Travellers to North Queensland have a chance of sighting an endangered icon of the north’s wet, tropical rainforest. The rainforest-dwelling Australian Southern Cassowary is one of just three species of cassowary in the world. It is the world’s third largest bird and one of Australia’s largest land animals. An adult cassowary stands up to two […]
Archives for September 2015
A Grain of Salt
Mangroves are surprisingly well adapted to the challenges of living in salty water It is obvious that mangroves have a very poor public image. Just hearing the word mangrove makes you think of steamy tropical swamps, infested with crocodiles and mosquitoes. There is some truth in this picture, since most of Australia’s 11,500 square kilometres […]
Pelicans – Always A Favourite
Seen right around Australia’s coastal fringe and also hundreds of kilometres inland on many of our outback waterways, pelicans appear to hold a fascination to all who behold them With their striking black and white markings, the Australian Pelican (Pelecanus conspicillatus) is one of seven different species of pelican found throughout the world. Varyingly described […]
Count on Me
The call of the Twenty-eight Parrot sounds like it is saying “twen-ty eight” The Twenty-eight is a striking parrot that you are likely to see or hear in bushland around Perth and the southwest corner of Western Australia. It is mainly green in colour, with a black head, yellow ring around the neck, red across […]
Riceflowers
Many Australian native plants hide among a clutter of other vegetation and are inconspicuous for much of the year, and that includes riceflowers, Ozothamnus diosmifolius, which, when not in bloom, certainly don’t stand out from the crowd in their bushland environment. But it’s a different story in spring and summer when these often straggly and […]