Melbourne is the capital of the Australian state of Victoria. So I went to the zoo.

The Healesville Sanctuary is a zoo that specializes in Australian native animals. It was a 90-minute drive, but I wanted a chance to take photos of some animals. We started right from the entrance with koalas. Or, I tried. Koala only eat eucalyptus leaves, so the zoo had a stationary striped tree in the exhibit with metal “vases” that the feeder placed eucalyptus branches into.

But the darn koala knew exactly where we were and did not give a money shot.

Oh, well. I still have my 2019 image.

Down the path there were a group of echidna, which are kind of a thick-quilled porcupine. They were quite shy, but finally one visited it’s food dish. I still couldn’t get rid of all the glass reflection. I grew concerned about my chances today.

We rushed to the “Spirit of the Sky” bird show. This was in the open, not within a cage or large net. I pulled out the big-lens camera for this, and I’m happy with the results.

First to visit was the Umbrella Cockatoo.

Our next guest was a red-tailed black cockatoo. I’ve never seen a parrot-like bird with gold specks.

To me, the pink cockatoo stole the show.

However, the eclectus parrot is very colorful.

There were wild magpies in the show grounds, so the zoo bird handlers were not comfortable bringing out the raptors. Didn’t need have the circle of life in front of school children.

They finished the show with the white cockatoo saying thank you.

After the show I wondered around for more birds. All of them were within enclosures where they could mostly fly around – some of which I could walk thru. They have some very colorful birds in Australia.

There are many night-active animals and the zoo had buildings designed to view them in darkness. I saw my first platypus. However, I had no chance with taking pictures in such an environment. This includes Tasmanian Devils. I did get a sleeping wombat, tho.

They had a diamond python almost hiding in the branches.

The wallaby and kangaroo were playing hard to get.

While many animals were shy, this Maned Duck was down-right proud.

Finally, here is an Ibis. Many in Australia call this a “bin chicken”, as they are often seen searching for food in garbage cans.

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Overall a good excursion. I have no idea how to take decent pictures in the dark rooms that have red backlight, with animals behind reflecting glass and many under water. No flashes were allowed, and they’d just bounce off the glass anyway. I’ll ask the internet.