A group of Alpine Dingoes
Female Alpine Dingo walking past
Canon EOS R5 Mk II with a Canon RF 100-500mm f/4.5-7.1 L IS USM Zoom [ISO 500, 500mm, f/8.0 and 1/1600])
In late September, I was again visiting the lovely Namadgi National Park to photograph the Alpine Dingoes (Canis lupus dingo). However, this time, I was heading to a slightly different location, where I had often seen dingoes transiting through, including a pied dingo. I really want to get a good photograph of the face of a pied dingo, because the orange eyes agains the black fur looks stunning. I love photographing all the dingoes, but that shot is definitely one that I want to capture.
Female with not much of a winter coat
Canon EOS R5 Mk II with a Canon RF 100-500mm f/4.5-7.1 L IS USM Zoom [ISO 1250, 500mm, f/8.0 and 1/500])
My car thermometer was reading -2° Celsius when I pulled up, and there was a dusting of frost on the ground. Walking in, I saw a female with not much of a winter coat. She was heading in the opposite direction from me and didn’t change her route as she trotted past. She was not one that I recognised from previous photographs that I have taken.
Pied female
Canon EOS R5 Mk II with a Canon RF 100-500mm f/4.5-7.1 L IS USM Zoom [ISO 1600, 500mm, f/8.0 and 1/500])
When I finally arrived at my location on top of a slope, just short of the treeline on the west side of the valley, I set myself up in an open area so that the dingoes would be able to see me and decide how close they wanted to approach. It was about 7AM when I noticed a dingo heading towards me further down in the valley. The valley floor was still foggy but it was slightly clearer where I was. The dingo was a pied female. I’m not sure if she smelt me or saw me, but even though she was still about 150m from me, she looked straight at me and sat down. She only sat down for a few minutes before she crossed a creek and soak area, then continued, which was along the way I regularly see dingoes moving, heading north on the western side of the valley. As she moved, she kept on a direction that would take her past me, and she occasionally looked towards me. When she was almost opposite me, she sat down facing me. While sitting, she would look at me, but also back down to the valley, almost like she was waiting for more dingoes to arrive. Because she looked settled where she was, I tried edging towards her, but she backed away. After a little while, she headed back down the slope that we were on, towards the creek and soak area that she had crossed previously. Before getting to the creek, she disappeared into the tree line and I thought that she had gone, but about ten minutes later she reappeared. A couple of times she looked like she had found something to eat, pushing her snout into a hole invisible to me, occasionally digging at something. Although I never saw her come up with an animal. She eventually moved back across the creek and laid down, appearing to fall asleep. I still hadn’t moved from my original spot but I thought that since she was asleep I would carefully try getting closer, very slowly. I was amazed at her senses because when I moved, she sat up again, and I was still about 150m away from her. While she was sitting there, two other dingoes arrived.
Male Alpine Dingo watching me from about 150m away
Canon EOS R1 with a Canon RF 200-800mm F6.3-9 IS USM Lens [ISO 1000, 800mm, f/9.0 and 1/1600])
The two dingoes were a male in the lead and a female following him. The male, appeared to pick me visually from about 150m away, but headed down to the creek and soak area. He moved around that area, before heading back the way that he had come and I lost sight of him, while I was also trying to keep a watch on the other two dingoes.
Female lying down
Canon EOS R5 Mk II with a Canon RF 100-500mm f/4.5-7.1 L IS USM Zoom [ISO 500, 500mm, f/8.0 and 1/1600])
Female Alpine Dingo
Canon EOS R5 Mk II with a Canon RF 100-500mm f/4.5-7.1 L IS USM Zoom [ISO 500, 500mm, f/8.0 and 1/1600])
My last photo of her
Canon EOS R5 Mk II with a Canon RF 100-500mm f/4.5-7.1 L IS USM Zoom [ISO 500, 500mm, f/8.0 and 1/1600])
The female was following the male, but at first stayed away from the creek. She had noticed me as well. She initially sat down and howled, although neither the male or pied female responded. I have included a clip below of her howling. Although neither of the other two dingoes responded to the howling, the pied female did start moving again. She headed into the soak area and I lost sight of her in the long grass. The female who had been howling explored around the creek area, before crossing it and heading a little bit up the slope that I was on. In reviewing my photographs in the camera, I realised that this was the same female that I regularly see, although about a kilometre away from where I was currently was; not that a kilometre is that far for a dingo. I had stepped behind some foliage when I saw her coming up, and I am sure that she paused to look around the slope before moving forward. Eventually she saw me, and while she didn’t rush away, she slowly made her way back across the creek area. Once there she howled again, about three or four times, but the other dingoes had gone and I didn’t hear a response. She settled down, even lying down where she was.
I managed to record the female dingo howling, and it was the most that I had heard her howl. My understanding is that only the alpha female howls and that is part of a bonding mechanism with the alpha male, but I didn’t hear a dingo respond, even though there was a male with her. A male that I believe I have seen in her company before. These recordings are two separate bouts of howling. In the first, she howls about three or four times, but I only captured one howl. A few minutes later, she does the same thing and I capture her howls. Unfortunately, I was only using the camera’s built-in microphone so the quality is not that great.
She was still lying down when I started heading home. I made my way around her and the shots above were from that period. After a little while, she stood up and howled again, about six or seven times, without any response. She slowly walked back in the direction that I had just come, and occasionally turned to look at me. She headed into the long grass growing on the soak and I lost sight of her.
It had been another wonderful morning with the dingoes. While I hadn’t got the shot of the pied female that I wanted, it was wonderful seeing a group of them, even if it was just three. They seemed very calm around me, noted by the sitting and sleeping. Their sense of sight was a bit of a revelation, noting how they all focused on me from about 150m away. Still, as a predator, they probably need to have good sight for hunting. It was also interesting to see that both females sat to watch me for a little while, before heading in my general direction. I didn’t feel threatened by them, only that they were moving into my vicinity and keeping an eye on me. These are truly beautiful creatures and every time that I am see them, I am so thankful that they can continue to exist safely in Namadgi National Park.
