... are in fine feather at this time of year. Hundreds of them were resting in the shallows at Hastie's Swamp (near Atherton) this morning. Their white plumes looked almost ceremonial.
133rd Carnival of Space
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The 133rd edition of the Carnival of Space is up at Next Big Future. You
know what to do. Click there and read all the cool blog posts, I mean. I
guess you...
Local Cackling Goose
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Over the past few weeks, large numbers of Canada Geese have been
accumulating in Donaldson Park, my local patch. I have consistently seen
over 500 at a tim...
Best of our wild blogs: 17 Dec 09
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Octopus behaviour from Compressed air junkie Coppersmith Barbet excavating a
cavity I from Bird Ecology Study Group Ocean acidification: the facts from
Pul...
Hare-walk shoes
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I’ve recently discovered snowshoeing. Our landlady and her family were big
outdoor recreationists, or at least one would be led to believe so by
looking at...
Cicadas of Tasmania
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Two other bloggers have recently posted on cicadas (here and here) so I thought I'd keep the theme going by posting some photos of a couple of local ones. F...
Looking south from the Key Bridge
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[image: KeyBridgeSouth]
I took this picture from near the D.C. side of the (Francis Scott) Key
Bridge last Friday.
The water passing under the bridge is, o...
Back from the ESA meeting!
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I’m back from the ESA conference, and will be parceling out reports on the
cool research I saw over the next couple of weeks. I also will have a
special g...
7 Great Reasons to Buy a Book as a Christmas Gift
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At this time of year we're surrounded by Christmas decorations, fake trees,
the pile of cards we haven't had time to send yet, and the gift list we
haven't...
Diarrhoea and Aids for Christmas
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Last year I ran into Ariane Sherine. She had found that no charity would
publicly take money from a book written by atheists at Christmas, since
Christians...
Knot Wednesday: The Bowline
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One of the most useful knots to know for a marine scientist and generally
anyone around boats. The name derives its name from its often use in
attaching a...
2009 SalvaNATURA bird-a-thon results
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A record 336 species, with nearly all of the seven participating teams
recording over 100 species, was recorded on this year’s bird-a-thon in El
Salvador. ...
Willie doesn't give fig for Koel comfort
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Too handsome to deserve being called common, male Asian (formerly Common)
Koel (*Eudynamys scolopaceus*) hunches attractively in Tyto today as it
takes a ...
Steele Door
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[image: Steele Door]
I find the geometry of this image pleasing to my eye. The "Steele" referred
to the campaign poster for Kari Steele in the window.
Real World vs. Bible
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I’ve seen fossils of the ammonites, in lovely curving spirals,
I’ve seen children saved from certain death by modern antivirals,
I’ve seen salmon swim up wat...
Glimpsing memory traces in real time
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MEMORY is one of the biggest enduring mysteries of modern neuroscience, and
has perhaps been researchered more intensively than any other aspect of
brain...
Tool Academy
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The mainstream corporate science media is, to paraphrase Keith Olberman,
going “cuckoo for coconut octopodes.” A new paper in Current Biology shows
how th...
Baby Emus come to drink
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I meant to publish this post and the photos several months ago, but I was
distracted when writing my novel. When my son, daughter-in-law and new
grandson c...
Peter Parley's Tales of Animals
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[image: parleyfrontis.jpg]
Found on ebay: "Peter Parley's Tales of Animals, containing descriptions of
three hundred quadrupeds, birds, fishes, reptiles,...
Inskip Point This Afternoon
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I was out at Inskip Point this afternoon around low tide - approx. 2p.m.
There were huge numbers of Terns roosting out on the sand bank. I saw 3
major part...
December Edition! Sea Urchin Videos!!
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Today! Some Sea Urchin Videos! Enjoy!
A recent report by the Australian Broadcasting Corporation (ABC) on newly
created sea urchin barrens in Tasmania. Bas...
Cicada Shells
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My colleague, David Young, has recently posted about live Cicadas he has
seen. I subsequently was in Canberra, and came across a bunch of "shells" of
Cicad...
A No Man’s Land in Cyprus
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[The Independent]: Hares, birds and orchids: the casualties of peace in
Cyprus: It’s called the Green Line, but despite the name, it is a completely
accide...
Heyfield Birdwatchers - December '09
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G'day Bird Watchers,
A small group braved the coolish wind and the start of the 'silly season' to
have our final outing for the bird year at our spiritual ...
Variation in the species.
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I guess that while the main focus of a plant man is adding new species to
his tick list, another equally interesting sideline is finding flowering
plants t...
Proof of incomplete slackerdom
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Okay... I can see that I need to get home and get back to work so I have
linos to post here. My Googlejuice is suffering mightily!
As forecast, it IS raini...
Guam and Coqui
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A coqui frog was intercepted on a shipment of plants on its way into Guam
from Hawaii. Looks like the frog was caught at the border, so Guam for now
rema...
'In a moment overthrown'
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Darwin's first big theory wasn't evolution by natural selection, it was a
mechanism for the formation of coral reefs and atolls. The story of Darwin
and co...
Happy Chanukah, Y’all!
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In case you forgot, it’s the first night of Chanukah and out here on the
prairie that calls for a little celebration, some sweeter than usual wine
and – ye...
Fresh New Day – the first 100 days
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OOf – got there! We’ve managed to write and photo for the first 100 Fresh
New Days. There’ll be people out there who look at having achieved 100 days
of wr...
Counting birds, in theory
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Yesterday was BOCA's Challenge Bird Count and our team covered the usual
route around the Bellarine Peninsula. I don't know yet what our total number
of ...
Will be back after I unpack!
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Oh, and if you are curious about how it went... visit this. Ok, ok, that's
in Spanish, but maybe you manage to understand a little bit ;)
I did it!! THANK ...
SALE ON WILDFLOWER CARDS FOR CHRISTMAS!
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I have decided to put my wildflower cards on sale for Christmas. I have now
sold out of the older cards but am putting the set of 6 cards above on sale
for...
Cephalopod Inspired
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Looking for something invertebrate inspired to give for Christmas,
Cephalopodmas or Chanukah?
Noadi may very well have you covered. In her etsy store she h...
Sydney snorkel - Little Bay
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19 October 2009
After the not-so-satisfying snorkeling experience at Bare Island in the
morning, I went snorkeling at Little Bay in the afternoon and had a...
Vibrant Gould's Lagoon
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I've made a couple of 'pilgrimages' to Gould's Lagoon at Granton this week,
largely to get usable shots of Little Grassbirds. In the case of the
grassbird...
Home!
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I'm in Sydney! But don't worry, my journey is far from over. My vague plan
at this stage is to cross the Bass straight some time after Christmas, and
spend...
Sap and ... what?
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Spring is on the way, I guess, and I have photos to post ... when Blogger
decides to stop being on a go-slow. So the gum trees are getting excited,
and I k...
Changes
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I decided a couple of days ago that it might be time to look into some different blogging software for several reasons. I've been using MovableType ever sinc...
National Cymbidium Show - Melbourne
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Colin Gillespie's Stand
(note all the blue ribbons)
When a big show comes to town there is always a bit of a buzz in the air. I
have fond memories of ever...
My Blog's New URL!
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Attention Bill of the Birds readers and RSS feeders!
If you still have your browser pointed this (Blogger) version of Bill of the
Birds, please consider c...
The unlikeable character
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It's always hard having an unlikeable character as your protagonist. After
all, you want your readers to keep reading, right? So if your character is
unlik...
A Shark from the Detroit River
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Yes, that’s a bonnethead shark (Sphyrna tiburo) … and yes, that’s the
Detroit River. The photo was taken on July 21, 2006, by area resident
Richard Kik IV ...
Iron Turtle Award
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The fellows over at Deep-Sea News have put together something special as
part of The Great Turtle Race of 2009. In partnership with Conservation
Internati...
Moving Day
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The day has finally arrived. The new website is complete and the transfer
process can now begin. As nearly two years worth of blog content needs to be
pull...
5 comments:
Now THOSE are feathers!
G'day Bronwen,
Nice shots. Not many of them in Melbourne, hey?
Regards,
Gouldiae
Very decorative ducks, these fellows, Dave. Also quite noisy.
It is definitely different world, Gouldiae.
Great photos of lovely ducks. Makes you wonder how some male birds manage to fly with all their decorative feathers.
And these fellows do fly a lot too. At the slightest hint of something happening, they take to the air en masse.
I'm always amazed by birds with long and ornate tail feathers. At some point, they've got to be a real problem.
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