walk trail, The Spectacles Wetlands, Western Australia, September 2023. At this time of the year, the bushland either side of the trail is full of wildflowers. The trail is a 3.2 km loop.
2023 - Bushland along Banksia walk trail, the Spectacles Wetlands, September 2023. Bushland along the southern turning point of Banksia walk trail, the Spectacles Wetlands, Western Australia, on a cloudy day with the sun shining through on occasion.
2023 - Cowslip orchids along Banksia walk trail, the Spectacles Wetlands, September 2023
2023 - Unidentified Daviesia along Banksia walk trail, the Spectacles Wetlands, September 2023
2023 - Catspaw (Anigozanthos humilis) along Banksia walk trail, the Spectacles Wetlands, September 2023. 356,717 square kilometres, and its endemism rests on ancient, nutrient-poor soils that no ice sheet ever scraped and no volcano ever renewed.
2023 - Anigozanthos hybrid in Kings Park, Perth, October 2023. An Anigozanthos hybrid in Kings Park, Perth, Western Australia. Kwongan is the Noongar word for this heath, and the vegetation it names carries much of the region's endemism.
2023 - 2023 Castaways Sculpture Awards, "Emu Dog" by Len Zuks. Castaways Sculpture Awards is an annual exhibition held since 2008 (with the exception of 2018, cancelled because of Rockingham Foreshore Revitalisation Project).
2023 - Eastern Osprey (Pandion cristatus) at Point Grey, Western Australia, August 2023. The bird was sitting near its nest along Carrabungup Road, near the coast of the Peel Inlet. North of the southwest the arid and tropical zones hold entirely different assemblages, so the state spans several distinct faunas.
2023 - 2023 Castaways Sculpture Awards, "PeliCAN" by Rachael Lemon. Castaways Sculpture Awards is an annual exhibition held since 2008 (with the exception of 2018, cancelled because of Rockingham Foreshore Revitalisation Project).
2023 - 2023 Castaways Sculpture Awards, "Wedge-Tailed Eagle" by Dennis Wilson. Castaways Sculpture Awards is an annual exhibition held since 2008 (with the exception of 2018, cancelled because of Rockingham Foreshore Revitalisation Project).
2023-07-27 - Testing the use of Felixer- grooming traps to control cats in the Jarrah Forest of Western Australia. The WA Feral Cat Working Group tests Felixer grooming traps in the jarrah forest of Western Australia. The device identifies a target animal and applies toxin to its coat, which the cat then ingests while grooming. The trial covers whether non-target species are correctly ignored.
2023-08-30 - Manta Rays in 4k @ Ningaloo Reef / Coral Bay / Exmouth, Western Australia. Manta rays recorded in detail at Ningaloo Reef near Coral Bay and Exmouth. The rays use cleaning stations on the reef where smaller fish remove parasites. Ningaloo is a fringing reef, close enough to shore to be reached by swimming.
2024-02-03 - WA numbat population yet to recover from prescribed burns | ABC News. ABC News follows up on numbat numbers after the prescribed burns, reporting that the population had not recovered. Numbats depend on hollow logs for shelter and those take a long time to be replaced. Any figures given are as stated by the report.
2024-02-07 - Black Cockatoos: Keep Carnaby’s Flying – Ngoolarks Forever. Murdoch University on the Ngoolark, the Noongar name for Carnaby's black cockatoo, and the research and rehabilitation work supporting it. The birds nest in hollows in the Wheatbelt and feed on the coastal plain. Injured birds are treated and released through university and volunteer programs.
2024-02-28 - Indigenous Ranger feral cat management in Western Australia (short). The WA Feral Cat Working Group on Aboriginal ranger groups running feral cat management in Western Australia. Rangers combine tracking skill with baiting and trapping programs on Country. Cat control is central to protecting bilbies and other desert mammals.
2024 - Carnaby’s Black Cockatoo. Having a feed. Explored: Mar 18, 2026 #302. Carnaby's black cockatoo is endemic to the southwest and depends on the woodland and kwongan that clearing has removed.
2024 - Noisy Scrubbird 0A2A7318. The noisy scrub-bird was thought extinct until it was found again near Albany in 1961, and is one of eight endemic birds of the southwest Endemic Bird Area.
2024 - Small building at Harrismith, Western Australia, January 2024. A small building at Harrismith, Western Australia, near the railway line. It is now used for a historical and wildflower display.
2024 - Banksia Nature Reserve, Oldbury, Western Australia, December 2024
2024 - Banksia pilostylis at May Drive Parkland, Kings Park, October 2024. 22.13 percent of the region, some 109,445 square kilometres, is protected, and unevenly across its six ecoregions.
2024 - 2024 Castaways Sculpture Awards, "Numbat (Stay Away Cat)" by Nicholas Thompson. Castaways Sculpture Awards is an annual exhibition held since 2008 (with the exception of 2018, cancelled because of Rockingham Foreshore Revitalisation Project). The numbat is Western Australia's mammal emblem and survives in remnant wandoo and jarrah woodland, largely where foxes and cats are controlled.
2024 - Acacia lanuginophylla (Woolly wattle) at May Drive Parkland, Kings Park, October 2024
2024-07-14 - Right Way Fire – Training Story. Right Way Fire, a training story from the Indigenous Desert Alliance. Right way fire refers to burning carried out according to the knowledge held for that particular Country. The alliance links desert ranger groups across Western Australia, South Australia and the Northern Territory.
2025-02-06 - Honey Possum / Noolbenger. A close study of the honey possum, known in Noongar as the noolbenger. It is a nectar and pollen feeder restricted to the southwest of Western Australia. The film shows its feeding on flowering shrubs at night.
2025-02-17 - Footage shows coral bleaching at Western Australia's Ningaloo Reef. Guardian Australia footage of coral bleaching at Ningaloo Reef. A severe bleaching event affected Ningaloo in 2025. Bleaching occurs when corals expel the symbiotic algae that supply most of their energy.
2025-03-22 - Footage shows coral bleaching on Ningaloo reef as Great Barrier Reef hit at the same time. Guardian Australia on bleaching at Ningaloo at the same time as the Great Barrier Reef was affected, in 2025. Ningaloo is a fringing reef on the Western Australian coast and is World Heritage listed. Simultaneous bleaching on both coasts is unusual.
2025-04-11 - Meet the World's Happiest Animal | Quokkas of Rottnest Island. Quokkas on Wadjemup / Rottnest Island, often described in media as the world's happiest animal because of the shape of their mouths. The island's Dutch name comes from Willem de Vlamingh mistaking them for rats in 1696. Wadjemup was an Aboriginal prison from 1838 to 1931, gap 1849 to 1855, where over 3,600 Aboriginal men and boys were held and at least 370 died in unmarked graves.
2025-06-11 - Flames Beneath the Surface: Coral Bleaching at Ningaloo. A Minderoo film on the 2025 coral bleaching at Ningaloo Reef, with underwater footage and researcher commentary. The event was severe across large sections of the fringing reef. Bleached coral can recover if water temperatures fall quickly enough.
2025 - Emu Point, Albany, January 2025. Thomas Austin released 24 wild rabbits in Victoria in 1859, and this state answered with three fences totalling 3,256 kilometres between 1902 and 1907.
2025-12-17 - Why is finding wild bilbies important?. An explanation of why locating wild bilby populations matters for their management. Wild bilbies now persist mainly in the deserts, where Martu and other ranger groups track them on Country. Finding active burrows sets where baiting and burning effort goes.
2025-12-21 - Quokkas on Rottnest Island are Adorable! | Extraordinary Animals. Australian Geographic on the quokkas of Wadjemup / Rottnest Island. The island was named 't Eylandt 't Rottenest, Rats' Nest Island, by Willem de Vlamingh in 1696 after he mistook quokkas for large rats. Wadjemup was also an Aboriginal prison from 1838 to 1931, with a gap from 1849 to 1855; over 3,600 Aboriginal men and boys were imprisoned there and at least 370 died and are buried in unmarked graves.
2026-02-05 - Turtle nest excavations are underway across WA. Parks and Wildlife Service Western Australia on turtle nest excavations carried out across the state to check hatching success. Excavation after a nest hatches shows how many eggs produced live hatchlings. Flatback, green and loggerhead turtles all nest on Western Australian beaches.
2026-02-06 - Trail Off Tuesdays: The Great Emu War. An account of the 1932 military operation against emus in the Western Australian Wheatbelt, later called the Emu War. Soldiers with machine guns were sent to reduce emu numbers on farmland around Campion. The operation was withdrawn without achieving its aim.
2026-02-20 - WA could stop cats roaming under proposed legislation | ABC NEWS. ABC News on proposed Western Australian legislation to restrict cats from roaming. Domestic cats hunt native animals in the same way feral cats do, at smaller scale and closer to town. The report covers the proposal and the reaction to it.
2026 - Quokka Coaches Bus on Parker Point Road, April 2026. A Quokka Coaches Bus on Parker Point Road, Wadjemup / Rottnest Island, Western Australia. Willem de Vlamingh took the quokkas for large rats in 1696, which is where the name Rottnest comes from.
2026 - Pinky Beach and resort, Wadjemup / Rottnest Island, April 2026. The coast runs for thousands of kilometres from the Southern Ocean to the Timor Sea, across three climate zones.
2026 - Quokka Coaches Bus with Wadjemup Lighthouse in the background, April 2026. The island they live on is also the largest known deaths-in-custody burial site in Australia, and no picture taken here is separable from that.
2026 - Kangaroos under a tree in Whiteman Park. A group of western grey kangaroos under a tree in Whiteman Park, Western Australia, viewed from Beechboro Road North. The southwest is an Endemic Bird Area with eight endemic bird species.
2026 - Australian pelican (Pelecanus conspicillatus) - Perth, Western Australia. North of the southwest the arid and tropical zones hold entirely different assemblages, so the state spans several distinct faunas.
2026 - A Little Corella near the Derbarl Yerrigan / Swan River in Perth, Western Australia 3. Carnaby's black cockatoo depends on the same woodland and kwongan that clearing has removed. The numbat is the state's mammal emblem and holds on in remnant wandoo and jarrah woodland where foxes and cats are controlled.
2026 - Quokka and Joey at the Wadjemup / Rottnest Bakery, July 2026. A quokka and it's joey sitting in the shade at the Wadjemup / Rottnest Bakery. Roughly 450,000 to 500,000 people visit the island each year, largely for these animals.
2026 - Quokka with joey on Wadjemup / Rottnest Island, April 2026. A Quokka with joey on Wadjemup / Rottnest Island, Western Australia, along the upper section of the sea wall, which can be seen in the background. Quokkas are among the endemic mammals of the southwest, alongside the honey possum.
2026 - Kangaroo paw at Wireless Hill, August 2026. A kangaroo paw (anigozanthos manglesii) at Wireless Hill, Perth. About 22.13 percent of the region, some 109,445 square kilometres, is protected, and unevenly across its six ecoregions.
2026 - Quokka near Caroline Thomson Cabins, July 2026. A quokka near the Caroline Thomson Cabins on Wadjemup / Rottnest Island. Willem de Vlamingh took the quokkas for large rats in 1696, which is where the name Rottnest comes from.
2026-07-20 - What Actually Happens During Humpback Whale Migration | Evolutionary Wonders. Australian Geographic explains the mechanics of humpback whale migration. Western Australian humpbacks travel between Antarctic feeding grounds and warm northern calving waters. They feed little during the migration itself.
2026-07-29 - How an Aussie arborist became hooked on Carnaby's black cockatoos! | Gardening Australia. Gardening Australia follows an arborist working on Carnaby's black cockatoo habitat. The species needs both feeding shrubland and large hollow-bearing trees for nesting. Both are in decline across the southwest.