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Shoalhaven Heads Native Botanic Gardens; an unsuspected little gem
It's not often that I 'find' a new native botanic gardens in my (extended) back yard, but I did last week. Lou's parents live in Nowra, in the hinterland of the New South Wales south coast, some 15km...
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On the Wave of a Crest; birds with very fancy coiffures
A little while ago we'd been gaping at some particularly impressive bird head adornments, and my muse said "well, why not do a blog on them?". Why not indeed? I do quite a lot of more 'serious'...
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On the Wave of a Crest #2; more birds with very fancy coiffures
Last time I introduced a range of birds with handsome crests ranging from the outrageous to the understated; all of them also bore names describing or alluding to their headware. Today I'm going to...
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Red and Green; the colours of Christmas
Red and green, juxtaposed, have become closely associated with Christmas, I suspect because of the widespread European use of holly foliage and berries as decorations. While there have been modern...
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Farewell to 2018!
Continuing my tradition of recent years, to mark the changeover of years I've selected just one photo from each month of 2018. As ever I don't make any pretences to photographic excellence, but have...
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Pousada Aguapé; a Brazilian wildlife extravaganza
A year ago I posted a two-part blog on the superb Pantanal, the vast ephemeral wetland lying in south-western Brazil (and overflowing into neighbouring Bolivia and Paraguay). At that stage I'd only...
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Pousada Aguapé; a Brazilian wildlife extravaganza #2
This is the conclusion of an exploration of the wildlife wonders of the southern Pantanal, as encapsulated by the fazenda (a working cattle property) on which stands the comfortable lodge Pousada...
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Reconsidering Kangaroos #1
It's been some four years since I posted on kangaroos and in the meantime our understanding of the relationships of different kangaroo groups to each other have changed considerably, so it's probably...
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Reconsidering Kangaroos #2
This post follows my most recent one, which introduced the kangaroo family and explored the 'main line' of kangaroos and wallabies, the ones with which we're most familiar.But the family is much more...
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North Queensland's Crater Lakes NP; a special rainforest remnant
We recently spent ten memorable days in tropical north Queensland in the summer Wet Season. Some friends made little pretence of their belief that we were mad, but it was rich and wonderful - and as it...
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Happy National Eucalpyt Day!
You mean you didn't know?! Well I admit that it's hardly a long-established tradition (yet) but on the other hand I didn't invent it. It goes back to someone you may not have heard of either -...
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Kingfisher Park; a tropical birders' icon
As I've said before, if I devote a post to a commercial natural history establishment you can be sure that's it's one that I believe well warrants your attention, both for what they offer and for their...
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New World Vultures; something entirely different
Pretty much wherever you go in South America (and a fair bit of North America too I understand) there seems to be a vulture (or several) overhead, or just loafing about. Turkey Vulture Cathartes aura,...
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Tarangire National Park; an underrated Tanzanian treasure #1
We're just back from a scintillating five weeks in Tanzania, Kenya and South Africa, and of course I'll be sharing some of its delights with you in the coming months. It was my first time east of...
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Tarangire National Park; an underrated Tanzanian treasure #2 - birds
Today I want to complete my introduction to the wonderful but under-appreciated Tarangire National Park in northern Tanzania which, as I explained in part 1, undeservedly seems to live in the shadow of...
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An Orchid Alphabet
I am writing this post in the depths of Canberra winter, thinking longingly of the coming spring. And when I think of spring I also inevitably think of orchids. In anticipation of that I've put...
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Terania Creek; a significant 40th anniversary
This month marks the fortieth anniversary of what is very arguably the birth of the modern Australian environmental protest movement, when citizens put their bodies in the way of bulldozers and police...
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Superb Costa Rica - an introduction
I had long wanted to see something of Central America, and in particular Costa Rica, and very recently we had the opportunity to do so in the form of a reconnaissance trip preparatory to taking a group...
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Superb Costa Rica - some other animals
Last time I introduced you to Costa Rica, a truly remarkable little country in Central America, at the very southern tip of North America. After looking at some key habitats we met some of the...
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North Coast Regional Botanic Garden, Coffs Harbour
In 2018 Australian Geographic magazine surveyed 100 Australian regional botanic gardens, and produced a list of its top ten (though without sharing its criteria). Over the years I've featured such...
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