Another Magnetic Island resident, the Glasswing is a butterfly I have seen in bushland an hour’s drive inland from Townsville but not in the city itself. The translucent wings are unusual (I only know one similar butterfly, the Clearwing Swallowtail) and attractive.
More pics on Flickr, here and nearby.
Tag: Magnetic Island
A spectacular grasshopper
I have never seen these on the mainland but there were obviously quite a lot of them on Magnetic Island. This one (with a lot of friends and relations) was near the old car ferry terminal at Arcadia, and I saw another at Picnic Bay.
I have seen photos of some beautifully coloured grasshoppers from the far north and west of Australia (e.g. Orange grasshopper and Litchfield’s Grasshopper, Kakadu) but I never realised that we had anything comparable here.
I would say this guy made my day, except that it was already a great day – sunshine, beaches and a long weekend ahead of us … when life is this good we should notice and remember it.
Magnetic Island interlude
We took advantage of the Easter break to visit Magnetic Island, just half an hour by ferry from Townsville – close enough that quite a few people live on the Island and work in town. Most of the island is National Park, with just a few mini-suburbs (Picnic Bay, Arcadia, Nelly Bay, Horseshoe Bay) around the southern and eastern coast.
This skink was visiting the sign outside our cabin, possibly in search of ants. Looking at the photo afterwards I noticed some tiny eggs glued to the sign. I have no idea what they are. (As usual, clicking on the photos will get you a better view.)
We were only on the island for 24 hours and it was dark, of course, for half of that time, but I managed to return home with a couple of hundred photographs; I will post the best of them here as I get them sorted out.