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Bénoué National Park
I'm a big fan of woodlands; OK, I like any natural habitat, but the openness of woodlands, along with their generally rich wildlife, makes for a great natural history experience. Generally you go to...
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On This Day, 1 August: Switzerland's National Day
Today, 1 August, marks the anniversary - according to tradition - of the founding of the Swiss Confederation in 1291 AD. It's a very long time since I paid a brief visit to that spectacular little...
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Hover Craft
Many years ago I was searching for the elusive Grey Honeyeater Conopophila whitei in mulga woodland near Alice Springs (not the first or last time I've tried - and failed - to find this notoriously...
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An Alphabet of Yellow Flowers
This is another in a periodic series on colours in nature, though it's now a while since I promised to wrap up the mini-series on yellow with a posting on yellow flowers. It seems that not a lot of...
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On This Day, 12 August: deathday of Samuel Goodenough
The Reverend Samuel Goodenough, Bishop of Carlisle, died in on this day in 1827. English botanist John Smith, co-founder with Goodenough of the Linnean Society of London in 1788, named the large...
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Darwin's Famous (Un)Finches
It was one of the thrills of my natural history life to get off the aircraft at Baltra Airport, an ex-military base in the midst of a typically Galápagos lava field, and suddenly realise that the...
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On This Day, 21 August; Augustus Gregory's birthday
Augustus Charles Gregory was born in England on this day in 1819, son of an army Lieutenant. Wounded, his father accepted a land grant in the new Swan River colony (now Western Australia, and...
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Magnificent Murchison (the Australian one!)
I have to specify that in the title, because elsewhere in the world people are likely to think of the superb Murchison Falls in Uganda - and they too will get a turn here in due course. I am prompted...
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This is not my usual natural history posting - in fact I'm still in Western Australia, about to start the 4000km drive home tomorrow. I don't have time or facilities for a 'real' posting, but events...
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Crossing the Nullarbor
It's nice to be back writing a post after a solid - but exhilarating - month's work in the south-west of far-off Western Australia, including an 8000 km return drive there and back. Part of that drive...
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Living on the Nullarbor
In the last posting I waffled enthusiastically about the wonderful Nullarbor Plain, and summarised the drive across in terms of the physical environments and vegetation encountered. Needless to say...
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On This Day, 8 October; birth of William Swainson - parrot and goose
William Swainson, a passionate and skilled English naturalist and artist, was born on this day in 1789. Unfortunately his passion seemed to blind him to his own limits at crucial points of his career,...
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When Nature Satirises Art...
The view from over the fence of a very fancy and pricey-looking winery-cum-conference centre in the Margaret River area of far south-western Western Australia.Whether this Little Black Cormorant...
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Refugio Paz de las Aves; a good news ecotourism story
Ecuador is a wonderful destination for anyone who cares about nature, and it seems that the government actually realises this. One of the wonderful things about the country to me is that it has an...
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Fifty Shades of Red
Not really one of my intermittent series on colours in nature - though I'll come back for another of those soon enough - but rather in the footsteps of an earlier posting wherein I explored some of the...
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Australian Bird Names; a new book
I don't generally advertise here, but I thought my new book - co-authored with friend, colleague and linguist Jeannie Gray - might be of interest to those who read this blog. It's been out for a little...
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Oddbills 4
Another in a sporadic series on more-than-usually remarkable bird bills; here's the link to the previous one in the series (and through it to earlier ones). As on that occasion, you get a special offer...
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Olive Pink Botanic Gardens; legacy of a remarkable woman
I'm just back from Ecuador - at least corporally, the whereabouts of my brain is more problematic - but any postings arising from that trip will have to wait until I've had a chance to process photos....
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Enter Olinguito
One of my very first postings in this blog asked the question "When is a REALLY lousy photo OK?". My suggested answer to the question then was "when it's the only way to properly tell a story that I...
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The 'Other' Flamingoes
I think it's fair to say that, for most people, flamingoes suggest Africa, and with pretty good cause. Even if only gleaned from the telly, most of us have pretty powerful mind images of millions of...
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