Spinifex

In February, I listened to an ABC radio documentary about the Simpson Desert, in which Dr. Chris Dickman of Sydney University discussed the pivotal role spinifex – a spiky, slow-growing, clump-formi...

Images from the Red Centre

In the thick heat of early morning, I briskly walked Townsville’s Ross River Parkway, my ears readjusting to the sounds of east coast dry tropics bird life, after having focused so intently on t...

Return to the Sultry Tropics

Utterly weary of heat, of the intense Australian sun, and of – dare I say it! – birding, I holed up in our shaded rental house with the air conditioning on and finished reading a novel before reco...

Australian Shorebirds

As a birder, shorebirds are my nemesis. My discomfort with them is exceeded only by my even greater discomfort with seabirds. When it comes to the latter, I generally cringe or run in terror, although...