OCSN Photo Gallery
This page features photos and videos by OCSN members. Contributions are welcome! Please send your contribution as an email attachment to oberon.citizen.science@gmail.com
If you click on an image it will be displayed in a larger lightbox format. Groups of related images are displayed as a lightbox gallery so that you can flip between them without closing the lightbox.
Lava blocks on a beach in Devonport – Darren Miner
Darren Miner writes about this photo:
I was in Devonport last week, took some lovely beach photos, one of my favourites are these small blocks of lava, from when Australia separated from Africa and Asia about 140 myo (million years ago).
Australian eucalyptus longhorn beetle larvae – Kyla Ries
Kyla Ries contributed these beautiful macro photos:
I found this yesterday whilst splitting wood in O’Connell. Wood is from Queensland. I thought it might be a moth larvae, like a bogong moth or giant wood moth but after seeking advice through some entomology groups it seems it is a longhorn beetle larvae. Most likely a native Australian eucalyptus longhorn beetle. It’s fascinating what you find when you take time and look.
Rakali (Australian native water rat) caught on camera in Stone Creek, O’Connell – Kyla Ries
A recent article published by ABC News on the rakali, and a call for citizen scientists to log sightings of it, is available here. This is something which OCSN should promote and get involved in!
In this second video, watch towards the end for a flash of the rakali’s white tail on the left of the video.
Platypus in the upper Duckmaloi River – Tim Churches
Here is a platypus captured at twilight on 24 August 2024 in the upper reaches of the Duckmaloi River, in Chatham Valley, just a few kilometres downstream from its headwaters. Observed for about a minute but only managed to capture a few seconds of video. The river is in partial flood.
Yellow-footed antechinus, Chatham Valley – Tim Churches
Almost certainly a yellow-footed antechinus spotted in our orchard/raspberry patch (no, not a graveyard) video surveillance footage (under surveillance for wallabies eating the plants). The body shape and snout are not right for a rat, nor is the very long tail with a black tip, and it moves with a slight hopping motion. Surprisingly little is known about the various antechinus species, which are no longer very common.
Antechinus at entrance to a wombat burrow in 2021, Chatham Valley – Tim Churches
Note the round, bi-lobed ears, the forward-facing eyes and the hopping motion. Not a rat or a mouse. The white thing is a wombat mange treatment flap – it pours cydectin insecticide on the back of the wombat as it passes underneath, at least in theory. We found they worked maybe 10% of the time, but that was enough to cure our wombat population of mange over the course of about 6 months of weekly or bi-weekly treatments.
Echidna trains in Duckmaloi – Sue George
A wonderful series of trail cam videos of echidna trains captured by Sue George in August 2024, in the depth of winter, at Duckmaloi.
Platypus caught on time lapse camera, upper Duckmaloi River – Tim Churches
Immediate success with my new Brinno TLC300 timelapse camera (a birthday present from my sons but available for OCSN use). On the very first deployment it captured a platypus in the first 10 minutes, but a bit far away. This video is from two days later. Air temperature was -4.5 degress C at 5:30-6:30am when it was captured. You can see its wake as it moves right to left (travelling down stream), then it cruises along the bank in the bottom left of the frame, then does something right underneath the camera, but (damn it) just out of frame, then it swims off down stream again. Best viewed in HD resolution on a a large screen, you can see it resurfacing every 10 or 15 metres. At the end of the video are some magnified edits of it swimming along the bank just near the camera. The camera will be redeployed to another pond a few hundred metres up stream.
A whole week of platypus and rakali surveillance using a time lapse camera, upper Duckmaloi River – Tim Churches
Further to the platypus detections in the video above, the same Brinno TLC300 camera was redeployed about 150 metres upstream, with a view down stream to where the original set of time lapse images were captured. The camera was set to run every evening from 4pm until after dark, one frame every second. It was left there for an entire week. The video here shows all the platypus and rakali sightings in the course of that week of twilight filming. Notably, the platypus, or possible multiple platypuses, are always heading upstream at twilight, whereas in the previous video, they or it appeared to be heading downstream at dawn. A better camera, with better low-light or night-vision performance and the ability to capture over multiple schedules each day is needed – various DIY solutions are being trialled. The camera will be redeployed to yet another pond a few hundred metres up stream.
This video is best viewed in full screen mode at HD resolution.
Platypuses in the upper Duckmaloi River in flood – Tim Churches
Another time-lapse video, using the same Brinno TLC300 camera at 1 frame per second, redeployed a further 50 metres upstream, with a view down stream to where the two sets of time lapse videos above were captured. On the first day of surveillance, the river is at its normal level, but on the second day it is in partial flood, and platypuses can be observed zooming downstream as well as struggling upstream against the strong current.
This video is best viewed in full screen mode at HD resolution.
Platypus and rakali party, upper Duckmaloi River – Tim Churches
Yet another time-lapse video, the last for a month or so, using the same Brinno TLC300 camera at 1 frame per second, this time deployed about 50 metres downstream from the first video above, and about 150-200m from the later videos above. This section is heavily infested with willow trees, alas. The video includes all the platypus and rakali sightings forom a whole week of surveillance between 5:30pm and 8pm AEDT each day - so from before dusk to complete darkness. Most of teh action happens just before night falls, after 7:30 pm (sunset was at about 7pm), which is right at the limit of the modest low-light capabilities of the Brinno camera. The highlight of this video are two platypuses which are are seen interacting with each other, and a rakali is seen exiting and returning to its burrow in the river bank.
This video is best viewed in full screen mode at HD resolution.
Some stunning macrophotography shots of local insects – Al Sheehan
Some great macro photography by OCSN member and secretary Al Sheehan taken on his propoerty a bit south of Oberon township towards Edith.
Click on an image to see it full-screen – you can then flick quickly between images in each series using the arrows on the left and right.
