iconophilia » NATURAL HISTORY

Intrepid whale watchers

Nigel — Thu, 22 Jul 2010 23:32:49 +0000

discover that The Saint Effect has expired…

camouflage and/or symbiosis

Nigel — Thu, 17 Jun 2010 20:04:18 +0000

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

li-chen. noun 1. any complex organism of the group Lichenes, composed of a fungus in symbiotic union with an alga and having a greenish, gray, yellow, brown, or blackish thallus that grows in leaflike, crustlike, or branching forms on rocks, trees, or Ford Anglias.

And special thanks to Sharon Peoples who has lent me the fantastic Thames and Hudson/Imperial War Museum (2007) publication Camouflage by Tim Newark. This you must see.

two rares at the same time

Nigel — Fri, 23 Apr 2010 00:51:57 +0000

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

vomit bags ready?

Nigel — Mon, 19 Apr 2010 07:05:00 +0000

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.

going, going, gone…

Nigel — Sat, 27 Feb 2010 00:13:11 +0000

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.

and what’s wrong with this?

Nigel — Fri, 26 Feb 2010 22:58:06 +0000

who’s a silly goose? the cuckoo’s nest conundrum

Nigel — Thu, 18 Feb 2010 19:15:48 +0000

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.

Milanesque Sustainability?

Nigel — Sun, 07 Feb 2010 01:11:27 +0000

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

lights! action! woof!

Nigel — Thu, 04 Feb 2010 19:00:34 +0000

Remember the evidenciary significance of the reflection in the eye in Twin Peaks? Well I’m not sharing the backstory here, and neither is The Sailor, whose sees all… (but please remember to turn off your flash if you wish to try this experiment at home).

Training Goanna

Nigel — Thu, 07 Jan 2010 18:50:09 +0000

We encourage the visitation of Goanna, the natural enemy of Snake. Goanna loves Egg. Spot Egg next to the bottom of Rope in the picture below…

It’s too easy to just leave Egg on the ground, says Pammy Faye. So for four days she left Egg on Bear’s floating flotsam before she relented and built a bridge.

It worked! Using the scent glands in his tongue, Goanna found the first Egg at the base of the bridge, crossed the bridge, stole the second Egg, and then took the third Egg without the bridge!

Now Goanna makes his own bridge!