It’s a story almost too preposterous to believe, starring a group of young uni students, an infamous state premier, a legendary Australian poet and an extinct frog which gave birth by vomiting its young – all at the dawn of the Australian conservation movement. Yet the tale of the Southern Gastric-brooding Frog, which once inhabited […]
The poet, the premier and the frog Read More »
Momentum is building for a national ban on a popular yabby trap which drowns any air-breathing animal that can fit inside it, including the vulnerable Platypus. So-called opera house traps are a collapsible net with a funnel-shaped entry on each side. Neil Andison, who works as a Platypus tour guide in Maleny on the Sunshine
Push to ban platypus “death trap” Read More »
In March, as Cyclone Alfred roared towards the south-east Queensland coast, the bayside suburbs of Brisbane were treated to a rare cold-water visitor. A Shy Albatross was spotted offshore, opposite a fishmonger in Sandgate. A couple of days later, what was likely to be the same bird flopped into a front yard of nearby Banyo, exhausted.
Bird of the year 2025: Vote 1 Shy Albatross Read More »
While most people in Brisbane were battening down the hatches ahead of the arrival of Tropical Cyclone Alfred, others revelled in what was, for them, one of the most exciting natural events of their lives. Over the course of the weekend and into Monday, throngs of birdwatchers lined the shores of Bramble Bay in the
Twinnies care for sodden seabirds after Alfred Read More »
It had been three months without a peep, and the ecologist Matt Herring thought Gloria had perished. He had captured the elusive bird on 22 October 2023, on a property north of Balranald in New South Wales – the first Australian Painted-snipe to be fitted with a satellite tracker. But contact had been lost, and there
Tracking the Australian Painted-snipe Read More »
Encounters with hummingbirds are not easily forgotten. I vividly remember my first, on a visit to Los Angeles 15 years ago: walking the streets of Beverly Hills, it buzzed towards me like a supersized bee, eyeballed me, pivoted, and zipped across the road, leaving me slack-jawed with wonder that something so miraculous could even exist. Miracles
Every Little Thing: A measure of humanity Read More »