For 100 years, the Night Parrot was the undisputed mystery bird of Australian ornithology. Until the discovery and subsequent study of a tiny population in Queensland’s far west in 2013, two specimens found by the side of remote outback roads in 1990 and 2006, also in Queensland, were the only hard evidence of its continued […]
In search of Australia’s newest mystery bird Read More »
From GJ Walter Park, just north of Toondah Harbour on the shores of Moreton Bay, Judith Hoyle gazes across the dappled water towards Cassim Island, a resilient stand of mangroves emerging from the mudflats several hundred metres offshore. Ferries from Minjerribah (North Stradbroke Island) cruise past, barely causing a ripple. From a spit of mud
The high-risk life of the Bar-tailed Godwit Read More »
The Pink Cockatoo has had a few names over the years. The father of Australian ornithology, John Gould, knew it as Leadbeater’s cockatoo, following the scientific name given to it in 1831, Cacatua leadbeateri. This was after Benjamin Leadbeater, the London naturalist and taxidermist. Sir Thomas Mitchell, the surveyor general of New South Wales from 1828 to
The savage colonial history of bird names Read More »
On the edge of a thin strip of roadside vegetation, a man in the far end of his 80s peers up into the canopy of a bulloak tree. A minute speck flashes high above him. “Here’s a Bulloak Jewel! It’s a male, you got it?” he calls out. He wears no glasses or binoculars, but
Jewel in the crown land Read More »
A range of amphibious grunts, clicks, squeals and screams from more than 60 species of Australian frogs has landed at No. 3 on the ARIA album charts – with hopes of knocking off Paul Kelly and Taylor Swift to take the top spot. Brought together by the Bowerbird Collective (musicians Anthony Albrecht and Simone Slattery)
Frog-hopping up the charts Read More »
They have shaggy crests and bright scarlet cheeks. They bow, sway, stamp their feet and spread their wings in a Jesus Christ pose, justifying their status. They whistle and whoop. Males even use their enormous beaks to fashion tree branches into drumsticks, which they use to beat on tree hollows approaching the breeding season. They
Vote 1 Palm Cockatoo Read More »