When my beloved Stetson Open Road is all worn-out and consigned to the hat-rack it is time to return to the source for a new model, so it is off to Arizona Hatters in Tucson, Arizona for a visit.

It is a long way from being a naked, dusty three year old thrown from a car wreck on a lonely Northern Territory outback road to starring on the silver screen at the Cannes Film Festival in 2013. But Australian actress Lillie Claire needs a hand – and a few bucks – to help her get there.

A day in the American south-west with Owls that burrow and stand around in the daylight and an Ibis of remarkable beauty.

Sometimes birds are hard to find. Sometimes not. Bob Gosford takes two steps from his bed and finds an ornithorium of wonder and beauty.

There is a growing body of evidence to suggest that some species are active promoters of fire in the northern Australian savannah landscapes, using small fire-sticks and embers to spread fire throughout the open grass and woodlands of the semi-tropical north.

Is the use of powers contained in an “extraordinary bill with extraordinary powers in extraordinary circumstances” justified to ban the Hells Angels from having a drink in the NT’s pubs?

Police operations like Thumper in Katherine and other towns of the Top End do not stand unsupported. Thumping is now big business.

And no … I’m not going to tell you how I took these pics. That is for me to know and you to find out. Or ask nicely.

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.

A look back at some of the more curious entries in the death records of the Northern Territory from the early years of last century.