Australia (not WA) – Page 17

Tree “skin” & “grass tree” flower spike (#1 in SA/NT “outback” single image teaser series)

Published June 26, 2023 by Pelidoug

Tree “skin” & “grass tree” flower spike (#1 in SA/NT “outback” single image teaser series)

Northern South Australia and the south of the Northern Territory are deservedly celebrated for their vast, “cinematic” landscapes.

Any visitor can hardly fail to be in awe of the big skies, the far-distant horizons, and the extravagantly colourful, harsh/glorious, obviously-ancient terrain.

Too many visitors, however, fail to pay attention to what’s literally right in front of them, or just behind, or immediately above them.

The “small” view – of whatever is within “touching distance” – is almost always at least as rewarding as is any “sweeping plains and rugged mountain ranges” perspective.

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A spring on the Martian surface: water’s presence clearly revealed

Published June 25, 2023 by Pelidoug

A spring on the Martian surface: water’s presence clearly revealed

Is there a Great “Martesian” Basin, from which water “escapes” in certain places, forming petite “oases” on the planet’s otherwise “desolate” surface?

This gushing – or seeping – water originally arrived from the sky as rain… many thousands of human generations ago, when the proverbially dry Mars was a very wet place.

As you can see, the new photographic evidence is compelling.

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“From behind” (#6 in single-image series; Superb Fairy-wren)

Published May 27, 2023 by Pelidoug

“From behind” (#6 in single-image series; Superb Fairy-wren)

Superb Fairy-wrens and Splendid Fairy-wrens both deserve their names.

The former – Malurus cyaneus, pictured above – is the “Blue-wren” most familiar to humans who reside in Australia’s southeast.

The latter – Malurus splendens – is the Blue-wren most commonly seen in Australia’s southwest.

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Three of the same (#1 in a single-image series: kangaroos)

Published April 22, 2023 by Pelidoug

Three of the same (#1 in a single-image series: kangaroos)

Recently, in a “to cull, to tweak, or to let it be?” mission, I waded through nearly 10,000 images.

I suddenly realised that most of my “single species” wildlife photos involve either a single animal, a pair, or a group/flock/herd of more than four individuals.

Three, I think, is the rarest single-species group size…or number of individuals a photographer can “isolate”, successfully.

This little celebration of “companies of three” will range over three continents and at least one island….

It begins in one of my favourite parts of the island continent.

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A tiny slice of a wren’s life

Published February 4, 2023 by Pelidoug

A tiny slice of a wren’s life

If the relevant timepiece registered only minutes and hours, it would have said “9. 23 am” through all of this post’s eight images, which are presented in chronological order.

As it happens, my camera also records seconds, so I know that only 39 of them elapsed from first to eighth photo.

From image “1” through “7” only 21 seconds passed.

A recently-bathed Superb Fairy Wren – Malurus cyaneus – can adopt a great many different positions within such a “short” time!

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Footprints: literally, mostly (with musical bonus)

Published January 8, 2023 by Pelidoug

Footprints: literally, mostly (with musical bonus)

This post’s actual footprints come from bears in Alaska, birds on the Indian subcontinent and continental Australia, a Tasmanian wombat, and humans in an African desert and Australian suburbia.

The musical bonus is courtesy of one of the greatest jazz musicians – equally so as composer, virtuoso instrumentalist and inspired improviser.

There’s also a metaphorical footnote which involves New Zealand’s largest farm…

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Word power: “soundscape enrichment” entices oysters…

Published October 29, 2022 by Pelidoug

Word power: “soundscape enrichment” entices oysters…

From a research article published this week in the British Ecological Society’s Journal of Applied Ecology:

Our results suggest that the enrichment of natural soundscapes using underwater speakers may provide an efficient solution for boosting early recruitment and habitat building by oysters.

However, caution the researchers, restoration practitioners must consider the potential for negative impacts from speaker enrichment.

A question for you, dear reader:

before you read the quoted words, had you ever contemplated oysters’ “hearing”, much less their response to sounds played through underwater speakers?

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McGowangrad, winter ‘22: #9 in series (third of three “strangers in Paradise”)

Published August 17, 2022 by Pelidoug

McGowangrad, winter ‘22: #9 in series (third of three “strangers in Paradise”)

This kookaburra, perched on a grave cross, has something in common with most of the humans who have been buried in Perth’s largest cemetery over the past 123 years.

In 2022, most living WA humans do not know what it is; most of them, in fact, have a quite wrong view of kookaburras’ “place” in southwestern Australia.

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Intertidal: #4 in series (Shallow Inlet – closer view)

Published June 22, 2022 by Pelidoug

Intertidal: #4 in series (Shallow Inlet – closer view)

Tidal sand/mud-flats present very different “faces”, depending on when you happen to visit them – time of day, as much as time of year – and also on how closely you look.

Yesterday’s featured photo was taken in the same location as was today’s, their two vantage points were a very short walk apart, and only a few minutes separated their shutter-clicks.

Nothing much had changed in those few minutes, but…

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Intertidal: #3 in series (Shallow Inlet – landscape view)

Published June 21, 2022 by Pelidoug

Intertidal: #3 in series (Shallow Inlet – landscape view)

There is nothing fake or “tricked up” about this post’s featured image, which was taken just a little north of the Australian continent’s southernmost point.

The photo is, however, a deeply “misleading” portrait of Shallow Inlet at low tide…

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Category: Australia (not WA)