A day in the American south-west with Owls that burrow and stand around in the daylight and an Ibis of remarkable beauty.
READ MOREAmadeo Rea: on namkams, coyote sickness and perceptions of reality in the greater southwest
Part Two of a conversation with Amadeo Rea, taxonomic ornithologist and ethnobiologist who has spent most of his life working with the Piman people of the greater south-western American deserts.
READ MORENick Cave’s ornithorium
All I had to do was walk on stage and open my mouth and let the curse of God roar through me. Floods, fire and frogs leapt out of my throat. Though I had no notion of that then, God was talking not just to me but through me, and his breath stank.
READ MOREFifty years in the desert – the ethnobiological life of Amadeo Rea
A friend of mine, who was just finishing the manuscript for Birds of Arizona with the University of Arizona Press said “Why don’t you find out from your old Indian friends what the river was like when it ran and what birds were there?”
READ MOREBird of the Week: La Tanrrilla – the Sunbittern
The real beauty of La Tanrrilla is only revealed when under threat or as part of their elaborate courtship rituals when they spread their glorious wings to reveal a truly magnificent display of colour and light.
READ MOREHappy Australia “Fucken-dirty-ass-curry-munchin-niggers!!” Day
Mitch: “Ahh the post i made when i was talking about the Aussie language, how we’re all a tinge racist and i love this country and if other don’t like it they can get stuffed. Unfortunately some don’t see it that way … This is a Free-Country is it not? It’s a democracy. We’re aloud to have opinions but if they’re any different from society, we get singled out and punished.”
READ MOREThey call me Jimmy Wavehill – that “famous man” reflects on a life in the saddle
That head stockman and my father had a good go in the yard. He wanted to beat my father but my father been too good for him. After my father knocked that bloke out he got a rope and jammed that bloke in the bronco panel – made that head stockman squeal. (laughs) My father and I pulled out from there. Got his swag, put me in the saddle-bags and we went walking towards Larrimah way.
READ MORE“A sense of unease and misgiving” – abuse and the Catholic Church on the Tiwi islands
“They used to go up to him and sort of play with him, wanking him, some of the kids used to suck him off. And I was one of them. There was a lot of others kids too that sucked him off and wanked him.”
READ MOREIs the Flinders LIVESTRONG Cancer Research Centre an accomplice to Lance Armstrong’s fantasy?
I do not know whether Flinders did pay Armstrong or any organisations associated with him for the use of the trademark LIVESTRONG™ or the other matters raised here … I think it is important that these questions be asked – particularly because we know so little … about the arrangements between Armstrong and the South Australian government and other agencies in that state.
READ MOREFrom the sublime to the shamefully ridiculous – the Australian Senate on Vikki Riley and West Papua
Senator CROSSIN: I want to place on the record that Vikki Riley is a constituent of mine in the Northern Territory … I understand the government will not be supporting this motion because of her involvement with West Papua, in that it is in conflict with our foreign policy.
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