Botany Nerds Ahoy
I did wonder why the Gould League booklets we got at primary school had ads for #8 pellets at the back. Now it all makes sense. More seriously, I know many who would do the same but not to paint it.
Thanks for the info on Affinity, will have a look. The currawong posed nicely, even turned to show its best side.
A red rumped parrot from earlier today whilst walking the dog. The phone doing its best.
blackers wrote:
Some birdies seen on a recent sojourn. BTW love your liverworts AW.
Blackers. Nice snaps mate.
Pied Currawongs . Eastern seaboard and southern Victoria.
Grey Currawongs, mostly southern Australia
Black Currawongs. Tasmania and Bass Strait islands, chiefly King and Flinders.
Nest raiding killers.
European Goldfinch ( Carduelis carduelis) , prolific from Spring onwards
European Greenfinch (Chloris chloris) , another one on the list of bird/plants or plant/birds. See, Chloris is the genus of a particular native grass, namely, Windmill Grass and also the genus for European Goldfinch.
A scientific fuck up, because no scientific name is meant to be shared by two different biological organisms.
Another one is Australasian Gannet (Morus serrator), but the same genus has been applied to Mulberries, Morus alba. I’ve got heaps of examples. Not good. AW
Carduelis carduelis and Chloris chloris in John MacKinnon's Guide to the Birds of China here, fellows (ripper of a book by the way, beautiful illustrations):
lucky-al wrote:
Carduelis carduelis and Chloris chloris in John MacKinnon's Guide to the Birds of China here, fellows (ripper of a book by the way, beautiful illustrations):
Lucky-al. Hi mate
Pretty cosmopolitan these days, both species.
I had them as aviary birds in the early 70’s along with a heap of other species of finches, I learnt a lot just by observing them for hours , it was fascinating. Good stuff. AW
Edit. If you get the chance, get your eyes on the new Collins Birds of the World book, it contains every species to date, it was gifted to me last year by a friend/client as a thank you for building an entirely new kitchen from scratch. It’s a beautiful book to peruse.
Cheers AlfredWallace, I've just started to really appreciate birds and bird books in the last few years. Will look out for that one.
Sorry about the orientation of some of those images, couldn't work out how to make them right. Getting more and more like my dad.
Beijing's ginkgo trees have been a sight to see these past few days:
lucky-al wrote:
Cheers AlfredWallace, I've just started to really appreciate birds and bird books in the last few years. Will look out for that one.
Lucky-al. Hey, I’ve found a mate. You and I are going to get on fine, now we’re talking turkey. Another person who admires birds. There’s plenty to like, so more intelligent than we ever thought, in fact a lot of them are brainiacs.
Birds are an integral cog of global ecologies, without them, humans would be screwed.
Ginkgo biloba is a Gymnosperm, ancient plant of the conifers, Macrozamia, Cycas. etc. group. Non flowering vascular plants, their evolution was prior to today’s Angiosperms (flowering plants) . They go a beautiful yellow just prior to Winter, dinosaurs were believed to eat the beautiful lobed leaves, many of which have been found in fossil stratigraphies. AW
seeds wrote:
Wow, is that a floral display or a yellowing off in Autumn?
That's the ginkgo tree in autumn for you.
freeride76 wrote:
Few bird photos from recent sojourns, all on I-phone.
Freeride76. Hi mate, hope you’re well.
Nice shots. Darter, Pacific Baza, Osprey and Striated Heron .AW
AlfredWallace wrote:
Cheers AlfredWallace, I've just started to really appreciate birds and bird books in the last few years. Will look out for that one.Lucky-al. Hey, I’ve found a mate. You and I are going to get on fine, now we’re talking turkey. Another person who admires birds. There’s plenty to like, so more intelligent than we ever thought, in fact a lot of them are brainiacs.
Birds are an integral cog of global ecologies, without them, humans would be screwed.Ginkgo biloba is a Gymnosperm, ancient plant of the conifers, Macrozamia, Cycas. etc. group. Non flowering vascular plants, their evolution was prior to today’s Angiosperms (flowering plants) . They go a beautiful yellow just prior to Winter, dinosaurs were believed to eat the beautiful lobed leaves, many of which have been found in fossil stratigraphies. AW
I think you'll like this then, one of my favourite websites since we moved here: wildbeijing.org
juggling your fishing stick and iphone now freeride76! giving away your spots, they know where you fish mate.
Tried all winter to get a shot of the noisy pitta that was fossicking around in the cottonwood groves at the point but couldn't get a clean shot.
Hi Al- no ID on the spots- try and guess where?
This one would be pretty easy for you I reckon AW- iconic rainforest tree here in the sub-tropics.
freeride76 wrote:
Tried all winter to get a shot of the noisy pitta that was fossicking around in the cottonwood groves at the point but couldn't get a clean shot.
Hi Al- no ID on the spots- try and guess where?
Freeride 76. Pittas are great at not being seen. Heard, now that’s a contrast, never shut up hence the name.
On my recent trip to the rainforests of Sulawesi and The Moluccas (Halmahera, Ternate and Tidore), some of the incredible Pittas we saw were twice the size of Noisy Pittas, for example, Ivory Breasted Pitta, but others were the same size and some smaller than Noisy Pittas. We were getting to within 1m of these birds by remaining motionless under camouflage webbing, Incredible. AW
lucky-al wrote:
juggling your fishing stick and iphone now freeride76! giving away your spots, they know where you fish mate.
I don't think " fishing stick and iphone " is correct, @lucky-al
I reckon you mean " fishing stick and talk block "
freeride76 wrote:
This one would be pretty easy for you I reckon AW- iconic rainforest tree here in the sub-tropics.
Castanospermum australe. Black Bean. Produces nice wood for various applications, especially wood turning. AW
Are you a botanist AlfredWallace? I wonder if you've met my dad, he's a botanist.
basesix wrote:
juggling your fishing stick and iphone now freeride76! giving away your spots, they know where you fish mate.I don't think " fishing stick and iphone " is correct, @lucky-al
I reckon you mean " fishing stick and talk block "
freeride76's talking block is talking as we speak, as i type i mean, as he's clicking and fishing away, at his secret spots, but it's beaming in on him baby and they're beaming together, and soon he'll meet mister zoot horn rollo, who will hit that long lunar note, and let it float.
lucky-al wrote:
Are you a botanist AlfredWallace? I wonder if you've met my dad, he's a botanist.
I’m not a trained or qualified practising botanist, just a mere self taught one.
Albeit, I have taught botany at a couple of Tertiary institutions. Plants and birds are my two main passions in the biological world, but really, I’m interested in anything that has a cellular life cycle . In essence I’m a field naturalist, I love it, its fulfilling and keeps me outdoors, I don’t do inside very well. I’m a passionate surfer also, it’s a connection to the ocean that connects me to the biological world, again. AW
yep, black bean or Moreton Bay chestnut.
apparently the toxic seeds can be made edible (and were made edible by FNP) by a long process.
dulcet tones and freaky bones to @fr, @lucky-al. never had a talk block. can't imagine intermittently blue-screen deflating pupils of night-wonder and dilated-delight.. unless he breaks his salao jewy spell.. then snap away @fr! (not the braid!)
freeride76 wrote:
yep, black bean or Moreton Bay chestnut.
apparently the toxic seeds can be made edible (and were made edible by FNP) by a long process.
I believe they would also use the crushed raw seeds, to infiltrate the water in a small pond or creek, to stun the fish, then scoop up a feed.
freeride76 wrote:
Tried all winter to get a shot of the noisy pitta that was fossicking around in the cottonwood groves at the point but couldn't get a clean shot.
Hi Al- no ID on the spots- try and guess where?
somewhere near where you live? nice shots - that one with baza and his mate, tell us more. you ought to get a decent camera and long lens, camouflage get-out. they know where you fish mate, don't think they don't.
freeride76 wrote:
yep, black bean or Moreton Bay chestnut.
apparently the toxic seeds can be made edible (and were made edible by FNP) by a long process.
FR76. Totally correct regarding the seeds. They knew how to leach the toxins. Smart people our Australian aborigines. We should listen to them more often. Anyway, I’ve got a concrete pour, adios. AW
freeride76 wrote:
Could that be a swift in the upper right freeride76? I was just reading about the Pacific swift, Apus pacifica, one of the species listed in the China–Australia Migratory Bird Agreement. The People's Daily regularly reports on bird migration events. There was an article the other day about the Qilihai Wetland, 'a vital link on the East Asian-Australasian Flyway'. Good news: 'Qilihai Wetland in Ninghe District, Tianjin Municipality - the largest natural wetland in the Beijing-Tianjin region - has become a critical stopover for hundreds of thousands of migratory birds. Monitoring data shows that the number of bird species identified there has risen to 308, a significant increase from the 258 recorded in 2021 and a new historic high.'
lucky-al wrote:
Could that be a swift in the upper right freeride76? I was just reading about the Pacific swift, Apus pacifica, one of the species listed in the China–Australia Migratory Bird Agreement. The People's Daily regularly reports on bird migration events. There was an article the other day about the Qilihai Wetland, 'a vital link on the East Asian-Australasian Flyway'. Good news: 'Qilihai Wetland in Ninghe District, Tianjin Municipality - the largest natural wetland in the Beijing-Tianjin region - has become a critical stopover for hundreds of thousands of migratory birds. Monitoring data shows that the number of bird species identified there has risen to 308, a significant increase from the 258 recorded in 2021 and a new historic high.'
lucky-al. Hi mate.
See, I told you we’d be talking.
Sadly that bird in the top right hand corner is definitely not a Pacific Swift,(aka Fork tailed Swift, it’s either a Welcome or Barn Swallow, photo is a bit fuzzy.
Pacific Swifts spend their entire life on the wing, only when they lay eggs on a high ridge or cliff face they land, it’s very brief indeed, wonderful birds.
They are often above us, way up very high. Easy way to see them is when a brisk weather change occurs and we get a tempest, look skyward and you’ll see a few or hundreds if not thousands. AW
Yep, welcome swallow.
one of my fav birds showed up yesterday - white throated needle-tails.
Migratory swift.
fuckign amazing aerialists.
You see 'em down there AW?
Cheers AW. I'll be at the seaside in Vietnam for a couple of weeks next month, will look up and see what I can see.
Seems a keen interest for some, so why not.