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The Australian National Botanic Gardens Revisited; exciting developments
I introduced our National Botanic Gardens, to me the pick of our national institutions, early last year in a couple of postings, beginning here. At around that time an exciting and ambitious plan was...
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As You Lake It
Having a couple of other matters demanding attention at the moment (ones more related to earning a living than is writing a blog post!), I thought to take the easy way out and just offer you some...
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Thinking Pinkly #2 - other animals
This topic, another in my intermittent series on colours in nature, began here, with birds. After an interruption last week I'm continuing it now by looking at other pink animals - though I've spent...
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Thinking Pinkly #3 - flowers
Unlike the pink situation with animals, I am almost overwhelmed with choice for pink flowers to share with you. I was going to prune severely and just offer one posting but further thought suggested...
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On This Day, 28 July; Peruvian Independence Day, Cocha Salvador
On this day in 1821 the Argentine General José de San MartÃn, having led the Army of the Andes (comprising Chileans and Argentinians) to victory in Lima over the last significant Spanish stronghold in...
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Thinking Pinkly #4 - pink glow from the west
Continuing with a celebration of pink flowers - see my last posting for the start of it, including some thoughts on the nature of pinkness in flowers. On going through my pictures I was struck by how...
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Thinking Pinkly #5 - orchids in the pink
To conclude this series on pink in nature, and just in time for Christmas, I can't think of a better way than to indulge myself - and hopefully you - by revelling in some pink orchids. If you've just...
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Farewell to 2014!
Continuing an old tradition (well OK, 12 months old...), I'm going to celebrate the last day of 2014 by selecting just one photo taken in each month of the year. I never make any claims of artistry or...
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Thoughts of Waza: part 1
This posting is in memory of a place that I had the fortune to visit a few years ago - a fortune that will not be shared by other western visitors for a long time to come, it would sadly seem. My...
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Thoughts of Waza; part 2
This completes a posting I began here earlier in the week. I'd always meant to feature Waza National Park in the far north of Cameroon at some stage, following a visit in 2008, but I was prompted to do...
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I Come, I Soar, I Conquer
It's been a while now since I waxed lyrical about the amazing spin-off of flight called hovering. It is an extraordinary achievement, but there is another extreme to flying that only a very few species...
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Kurrajongs and Bottle Trees
With a title like that you might reasonably suspect a joke on my part, but in fact this is the latest in my sporadic series on favourite trees; you can find the most recent instalment here and find...
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Northern Territory Wildlife Park; the wild side
Having just returned from a week and a bit based in Darwin at the very northern end of central Australia (and having organised my photos) it's inevitable that this wonderful tropical part of the world...
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A Busy Umbrella Tree; Darwin Museum
When we're in tropical Darwin (capital of Australia's Northern Territory - see here for a map) we always make a point of popping into the Museum and Art Gallery of the Northern Territory. Of course one...
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On This Day 9 February: Francis Cadell born
As I've mentioned before, one of the many things that fascinates me about this wonderful world is the persistence of relic species in habitats that have survived in special situations when the world...
View ArticleHousekeeping; updating some earlier postings
This may be of little interest to anybody, but I find constantly that people are visiting older postings, so I thought I'd skim through them and update as required. Mostly this means replacing pictures...
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On This Day, 15th February: Archibald Menzies died
The moral of this story, if any, is perhaps that you don't want to annoy an amorous Musk Duck. Archibald Menzies did.Male Musk Duck Biziura lobata, south of Canberra.This striking duck is the only...
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Bluetongues; Australia's favourite lizards
OK, so maybe that's a provocative title, but the mere fact that a large number of Australians would know immediately what you meant by bluetongue, or even just bluey, is indicative. The six Australian...
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Pacha Quindi: a very special place
In Quichua, the language once spoken by the Incas and still spoken by many indigenous Ecuadorians, Pacha Quindi means 'place of the hummingbirds'. It's not hard to see why Tony Nunnery and Barbara Bolz...
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Where'd a Bird Be, Without Alulae?
Answer - crashing, mostly.We'd have no trouble, I think, in recognising the essential role in flight of the great driving flight feathers (remiges) or the steering, braking tail feathers (rectrices)....
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