OK look, I know I promised all those weird and wacky job stories, but stuff is happening in the here-and-now which makes much better blog material – or your author has ADD and can only get inspired by things happening in the immediate present. So as I write this, I’m seated comfortably on the 5:45pm …
Tag: australia
The lunch-hour naturalist
We interrupt this unstarted sequence of my oddball jobs to tell you about something a little closer to home. While the odd jobs may turn out to be an interesting bunch of stories which will be fun to resurrect, it has very little to do with embracing life in Braidwood, which is what this blog …
Raptorwatch: Brown Falcon
Spring is in the process of springing: the magpies are engaging in aerial flirtations, the grey fantails are displaying, and today I snapped a new bird for my list, the tiny Spotted Pardalote, busily engaged in collecting nesting material. But with these hopeful signs, it seems the local raptors' habits are changing. This isn't based …
Covid calling
Irony alert! Remember Alanis Morissette, the Canuck chanteuse who sang emotively about irony? It's like raa-ainnn on your wedding day,It's a free ride when you've already paid, It's the good advice that you just didn't take,And who would have thought? It figures. Now many have pointed out that most of Alanis' examples aren't irony at …
Raptorwatch: lingo edition
You may recall that the previous raptor post drew heavily on pious English poet Gerard Manley Hopkins to relay the beauty and power of these birds. But there's enough to be said about mankind's fascination with raptors to fill a plethora of books -- the ancient sport of falconry, for a start, is one of …
Raptorwatch
It's winter now -- and following the freakishly wet summer we've just endured, we're experiencing some deep cold, such that Archie's water bowl freezes overnight and we keep the fire going all day. When it comes to local wildlife -- particularly the feathered kind -- I expected a bit of a dearth, with all the …
Pro patria mori
Anzac Day in Australia today, given all the more poignance by daily reports of bitter fighting in the Ukraine. We are never without war. Despite the two in the last century that were supposed to kill off war forever, the smaller ones happening now are just as terrible. But today we commemorate the young people …
Common brown stuff
Remember last year, around this time, when this blog expressed frustration about the rarity of female Common Brown butterflies, and how difficult they were to photograph? Of course you do! Well, this year for some reason, we are faced with virtually the opposite situation. The gals are everywhere, but the male of the species is …
A fowl confusion
The other day Archie and I were going for walkies through Braidwood, taking in the essential Australianness of our our surroundings: the gum trees, the Kookaburras, the utes chugging by on the King's Highway. And then something popped into this scenario that caused a bit of a jolt -- a reminder of a different time, …
Fan tales: addendum
We've now traced the happy narratives of two bird families -- the Sacred Kingfishers and the Grey Wagtails. Now, sitting inside during another extended period of La Niña rain, I'm reminded of a less-happy story: that of the Reed Warblers. This takes us back to the heady days of spring, when trudging down the path …
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