Scott Contini's Nature Photography

Below is a sample of a few of my better nature pictures from SydneyNature.Com. The website contains pictures from a few people, but only pictures taken by me are shown here! I also have a Flickr photo collection which includes non-nature pictures. I am currently a B-grade photographer in the Ryde Eastwood Leagues Club Camera Club, but I am determined to make it to A-grade next year.

Superb Fairy Wrens

These tiny birds are among my favourites. The male is in blue and the female is brownish. This is undoubtedly the best photo I have ever taken.

Eastern Spinebill

Another cute, small bird that is hard to photograph -- they generally avoid humans. They love to feed on the nectar from flowers. The narrow, curved beak fits into small tubular flowers, though they also feed on bigger flowers (as you can see).

Grey Butcherbird

Grey Butcherbirds like to eat insects and meat. These medium size birds are a bit timid around humans. Although the appearance may seem bland compared to the birds above, what makes them particularly special is their harmonious whistling song. A male and female couple will sing together in a duet: first one starts the song, then the other continues it, then the original one finishes it.

Prickly Leatherjacket

This seems to be a rare fish. I photographed him at the Chowder Bay shark net. He had no fear of me at all -- I think he thought I couldn't see him because of his natural camouflage. So I was able to get very close. Lucky me to get a decent shot: I have not seen this fish anywhere again so far!

Clovelly's Blue Groper

This is Sydney's most famous fish, named "Bluey". He lives in Clovelly Bay -- Sydney's favourite snorkelling location. The fish is more than a meter long, and is often followed by the smaller fishes (called "mados") that feed on the scraps of food that escape Bluey's mouth.

Octopus

If you know what to look for, you can often find an octopus or two in the shallow water of Clovelly. These are some of my favourite sea creatures. They are really amazing the way they can instantly change their colours and assume just about any skin pattern that you can imagine. This ability makes them a master of camouflage.

Nudibranchs

There are two of them in this picture. The amazing patterns and colours (sorry, the pictured ones are only black and white) on these tiny sea slugs makes them a favourite among divers. I'm not sure how many of these divers are aware that you can often find them simply by snorkelling in very shallow water in places like Clovelly Bay.

Goanna

Ain't she a beauty, mate? This one was well over a meter and a half long from head to tail.

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