The Portuguese Man o' War

A Portuguese Man o' War

I went up to Turimetta beach to do some photography a few months ago and found a number of Blue Bottles, also known as the Portuguese Man o' War, washed up on shore. This is not unusual for a Sydney summer but I thought I'd take advantage of the light and the fact that the beach was deserted and decided to grab a few quick shots.

More Inside.

A Portuguese Man o' War

The Portuguese Man o' War is not a Jellyfish, it is a siphonophore. It's not actually a single creature, it is a colonial orgasm consisting of multiple small animals called zooids. Zooids are specialised and are attached to each other and are physiologically integrated to such an extent that they simply can't survive on their own. Large numbers of these animals get washed on to shore over the Australian summer and are responsible for a large number of human stings. The stings cause a lot of pain and leave red whip like marks on exposed skin. The sting can also trigger an allergic reaction but rarely cause deaths.

A Portugese Man o' War

I only had the 24 - 105mm lens with me at the time as I had set out to shoot some landscape shots. I shot at f/4 to get as shallow a depth of field as possible. The morning light was good at the time and I was able to shoot at 1/400th. I have not warmed up these images in post production, these shots are virtually straight out of the camera.

Scaly-breasted Munia

The Scaly-breasted Munia is a common bird found throughout Sri Lanka, ascending to the highlands where it may be seen in the same habitat as the endemic Black throated Munia. More info after the jump.

The Scaly-breasted Munia, also known as the Nutmeg Manikin or the Spice Finch, is a resident breeder in tropical southern Asia from India and Sri Lanka east to Indonesia and the Philippines. It has also been introduced to Puerto Rico where they are already widespread in lowland agricultural areas. It feeds on seeds and can been seen foraging on grasslands and crops and is therefore considered a pest.

A typical clutch consists of 4 - 10 eggs which are laid in an untidy and dome shaped nest. It will move into gardens to occupy suitable nesting habitats. They move around in restless flocks, seldom staying in one place for long. The sexes are similar, juveniles have light brown upper parts  and have uniform buff under parts.

I found a small flock of these birds near the Thalangama tank one morning. They were moving about in the undergrowth feeding on seeds in the grass when I came across them. They move around a lot and it took a bit of patience to capture the image above. The bird in the image perched on a stick and paused for a little while to look around before disappearing into the undergrowth. Fortunately there was enough time for me to lock focus and capture the image.