To be quite honest, I’m not entirely convinced this call is directly associated with courtship, but under the circumstances it’s hard to think what else it might be about. Ok, so here’s the context: It’s early Autumn. I’m sitting on the veranda at home enjoying a morning coffee with the audio recorder handy. Suddenly theseContinueContinue reading “Welcome Swallow call”
Author Archives: andrewturbill
Riflebird Shenanigans
It happened last Monday morning. I was sitting at the dining table finishing breakfast and having an unproductive argument with one of my children, when suddenly my eyes fell upon the wonderous and argument-arresting sight of a Paradise Riflebird perched just beyond the kitchen window. Now this, in and of itself, would be proper groundsContinueContinue reading “Riflebird Shenanigans”
Wildlings of the city
I’m in Newtown, Sydney for the weekend. It’s a strange and not altogether pleasant place for a naturalist to be, but despite the veritably swarming humanity, there are still vestiges of an original topography and ecology persisting here. Allow me to relate a few of my observations and impressions. I hope you won’t mind meContinueContinue reading “Wildlings of the city”
Decolonising our seasonal calendar
Winter, Spring, Summer and Autumn – our universal 4 seasons right? Seriously? Does anyone in Australia REALLY believe in this Eurocentric crap anymore? Corporate retailers might like to indulge us in a curious brand-fantasy where it snows in December but isn’t it actually just laughable, if not downright insulting, that after more than two centuriesContinueContinue reading “Decolonising our seasonal calendar”
The Assassin
A couple of weeks ago, whilst camping in one of the more remote regions of the Macleay River gorge complex, I was treated to one of nature’s most macabre and ancient rituals. On the one-hand it could best be described as a brutal, off-the-street-styled targeted kidnapping operation by a lone-wolf female assassin, but just asContinueContinue reading “The Assassin”