Animals
Why the chicken crossed the road. And how.
Bob GosfordJan 7, 2017
On Chickens: Chickens have the capacity to reason and make logical inferences. For example, chickens are capable of simple forms of transitive inference, a capability that humans develop at approximately the age of seven
Bird of the Week: Willy Wagtail - "where's my dinner Mum?"
Bob GosfordJan 2, 2017
The local pair of Willy Wagtails have taken advantage of the great season we are having in the centre this year and so far have raised two clutches, and I'll expect that, as prime examples of avian opportunism in the desert, they may raise another couple yet in this season.
Bird Hide of the Week: The Buffalo Hide, Darwin
Bob GosfordDec 22, 2016
Is it not too much to ask that if we are going to the effort of building something from which the public will gain great pleasure that such structures should not also be beautiful as well?
Bug of the Week: Termites - the rise and fall of the alate kings and queens
Bob GosfordDec 22, 20162 Comments
Northern Australian and Central Desert languages have numerous words for insects that are eaten, used as medicine, or that indicate important phenomena in the immediate environment: Aung Si & Myfany Turpin, 2015.
Word of the Week: Burrmarlarla - the shimmering of half light and half shade on kangaroo fur
Bob GosfordDec 17, 2016
Karlwardba ka-keyo ka-yo Burrmarlarla kalaba karndakarndayh, karrarangkan yiman njale delek kandakidj dakbameng ka-yo ka-warre: Lofty Bardayal Nadjamerrek
Birds of the Week: Little Crow and Willy Wagtail: best of enemies
Bob GosfordDec 17, 20161 Comment
The other week I came back from town on one of those 40C+ days to a mad flurry of wings and panic calls that can only signal interloper ... or predator. This Little Crow Corvus bennetti was trying to cool down in the water but was being harried by the adult Willy wagtails
Bat of the Week - Ghost Bat, Macroderma gigas
Bob GosfordNov 13, 2016
Help decipher the whispers of our most iconic and mysterious flying mammal--the Ghost Bat--by throwing a few dollars the way of a worthy research project. In an all too familiar story for Australia's native mammals, the Ghost Bat--our only carnivorous bat--has all but vanished from most of its former arid zone haunts and is now restricted to a few known populations in the tropics and the Pilbara and needs your help.
Dust
Bob GosfordNov 1, 2016
Some photos from the Santa Teresa races on the weekend of 29 and 30 October 2016.
Off to the desert races at Santa Teresa, NT.
Bob GosfordNov 1, 20161 Comment
Dust, heat, flies and more dust. If it is the last weekend in October it must be time to head off the the races at Santa Teresa NT.