August 25, 2008
A Recent Visit to Alexandria Bay, Noosa National Park
I visited Alexandria Bay at Noosa National Park last Thursday. It's a beautiful place about 160 kms north of Brisbane on the east coast of Australia.
Pandanas palm with view to Pacific Ocean.
There is a sandy track that winds through woodland and heathland from Sunshine Beach.
Scrub turkey under pandanas palm.
It is always fun to explore rock pools.
Rock pool at northern headland.
The same rock pool from a higher ledge.
The same rock pool from a higher ledge.
On the way home it was sad to find a stranded stingray.
Stingray on the beach.
During previous visits to Noosa National Park I have seen a koala and an echidna.
Posted by jennifer at 08:19 PM | Comments (8) | TrackBack
July 02, 2008
New Australian Movie Starring Caroline Marohasy
Caroline Marohasy, a reader of this weblog and my daughter, makes her debut in a new Australian revenge thriller 'The Horseman' that will premier at the Melbourne International Film Festival.
Caroline Marohasy and Peter Marshall in The Horseman
If you like this genre of movie you can watch the trailer; but be warned there is lots of blood and guts and violence.
A couple of early reviews include:
"The Horseman is a balls to the wall, edgy thriller. A simple, fast paced action movie - the kind people used to make in the 70's. Think 'Get Carter' in 'Stubbies' crossed with Tarantino. If you like your movies bold, hard-core and unapologetic, then keep an eye on director Steven Kastrissios".
- Greg Mclean (Director of Wolf Creek & Rogue)
"I just saw an advance screener of this film and was left breathless. The Horseman is the most compelling Australian film that I have seen since Wolf Creek. It is taut and relentless, grabbing you by the throat in the opening scene and not letting go until the end credits roll. The film’s frenetic pacing and tight narrative structure brings to mind similarly impactual genre classics like Mad Max and Romper Stomper. Indeed, it belongs to that rare type of thrilling Aussie cinema that gets bums on seats and keeps them there! Kastrissios should be congratulated for such an amazing debut. He should also be paid close attention to: I believe he is set to become an important fixture of the Australian cinema scene.
- Dean Bertram (Director, A Night of Horror International Film Festival)
And a note from Caroline, "Australian independent feature films really need grass roots support, and this one is no exception. So you might become a fan at our Facebook site".
warning - this is a horror revenge movie with lots of 'blood and guts'
Posted by jennifer at 11:52 AM | Comments (8) | TrackBack
February 24, 2008
Thornton Peak
I have risen early these passed two mornings, to capture the elusive spectacle of the sun’s first rays illuminating the descending moon over Thornton Peak. The greatest uncertainty was finding the mountain free of cloud, but as can be seen in the images, the variables of timing and clarity fell into splendid accord.
At 1374 metres, Thornton Peak is Queensland’s third highest mountain and almost certainly the recipient of Australia’s highest rainfall. Cooper Creek drains part of the eastern flank, traversing a remarkable landscape along its descent to the Coral Sea. This photograph was taken at 6.35 am at about 10 metres ASL and 4 kilometres or so from, or halfway between the mountain summit and the estuary mouth.
The eastern flank of Thornton Peak sustains one of the three greatest concentrations of endemic species in the world. It also harbours one of the greatest concentrations of plants and animals listed under the Nature Conservation Act 1992 as Threatened, Vulnerable and Rare.
Posted by neil at 08:44 AM | Comments (3) | TrackBack
February 21, 2008
An Arctic Buzzard
This Arctic Buzzard, also known as a Rough-legged Buzzard (Buteo lagopus), was found with a broken wing but rehabilited successfully.
It's a bird of prey with a diet consisting mostly of mice, lemmings and young rabbits. The breeding range is very northern, described as holarctic, and migrates southwards in the autumn.
Cheers,
Ann Novek
In Sweden
Posted by jennifer at 09:19 PM | Comments (3) | TrackBack
February 04, 2008
Lichen Spiders (Part II)
In an earlier entry, Lichen Spiders (October 18, 2007), Jennifer described the images of the spiders as intriguing and asked how difficult/expensive it would be to develop the seven images as separate posters/pictures.
I have since accumulated a collection of eight high quality poster size images (30 x 45 cm @ 240 dpi), presented in the thumbnail mosaic below. Interested inquiries should be directed to neil@ccwild.com
As can be seen within the collection, Lichen Spiders vary in conformity with their background occupancy. However, according to the Queensland Museum Inquiry Centre:
Spider colour is fixed at its previous moult. A slight exception being the abdomen with its much thinner walls which may change especially according to accumulated waste products or what it has eaten. So they can't change colour like a frog, gecko or squid. Some species of spiders that camouflage on tree bark have multiple colour forms however.
So far as is known, a lichen spider would not be selecting a background according to colour as these are like most (but not all) spiders in having poor vision. It is expected that they would have other ways of detecting a nice lichen-covered background to sit against however.
Under closer scrutiny, the eight images (fully magnified), reveal variation to spider appearance through differential combing of hairs, which appear to have reflective qualities. In the eighth (bottom right) image, much of the blending is also complemented through the shared occupancy of its offspring (see enlargement).
Posted by neil at 04:32 PM | Comments (2) | TrackBack
June 29, 2007
It's Snowing in the Upper Murrumbidgee, Australia: Photographs from Allan
Hi Jennifer,
Some photographs of last Wednesday's snow storm in the Tinderries.
This is the second one in two weeks and both were widespread in the Queanbeyan River/Badga/Murrumbidgee Catchments.
The weather charts suggest some more precipitation over the weekend.
Long time locals say that this has similarities to the late fifties, early sixties when they managed to leave the district a few times through each winter due to snow.
Might have to invest in a skidoo!
Cheers,
Allan
Upper Murrumbidgee
Australia
Posted by jennifer at 05:29 PM | Comments (51) | TrackBack
May 14, 2007
I've Been Visiting The Murray Mouth, And
I know the dams at the top of the Murray River are very low, but there is still water in the lower reaches of the system.
Today I visited the so-called Murray Mouth which is part of the Coorong National Park.
We then drove around the western perimeter of the huge estaurine lake system.
While the national consensus appears to be that some sort of catastrophe is about to befall this region -- interestingly there are new housing developments and new olive orchards and more...
Crossed the ferry at Wellington - what I think is the real Murray mouth.
And there was also water in the river a bit upstream of Wellington.
I'll be back in Brisbane tomorrow. And many thanks to Phil Sawyer for a great few days in South Australia.
Posted by jennifer at 09:52 PM | Comments (13) | TrackBack
May 13, 2007
I've Been Visiting Port Lincoln, And
I've spent the last couple of days with Phil Sawyer visiting Port Lincoln and other interesting places at the tip of the Eyre Peninsula in South Australia.
They have had a bit of rain.
We drove down to Sleaford Bay on Friday.
Its a rugged landscape.
Some of the first settlers were whalers.
Here's a 300 kg bubber pot once used by Sleaford Bay whalers to extract oil.
More recently Port Lincoln residents have got rich fatten tuna for Japanese markets.
These pilchard will be fed to tuna that are held in cages in the sea to the south of Port Lincoln.
Prawn trawlers, abalone and crayfish fishermen still operate out of Port Lincoln. I watched a procession of about 20 prawn trawlers leave the harbour Friday night. They will be out for 11 days.
This is a photograph of some of the rigging on the boats in the afternoon, before they departed.
The Mayor suggested to me yesterday that Port Lincoln would be a good place for a wind-powered desalination plant.
There are already wind turbines in the area. This picture was taken yesterday from Coffin Bay National Park looking south.
Posted by jennifer at 07:12 AM | Comments (12) | TrackBack
March 15, 2007
New Website, New Blog, New Photographs: A Note from Neil Hewett
Hi Jen,
After a torrid month or so of blundering around a web-design application and with the help of the team at Wild Lime Media, we have finally published (and hopefully de-bugged) our new website; complete with a ‘Rainforest Revelations’ weblog.
Now that that’s done, I can return to some semblance of a life. In my absence from your blog, I have captured some interesting images.
The Daintree Cape Tribulation rainforest is at its most vibrant in the wet. Some of its best-kept secrets are revealed in circumstances that are frustratingly uninviting to visitors. Nevertheless, we at Cooper Creek Wilderness carry on with our tours and share the wonder of the wet with a privileged few.
This image of a brush-footed trapdoor spider was captured two nights ago at the entrance to its burrow, deep within the buttress roots of a Javan Ash.
Primitive spiders lack trachea and have very limited respiratory capabilities. Their gill-like book-lungs confer a greater proximity to an aqueous pre-existence, than the more modern and mobile Araneomorphs. They are also less able to travel great distances from the protection of their burrows and tend to have more immobilizing venom.
Also known as whistling spiders, barking spiders or Australia’s Tarantulas, they are subject to concerning pressures from collectors who sell them as pets for around $400 each. In an attempt to control these impacts, their trade has become regulated by licencing requirements (I wonder if this is having any success).
The other interesting image is a magnification of a longicorn beetle's head, Batocera sp., whose family includes Australia’s largest beetle.
Their powerful mandibles rip into timber and their large, white and fleshy larvae are favoured bush-tucker for Cape York bama.
All the best from Cooper Creek Wilderness,
Posted by jennifer at 06:30 PM | Comments (13) | TrackBack
March 03, 2007
Ouch! One Big Snake
Here's one big snake caught on an electric fence in South Africa near the town of Nyngan, New South Wales, Australia.**
Photo via Helen Mahar, correct identification thanks to Nexus
Ouch!
Someone had some fun suggesting this python was Australian and from Nyngan. While Nyngan doesn't have any African rock pythons ...
Nyngan and the struggle to contain invasive woody weeds on farmland was the focus of a television program entitled 'The Great Land-Clearing Myth' which screened on 'Sunday' last August.
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** Thanks to Nexus for setting us straight.
Posted by jennifer at 09:29 PM | Comments (20)
January 03, 2007
Melomies in the Daintree: A Note from Neil Hewett
Hi Jennifer,
Temperatures in 2006 in the midst of the Daintree rainforest were uncharacteristically moderate.
It was, however, exceptionally wet with a total of 6242.5 mm over 237 rainy days; 14 of which exceeded 100 mm.
Last year was the first year Cooper Creek Wilderness had broadband satellite and rainfall, despite its quantity, never once interfered with the network.
On New Year's day a two-week old cassowary chick was savaged to death by marauding pig-dogs.
On the same day I captured this photograph of fawn-footed melomies:
All the best for 2007.
Posted by jennifer at 09:55 AM | Comments (8) | TrackBack
December 06, 2006
New Picture Book on Buyat Bay
Buyat Bay on the Island of Sulawesi, Indonesia, is perhaps best known as the place where Canadian mining giant Newmont dumped tailing from a gold mine allegedly polluting the bay and poisioning the local villagers.
Increasingly it appears the poisonings were a fabrication. I summarized the allegations brought against the company's President Richard Ness and against the mining company in a recent piece for On Line Opinion entitled 'The Campaign Against Mining'.
A little blue fish swimming in Buyat Bay.
Several senior mining executives were thrown in jail, accused of deliberately poisoning the bay. Once out of jail one of them set about photographing the corals and associated biodiversity of Buyat Bay. A book in Indonesian was published earlier in the year. Now there is an english version and Richard Ness's son has had it uploaded to his website.
Here's a note from Eric:
"A book entitled An Underwater Guide To Buyat Bay and Surrounding Areas North Sulawesi was just published by the South Minahasa & North Sulawesi Tourism Office. I got permission to post the entire book on the site. I would like to invite you to take a look at this because one, the photography is extremely beautiful showing a wide variety of marine life and two, I see this as additional evidence of how ridiculous the charges are against my father.This book was written by Jerry Kojansow, David Sompie, Laurentius Th. X Lalamentik, Msc and Djonline Emor, Msi. The beautiful photographs where provided by Jerry Kojansow and Robert Humberson.
The irony in this is that two of the authors, David Sompie and Jerry Konjansow – who I have partly dedicated this web site to - were two of Dad’s staff who were declared suspects and spent 32 day unjustly detained early on in the same cells with terrorist involved in the Australian Embassy bombing. Even after such treatment, these fine individuals still performed their civic duty (in collaboration with dedicated people from the marine department of the local University and the provincial government) doing their part in promoting tourism and sharing the natural beauty of Northern Sulawesi and Buyat Bay for all the world to see. They did not do so for money or personal fame, they did so to try and correct the damaged image caused by baseless allegations of pollution in what is truly a non-polluted pristine marine environment. It is the image of North Sulawesi that they are trying to preserve.
Check out the book: http://richardness.org/media/buyatbay/"
The photographs are spectacular. Once uploaded you can 'turn the page' by clicking on the top right corner of the image. Click here to get started.
Richard Ness was in court again yesterday. But I've no news as to how it all went. A final judgement is expected in January.
Posted by jennifer at 08:23 AM | Comments (10)
November 26, 2006
More Than One Striped Possum: A Note from Neil Hewett
Hi Jennifer,
I photographed this striped possum (Dactylopsila trivirgata) at Cooper Creek Wilderness on the 21st October, 2006, and I was very pleased to see that this photograph of a striped possum, was in fact, two.
Sparsely distributed throughout the wet tropics and along the east coast of Cape York (Australia), the species is spectacularly acrobatic and most frequently found after hearing it crash into overhead vegetation.
Striped possum carrying young, Cooper Creek Wilderness, 21st October 2006
It forages by welting rotten tree material and listening carefully for beetle larvae, which it extricates with its specialised elongate fourth digit on the front feet.
At Cooper Creek Wilderness we are hoping for the onslaught of the heavy wet in the not too distant future, when the sounds of striped possums will be overwhelmed by a menagerie of treefrogs and insects.
Posted by jennifer at 08:36 PM | Comments (10) | TrackBack
November 16, 2006
It was Cold & Wet Yesterday in Western Victoria, Australia
I flew to Melbourne and drove out to Halls Gap (western Victoria) yesterday morning, past Ballarat where it was snowing! There was no mention of global warming on the local radio stations, just mention of the unusually cold weather.
Anyway, today, this morning, I visited a friend with a farm in the Glenelg Hopkins catchment. Their winter wheat and canola crops had failed because of the drought and across the district was being converted into hay for the sheep.
A bailed failed wheat crop.
Ba ah ah.
Bone dry Lake Buninjon.
About Ararat.
Posted by jennifer at 10:56 PM | Comments (36) | TrackBack
November 14, 2006
A Rare Rainforest Rhinoceros
Rhinoceros are usually associated with the African savannah, but interestingly there are species which also occur in rainforests in Indonesia. The one-horned Java Rhino and the two-horned Sumatran Rhino are the rarest rhinos on earth.
Here's a picture of a rainforest rhinoceros from one of the many camera traps Richard Ness has had set:
There are only a few hundred Java and Sumatran rhinos remaining in the wild.
Interestingly in Africa, white rhino numbers increased from about 200 individuals in 1904 to over 11,000 in 2004 thanks to conservation programs. In contrast, black rhino numbers dropped from perhaps 60,000 sometime before 1970 to may be 15,000 in 2004 no thanks to poaching.
Posted by jennifer at 10:24 PM | Comments (3) | TrackBack
November 09, 2006
Possums Killing River Red Gums: A Note from Michael O'Brien
Dear Jennifer,
I was reading your blogs criticising the misrepresentation of the facts surrounding the Murray river floodplains and death of river red gums. I own a property on the Murray river floodplains, downstream of Echuca. My property has river red gum wetlands that have quite naturally not recieved any flooding since 1995.
For the last 15 years my red gum wetland and many other red gum wetlands in the region have suffered massive decline in tree health and in some instances all of the trees have been killed. It is changing the look of the landscape and is quite obviously a regional catastrophe.
But what is the cause? Ask any of the experts and they insist it is "drought", but in my district the average rain for the past 15 years has only been slightly below the long term average and in reality the redgums have probably had as much flooding as they ever did in dry periods.
The actual cause of the tree death is something much more cute and cuddly, common brush-tailed possum's. Brush-tailed possums are abundant in these hollow redgums. At times I have spotted up to 15 mature possums in one tree. Each summer the trees grow a few leaves and then for the remainder of the year the possums strip them clean. The trees can only take about three years of this kind of constant bombardment before they die. From the 200 large trees within my wetland at least 75% have died in the last 10 years, and the remainder are in poor health.
Prior to European settlement in the area, the local Aboriginals heavilly utilized brush-tailed possums for food, clothing etcetera. So much so that one of the early pastoralists in the area referred to them as the "possum-eaters".
As an experiment I possum guarded a number of random trees last November.
The following photograph I took this morning of one of the possum- guarded trees. The trees in the photograph were all in similar health at the time of guarding last November.
Possum attack is a widespread problem in the Murray flood plains now that possums are unable to be utilized and managed, and probably explains a lot of the premature death of red gums that people are witnessing in this natural dry period.
Regards,
Michael O'Brien
Posted by jennifer at 04:12 PM | Comments (21)
Coffee Cats & Clouded Leopards
I was fascinated to read last Friday in the Courier-Mail that the Herveys Range Heritage Tea Rooms in North Queensland have started selling $50 a cup Kopi Luwak coffee.
The coffee is expensive because the coffee beans are retrieved from the poo of the luwak, or common palm civet, Paradoxurus hermaphroditus. These cat-like creatures are apparently found in the jungles of Sumatra, Java and Sulawesi in Indonesia.
The luwak eat ripe coffee berries but the inner bean is not digested, and can be retrieved from the animal’s poo while the stomach enzymes add to the coffee's flavor.
I gave up drinking coffee when I gave up smoking cigarettes about 18 years ago, so I will probably never know whether this poo brew is worth the effort and expense. But I thought it was a great potential example of conservation through sustainable use as promoted by Michael Archer at the AEF conference.
I was a bit keen to see more pictures of coffee cats in the wild and get a picture for this blog, so I emailed Richard Ness in the hope he might have some photographs from the many camera traps he has had set in Indonesian jungle. [Remember that magnificent picture of the Sumatran tiger.]
Anyway instead of a Kopi Luwak, he has sent me this magnificent picture of a Macan dahan or clouded leopard, Neofelis nebulosa.
While the coffee cats are apparently quite common, this species, like the Sumatran tiger, is threatened by hunting for body parts including for meat, fur, teeth as well as bones.
--------------------------------
Thanks Richard Ness for the great photograph of the clouded leopard. If you have a picture of an endangered animal that you would like to share with other readers of this blog, please send it to jennifermarohasy@jennifermarohasy.com .
Posted by jennifer at 09:36 AM | Comments (5) | TrackBack
October 29, 2006
A Sumatran Tiger
Sustainable use for conservation has been a focus of two recent articles at BBC News. Eugune Lapointe put the argument for commercial trade in ivory in a piece entitled 'Hunting for Conservation Solutions' and a second piece by Eli Leadbeater entitled 'Hunting has Conservation Role' had a similar message ending with comment that, "In the future, the fate of many animals may well depend on the extent to which the public around the world starts to accept the idea of utilising wildlife in a sustainable way."
The argument makes sense for African elephants, where well managed herds in places like South Africa need to be periodically culled. But I have trouble extending the argument to include, for example, tigers.
Sumatran Tiger in the wild, photograph from Richard Ness.*
The Asian tiger appears to be in trouble with skins and body parts in demand in China. Mihir Srivastava explains that most of this demand is being met from India in a recent piece at On Line Opinion entitled 'Indian Tiger Falls Prey to Chinese Aggression'.
There are apparently only 4-500 tigers remaining in Sumatra, in Indonesia. According to Wild Tiger, a website dedicated to the survival of Sumatra's tigers, forest clearing for new large-scale oil-palm plantations is a real threat to this subspecies of tiger. Is demand for biodiesel in Europe fueling the demand for palm oil?
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Thanks to David@Tokyo for alerting me to the two BBC articles.
* Note from Richard Ness: "The picture was taken by a camera trap. All you do is set a digital camera along the trail and it takes a picture of any animal or human that walks by. We had requested the tiger foundation to assist in base line studies on wild life in an area in Sumatra. This photo was taken by a camera trap set by Dr. Neil Franklin from the Tiger Foundation. We had a separate group for Orangutans. We did find is a very unique area where the Aceh bio diversity overlapped with the North/Central Sumatra bio diversity. Ended up working with US AID and conservation international to try and have it protected. This work is still on going. What I also learned is that tigers are very interesting. I am not sure the cutting of primary forest for logging or plantations is a real issue for them. They may do just as well in secondary growth. The main problem is humans hunting them for parts... same goes for orangutans."
Posted by jennifer at 06:05 PM | Comments (33)
October 13, 2006
Norwegian Whaling Boat: Picture & Note from George
Here's a typical Norwegian coastal whaling boat leaving harbour. The boat is 25m long. A typical quota for a boat this size would be 15-20 minkie whales.
For photographs: www.whalephoto.com.
Posted by jennifer at 09:39 PM | Comments (48) | TrackBack
October 01, 2006
The Head of a Blue Whale
The head of a Blue whale, Balaenoptera musculus, just below the surface. Part of a group of three photographed off Spitsbergen in the Norwegian arctic three weeks ago by George McCallum.
For wildlife photographs visit: whalephoto.com.
Posted by jennifer at 10:54 AM | Comments (2) | TrackBack
September 26, 2006
George McCallum
George McCallum is a regular reader and sometimes commentator at this blog. He has been based in Berlin for the last 9 years, working as a freelance wildlife photographer, marine mammal observer, freelance field researcher, chief cook and bottle washer. He also runs his own one man company, Whalephoto.
George has just returned from the Arctic and is working on the 20,000 or so digital images he has shot this year as well as preparing a poster/paper for the upcoming European Cetacean Society conference in San Sebastian, Spain. The conference is in early 2007 and George will be speaking on the use of flash equipment in low light and backlit conditions.
And George has found time to send us information about himself for the people category at this blog:
"I’ve been an ID photographer/observer on Norway´s whale population surveys since 1995, team leader on same last year, team leader/ID photographer of whale observers on some ecosystem surveys also last two years, also in arctic Norway, North and North East Atlantic areas.Previous and concurrent to this, I have worked as a field researcher volunteer/ID photographer from both commercial whale watching boats and hired vessels off Andenes in Arctic Norway between 1995-2000, occasionally as a guide on one of the whale watching boats. Also worked as a field researcher/volunteer/ID photographer with T.Simila´s killer whale project in Arctic Norway from 1993 onwards. I also spent a number of winter seasons in Tysfjord working with and for various TV and film crews who had come to Tysfjord to film the local killer whale population as either vessel driver, local expert and once or twice as the subject being a prat for the cameras.
Its a kittiwake on his head.I’ve spent 6 months in the Canary islands off the north African coast as a research assistant on a boat studying Short-finned Pilot whales, basic ID work and collecting data on the effects of whale watching boats on the local Pilot whale population.
Prior to that, I studied in Scotland for 5-6 years at University as a mature student. I studying biology, but dropped out before my final year after a few field trips led me to the realization that the field researchers had most of the fun and aimed myself in that direction.
For the ten years before that, I worked as a marine mammal trainer (with dolphins, seals, sea lions, sea elephants, killer whales etc.) for around ten years in various marine parks and establishments throughout Europe.
I’ve also worked as a barman, driven a delivery truck, worked on a farm, trained Macaws, penguins and a herring gull (strange but true) as well as working in a commercial slaughterhouse for 6 months or so.
Other experience includes using pax arms (modified DNA sampling rifles used to take a plug of blubber from marine mammals) maintaining and operating high frequency sonar equipment, conning various sea vessels of various sizes, and trying to fix various bits of equipment in the field when it goes up the creek without a paddle.
I speak three languages fluently and get by in two others and I can stutter around in French.
Hobbies include hassling and being hassled by airport security/airline check-in folk whilst traveling with 25 kg or more of assorted photographic equipment and having a once fortnightly malt whisky tasting session in the best stocked Malt whisky bar in the world in Schoneberg. The bar has over 700 different malts so my journalist friends and I foresee a number of years further research before we can give a final opinion on which is best.
Best regards from sunny 28C Berlin.
GeorgePS. Have you seen this, Greenpeace taking a pasting again:
http://www.roughlydrafted.com/RD/Home/29C5599A-FCD8-4E30-9AD5-5497999ABA1B.htmland this:
http://www.roughlydrafted.com/RD/Home/ABC6DFDA-9DE9-4EA8-A269-65EAAB628676.html."
Thanks George for sharing this information about yourself with us ... and for the great images!
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As a reader and/or commentator at this blog you may like to tell us something about yourself. Contributions encouraged please email to jennifermarohasy@jennifermarohasy.com. I've just also received some great photographs and information from Walter Starck which I will upload soon with a link to his paper from the recent AEF conference.
More wildlife photographs at Whalephoto.com.
Posted by jennifer at 04:07 PM | Comments (190) | TrackBack
September 19, 2006
Cassowaries Mating: A Note from Neil Hewett
I received the followed note and pictures from Neil Hewett of Cooper Creek Wilderness in the magnificent Daintree Rainforest of Far North Queensland. Neil wrote: "These magnificent birds once roamed more than half the land-surface of the planet, but for the inconvenience of global cooling and drying."
These images were captured at Cooper Creek Wilderness by Brian and Rosemary Mulcahy of Ormond, Victoria.
Posted by jennifer at 09:33 PM | Comments (4) | TrackBack
September 17, 2006
Hong Kong's Pink Dolphins
I went dolphin watching on Friday not far from Hong Kong in the South China Sea and saw perhaps 30 pink dolphins. That's right they were really pink - as pink as a pig!
When they came up for a breath and jumped out of the water it wasn't for long and I didn't manage to get any good photographs but this is what they looked like:
Photo scanned (with permission) from a Hong Kong Dolphinwatch Ltd. postcard, visit http://www.hkdolphinwatch.com.
On Friday the water didn't look so blue. It was a murky green and our guide told us full of pollution from the Pearl River. I didn't have any equipment for testing water quality, but the air quality was poor. This trawler emerged like a ghost ship from the smog-haze hanging over us at 11am in the morning:
The pink dolphins belong to the species Sousa chinensis also known as Indo-Pacific Humpback dolphins with a range extending throughout south east Asia and also northern Australia. Through most of its range the species is the more usual grey colour.
These Hong Kong dolphins are born grey, but mature to the pretty pink colour. Here's a picture of a mother with its greyish baby:
Photo scanned (with permission) from a Hong Kong Dolphinwatch Ltd. postcard, visit http://www.hkdolphinwatch.com.
The dolphins suckle their young for about 3 years.
Our guide suggested there were about 1,000 of these pink dolphins off Hong Kong when they were last surveyed in 1997. She indicated that there had been no survey since but that she feared numbers were declining her biggest concern water pollution from mainland China.
The dolphins first became a conservation issue with the construction of the new airport and associated dynamiting and land reclamation at Chek Lap Kok. According to Hong Kong Dolphinwatch Ltd the next big project is a proposed 42 kilometre mega bridge linking Hong Kong, Macau and Zhuhai.
I can't image the bridge and associated traffic will do anything but exacerbate the already poor air quality.
Photo scanned (with permission) from a Hong Kong Dolphinwatch Ltd. postcard, visit http://www.hkdolphinwatch.com.
Thanks to Hong Kong Dolphinwatch Ltd for a great day out.
Posted by jennifer at 12:15 PM | Comments (25)
May 12, 2006
Getting in Early for Mother's Day
It is Mother's Day on Sunday. My mother is in Barcelona in Spain at the moment and I'm sending her an e-card compliments of the African Wildlife Foundation (AWF).
I'm usually fairly cynical when it comes to environment groups, but I have some sympathy for the work of the AWF and their website and cards are very beautiful:
http://support.awf.org/site/Ecard?ecard_id=1021 .
Posted by jennifer at 09:32 PM | Comments (5) | TrackBack
April 09, 2006
A Green Turtle @ Saxon Reef @ The Great Barrier Reef
I went snorkling on Saturday off Cairns. It was a magnificent day. I saw lots of fish and coral. But the highlight was swimming with this green turtle at Saxon reef.
You can't properly see the turtle's head for its fin, but poking out from its mouth is a bit of seaweed which it had snatched from my fingers.
Posted by jennifer at 08:13 PM | Comments (2) | TrackBack
December 02, 2005
Mud Map
Can someone tell me where this photo was taken: View image?
Posted by jennifer at 03:40 PM | Comments (6) | TrackBack
September 21, 2005
Good News for Four Dolphins
The NOAA Fisheries Service and the Marine Life Aquarium of Gulfport, Miss., working with a number of other partners, rescued the last four of the eight trained bottlenose dolphins that were swept out of an aquarium tank torn apart by the storm surge of Hurricane Katrina on August 29. Normally held in captivity, the dolphins don't have the necessary skills to survive on their own. They have survived various injuries and predators and have stayed together since the storm. ... read more here http://www.noaanews.noaa.gov/stories2005/s2510.htm .
And isn't this a beautiful picture, http://www.noaanews.noaa.gov/stories2005/images/katrina-dolphin-rescue-09-2005.jpg .
Posted by jennifer at 12:20 PM | Comments (1) | TrackBack
September 06, 2005
Wildflowers Follow Rain
Much of western Queensland received winter rain this year and the last few weeks has apparently seen the country-side transformed with a spectacular display of wildflowers. ABC radio Western Queensland has put together a photo gallery at,
http://www.abc.net.au/westqld/stories/s1448489.htm .
I used to press wildflowers when I was a little girl. One of the best Christmas presents I ever received was 'Wild Flowers of the World' with paintings by Barbara Everard and that was for Christmas in 1975. Of course, I still have the book.
Posted by jennifer at 05:53 PM | TrackBack
July 21, 2005
Lichen Spider
Neil Hewett, Cooper Creek Wilderness, The Daintree, Nth Queensland, emailed this picture of a lichen spider,
See Spider (40 kbs).
It came with the note,
"If only humankind would blend with the natural landscape with a little more discretion."
And I gather the action was inspired by my 'Global Warming Skeptics in Denial' blog post.
And I was reminded by the spider of an article I saw in the lastest issue of Orion Online and the finding/thought that,
"Engagement with nature buffers against life stresses.".
Posted by jennifer at 10:25 AM | Comments (2)
July 06, 2005
Wolves in Yellowstone National Park
This will be my third post in a row with a US theme or author. But I just have to share the photos by Joel Sartore at this site
http://www.joelsartore.com/gallery/index.asp . The 'fragile nature' gallery has my favourites but it takes a while to download.
I found his photos after reading an interesting piece by Rick Bass on the reintroduction of wolves to Yellowstone National Park just published by OrionOnline http://www.oriononline.org/pages/om/05-4om/Bass.html .
Posted by jennifer at 04:17 PM | Comments (1)
July 04, 2005
Teach Me to Fish
Africa is in the news. I lived in Madagascar and then Kenya from 1985 through to 1992.
Here I am in in the far south-west of Madagascar in about 1986,
Jen stopping for lunch.
This was one way of getting about in Madagascar in the mid 1980s,
by taxi brouse.
Taxibrouses would run the more common form of transport off the road,
the bullock cart .
I read about the planned Live 8 Concerts for Africa last week and I was sceptical. I thought of the proverb, "Give me a fish and I eat or a day. Teach me to fish and I eat for a life time".
"Forgiving debt, or giving money, is not going to do much more than reward bad management," were my thoughts.
Others had similar concerns. According to ABC Online,
"Some aid workers and Africans worry that the Live 8 initiatives will only serve to bolster corrupt regimes while scepticism persists that rock stars can change anything.
"I don't believe it will do any good," said 18-year-old Nir Livneh in the London crowd. "It won't stop poverty in Africa."
In Johannesburg, most of those interviewed among the crowd of 10,000 had never even heard of Geldof but Edward Romoki, yelling over a booming hip-hop act, said: "Maybe a concert like this can put Africa in the news and change things.""
How might putting Africa in the news change things?
I read today that Bob Geldof asked for more than just debit relief, he is asking for three things:
1. Action to wipe out Africa's debt,
2. Double aid, and
3. The scrapping of trade barriers.
According to theSydney Morning Herald one million people attended the 10 free concerts in Europe, North America, South Africa and Japan, while an estimated 3 billion watched on television.
Bob Geldof, brought the computer billionaire Bill Gates to the Hyde Park stage, introducing him to the crowd of 200,000 as "the greatest philanthropist of our age", who had given away $US5 billion.
Gates believes in technology including biotechnology (GM food crops). He believes in not only teaching people 'how to fish' (remembering the proverb) but also in providing them with the best technology. Towards this end he is supporting the work of a woman I once met, and admire immensely, Florence Wambugu. And you can find more about Florence at
http://whybiotech.ca/canada-english.asp?id=3603 .
Some of the projects supported by her group and that will be given a kick-along by the funding from Bill Gates can be found at
http://www.ahbfi.org/msv.htm .
Posted by jennifer at 12:15 PM | Comments (5)
July 02, 2005
Clear Fell for Tall Trees
The Wilderness Society is no doubt celebrating the recent decision by Japanese paper mill Mitsubishi to only source woodchip from plantation forests. The end result, however, is likely to be fewer tall trees in Tasmania's native forests.
The tall wet sclerophyll forests that make Tasmania so special are not able to regenerate without some form of severe disturbance and fire.
The annual three month window for burning has just ended in Tassie.
Where there is no logging and no wildfires, the mature eucalypt overstorey will stagnate and continue to decline, eventually to be replaced by (shorter) rainforest.
Clear felling to quote an old foresters, "bares the mineral soil to produce an adequate seedbed, and provides a brief respite for the new (Eucalyptus) forest to assert itself over its shrub competitors. The seed drop on the bared seedbed may be a serendipitous natural event, or else a man-made contrived additive. All our current "Old Growth Forests" were the result of major fire occurrences from lightning or indigenous firing."
I was in Tassie in May.
And here are some pictures from that visit:
View image of stream in forest (about 50kb).
View image of swamp gum (about 50kbs).
View image of old tall Eucalyptus trees (about 130 kbs).
COMMENT from reader inserted at 3.20pm on 4th July:
Jennifer,
Your "View image of old tall Eucalyptus trees" requires explanation:
1.The background slope (R.H.S.& centre)is an area of very old forest burnt, without doubt by wildfire maybe 50 years ago with regrowth(same species)to 50-60 metres & many dead remnant "stags" of the original dominant Euc. species still standing --most have fallen over. To the left is remnant old growth, damaged but only some killed. Regrowth here will be patchy.
2. The mid-slope almost certainly is regrowth(same Euc. species) to ca. 40 metres following logging & regeneration burning & aerial seeding (same species).Note very few stags, they have long since been converted to furniture & high quality papers etc.etc.
3. The foreground could be another species but has apparently not been logged or catastrophically burnt c.f.1&2.
Regards, Bill.
View image of clear felled patch (about 130 kbs).
and
View closeup of recently burnt patch (about 50 kbs).
Posted by jennifer at 08:52 PM | Comments (5)
June 29, 2005
Taralga's Potential Windmills
Some residents of Taralga don't like windmills and have sent me the following poster picture Download file (180 kb).
It came with the following text:
"Place on notice boards, dart boards, toilet doors......the mind boggles. Let's just get the message out. No prizes for the most original use................"
I am not sure that windmills are the most efficient generators of electricity, and the people of Taralga (NE of Canberra) have a right to protest, but I actually think the windmills in the picture look rather beautiful.
Posted by jennifer at 06:40 PM | Comments (37) | TrackBack
June 28, 2005
Sunrise at Forster
I have just spent a few days at Forster, Great Lakes Region, North Coast, New South Wales.
Dawn yesterday was magnificent. And this is what it looked like at Forster -
at the beach (file size 38 kbs).
Posted by jennifer at 11:05 AM | TrackBack
June 22, 2005
Pictures of Whales
The Sydney Morning Herald has started a site called 'whales watch' with photos of whales emailed in from readers. Some of the photos are truly magnificent.
http://www.smh.com.au/ftimages/2005/06/21/1119250965027.html
Posted by jennifer at 11:20 PM | TrackBack
June 20, 2005
From Morney
"A photo from out 'there'....
This one from an area known as Morney on the way to Birdsville."
View image.
Emailed from Peter Jones, Barcaldine.
Thanks Peter.
Photo was taken on 5 July 2004.
Posted by jennifer at 03:49 PM | Comments (2) | TrackBack
May 20, 2005
Save the Bustard
Ian Beale from Mungallala, SW Queensland, emailed me this picture with the headline:
Save the poor bustard - stop tree thickening.
He also wrote,
Our area has the widespread problem of thickening of woody species, but we have an increasing number of these birds in areas where timber has been controlled. One of our older district residents on a return visit noted (in the presence of our numerous plains turkeys) that the last time he'd seen one in the area was 1935.
The picture is from Readers Digest Complete Book of Australian Birds 1993.
Posted by jennifer at 11:22 AM
Save the Bustard
Ian Beale from Mungallala, SW Queensland, emailed me this picture with the headline:
Save the poor bustard - stop tree thickening.
He also wrote,
Our area has the widespread problem of thickening of woody species, but we have an increasing number of these birds in areas where timber has been controlled. One of our older district residents on a return visit noted (in the presence of our numerous plains turkeys) that the last time he'd seen one in the area was 1935.
The picture is from Readers Digest Complete Book of Australian Birds 1993.
Posted by jennifer at 11:22 AM
May 18, 2005
3 Messages from Noeline
Noeline Franklin lives in the High Country and sent me the following three images/messages today:
On drought, View image.
On carrbon trading, View image.
Coroner faces hearing, View image.
Each image is 70-80 Kb.
Posted by jennifer at 02:28 PM
May 05, 2005
Pilliga-Goonoo Lock-up Announced
The NSW Government has finally made a decision on the Pilliga-Goonoo forests and the decision is likely to decimate local timber communities.
Click here (jpg 136kb) to see a picture of 24 Pilliga West State forest, one of the WCA so-called iconic areas.
The decision to ban logging over a further 350,000 hectares will have implications for biodiversity. While the government has described the decision as achieving 'permanent conservation' of the iconic forests, the reality is that without active management there can be no conservation.
150 years ago, areas now thick with cypress were grassland or open box woodland with cypress controlled by local aboriginals through the use of fire.
The forests that the government now wants to 'conserve' are a recent phenomenon and have developed with the local timber industry - koala and barking owls habitat enhanced through responsible forestry practices.
The Government has announced that workers who lose their jobs will be offered either new jobs or receive redundancy payments of $72,000.
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The picture at the above link is from Ted Haymen. He sent it to me with the following explaination, "This is compartment 24 Pilliga West State Forest, one of the WCA so called icon areas. It would have once been open box woodland but has been invaded by cypress and bull oak regrowth. Although they still look attractive, the large Box trees in this photo are at the end of their life, decaying, with many in a state of collapse. Competition from the dense regrowth has prevented the regeneration of replacements. There was a thinning operation in this block but it was stopped due to the moratorium. If left unmanaged, in perhaps fifty years few box trees will remain."
Background information can be found at my blog post of April 21, 2005 titled 'Timber Communities and National Parks (Part 1)' (scroll down to find it).
Posted by jennifer at 10:55 AM | Comments (6)
May 03, 2005
from Neil Hewett, Nth Queensland
Posted by jennifer at 09:11 PM | Comments (1)
April 29, 2005
Reminder from Noeline Franklin
Posted by jennifer at 05:48 PM | Comments (2)