This summer, I’ve been glued to my phone, awaiting every Twitter notification. But what I’m following is happening in Tasmania’s Southwest Wilderness World Heritage Area, far from celebrities, politics or online trolls. I am watching a succession of videos portraying the wiggling, fuzzy, yellow-beaked bodies of the next generation of orange-bellied parrots. These striking birds […]
Tag: Australia
POLL: Should shark nets be used to protect swimmers?
Mike Baird has this week announced a plan for a six-month trial of shark nets off the beaches of northern New South Wales. This would extend the state’s shark net program from the 51 beaches now netted between Wollongong and Newcastle. The premier’s announcement was triggered by a surfer receiving minor injuries on Wednesday after […]
Australia’s government open to shark cull on NSW north coast
The federal government has signalled it would consider a shark cull on the New South Wales north coast after a teenage surfer was mauled by a great white. It comes as the NSW government announces a new three-month trial of shark-spotting drones for the area, and additional drum lines off the coast. The federal environment […]
Tasmanian devils rapidly evolving to resist contagious cancer, study finds
Within just a handful of generations, Tasmanian devils appear to have evolved resistance to an unusual contagious cancer that was widely expected to make the ill-tempered carnivorous marsupials extinct in the wild. The remarkable finding gives hope that the unique animals could survive the disease, which has already wiped out 80% of the animals in […]
POLL: Should Australia’s wild horses be culled?
A plan to cull more than 5,000 brumbies in the Snowy Mountains has received the support of leading scientists from around Australia. Forty-one scientists from 16 universities have written to the New South Wales premier, Mike Baird, to support the proposed cull of 90% of the brumby population in Kosciuszko national park. They are backing […]
White humpback Migaloo spotted off Australia’s Byron Bay
A famous white humpback whale has been spotted on his annual migration to Australia’s north. Migaloo is known for his distinctive colouring and for many years was the only documented all-white humpback whale in the world. He has been sighted off the coast of New South Wales state, including the resort town of Byron Bay. […]
Birds along Palm Jungle track in Royal National Park
After weeks of rainy weather the sun has finally come out in Sydney and to celebrate I headed out to Royal National Park to hike along the coastline and to do a bit of birdwatching along the way. I took a train to Otford and the birdwatching started before I even got to the park. […]
Nepal’s extinct bird spotted after disappearing for 178 years
A team of bird-watchers stumbled upona bird that hasn’t been seen in eastern Nepal for almost 200 years. The red-faced liocichla (Liocichla phoenicea) hasn’t been spotted for 178 years and was thought to be locally extinct, according to Australian Geographic. A group of ornithologists spotted the bird on a 10-day bird watching tour. “We were […]