THERE REALLY is no end to the fascination that can grip you once you start to examine the lives of birds. Of course not one single organism lives in a vacuum, everything is pressured in so many ways by the behaviour and activities of other species and all must find ways to respond to threats [...]
IS THERE ANY DOUBT in any nature lover’s mind that the Spotted Pardalote is among the most engaging, beautiful and sweet of Australia’s bird life? For many birders, that’s all they need to know: that they can go out into the bush just about anywhere on Tasmania or the east coast, south coast and lower [...]
MOST GROUPS or genera within the Sandpiper family have the remarkable ability to “see” what is beneath the mud or sand where they seek out the invertebrate prey (macrobenthic organisms) which lives there. Of course they don’t use their eyes for this task, they have a highly sensitive bill tip which helps them feel their [...]
WE’VE ALL WATCHED those nature doco’s where the large predator (generally a large cat, wolf or shark) takes its prey and immediately understand that an animal which didn’t measure up was taken. Perhaps it was not fit enough in some way. Perhaps it was young and dumb. Perhaps it was old and feeble. Whatever traits the prey [...]
The other day I was pondering how so many organisms are simply an alimentary canal with a sphincter called a “mouth” at one end and another sphincter called an “anus” at the other (I’m frequently given to pondering such uncomfortable realities when out driving). Everything else is just window dressing, the result of Natural Selection, as Richard [...]
WITHIN THE NEXT SIX WEEKS all of the Pacific Golden Plover and most of the Red-necked Stints, Ruddy Turnstone and Grey-tailed Tattlers on Long Reef will have commenced their migration. We are now into the time of the year when we can expect to see breeding plumage appear and the waders putting on weight as [...]
We all know the story of Charles Darwin and we’ve no doubt been hearing plenty of the life and theory of this pigeon fancier and barnacle and orchid expert in the days leading up to the occasion of the 200th anniversary of the great man’s birth. This is my offering of praise and gratitude.
Hitting the [...]
To quote the great Edward O Wilson, biologist, entomologist, theorist, naturalist and author: “The totality of life, known as the biosphere to scientists . . . is a membrane of organisms wrapped around the Earth so thin it cannot be seen edgewise from a space shuttle, yet so internally complex that most species composing it [...]
WHEN YOU GRAB a pair of bins and maybe a scope and head out the door, you’re generally unlikely to be disappointed and today was no exception. I’ve been experiencing a number of difficulties counting the waders on Long Reef this summer, as the birds are behaving differently to previous years and conditions have often [...]
| M | T | W | T | F | S | S |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| « Dec | ||||||
| 1 | 2 | 3 | 4 | 5 | ||
| 6 | 7 | 8 | 9 | 10 | 11 | 12 |
| 13 | 14 | 15 | 16 | 17 | 18 | 19 |
| 20 | 21 | 22 | 23 | 24 | 25 | 26 |
| 27 | 28 | 29 | 30 | |||
