Entries Tagged 'NATURAL HISTORY' ↓

There’s not much you’re allowed to photograph in the Ngaanyatjarra Lands. But there’s no love lost for the feral camels that were culled last year  following the invasions of local communities. Remember the uproar last Christmas when there was a camel plague Docker River? See here. This is where the remains of the cull were cremated. And there are still millions out there. Seriously.

In this variation on kiss-a-baby politics. Read all about it on the ABC here. Missed it? Go here.

discover that The Saint Effect has expired…

camouflage. noun 1. 1917, from Fr. camoufler, Parisian slang, “to disguise,” from It. camuffare “to disguise,” perhaps a contraction of capo muffare “to muffle the head.” Probably altered by Fr. camouflet “puff of smoke,” on the notion of “blow smoke in someone’s face.” I’m sure this isn’t what Gordon Bennett intended?

And then I wondered, there must be somewhere better than this window-sill for a moth to hang out, relax… which reminded me of

A black-faced cuckoo-shrike and female satin bower bird cross paths in the tree outside my office a moment ago!

I nearly titled this post “dog p*rn”. And then I realized I’d be attracting the wrong kind of dog-lovers: if you’re brave, go here at the NYT.

Only last month a single bluefin sold at auction in Japan for more than US$175,000. Writes David Ritter on Unleashed… Read and be very afraid.

Of course, when you think about it, the cuckoo’s laughing. For starters, one can’t fly over a cuckoo’s nest if they don’t exist. And just how many years has it taken this (Australian) Iconophile to work that one out? According to the all-knowing Wiki, the famous quintuple Academy Award winning film’s title is derived from an (American) children’s rhyme:

“Vintery, mintery, cutlery, corn,
Apple seed and apple thorn,
Wire, briar, limber lock
Three geese in a flock
One flew East
One flew West
And one flew over the cuckoo’s nest.”

This Common Koel (a member of the cuckoo family) doesn’t understand our problem. Let me explain. We have learnt three crucial things about the Koel in the last few months. One is its very annoying wake-up call. The Koel migrates to Canberra in the spring time. One day it starts calling at 4.00 am and then it continues without pause for three months or so. Second, when you are finally of a mind to silence it, it becomes invisible, it resorts to its powers of ventriloquy, and continues to drill its penetrating call right through your semiconscious brainbox, from who-knows-where. Evil to the core, we suspect it uses this capacity to focus a wall of sound to drive other birds from their nests. Then (third point), in its own sneaky cuckoo way, having outsourced its rearing responsibilities to our local wattlebirds (fat baby Koel is peeping continuously in the trees in our front garden as I write this story) the mother hangs around to make sure the foster parents do the right thing! So yesterday we saw the mother in the same bush watching the wattlebirds feed her very chubby progeny. Holidays are over. Handover day is nigh. Time to collect junior.

Sociological Metaphor Tags: Anthropomorphism. Unethical Behaviour. Bad parenting. Cross-species exploitation. Excess sugar in the diet. Childhood training.

Trees in fiberglass Fiat-shaped planters? Only in Milan. Thanks to Neil and Karina for the lead…