Veronika Wild

Crimson Rosella -  Cluan's photo - much better than my bird pics. Oh dear,   looks like I missed the Great Aussie Backyard Bird Count which ran during Bird Week from 21 – 28 th of October, but never fear, I am keeping an eye on those in the backyard. The Birds in Backyards program still allows citizen scientists to contribute not only to our overall knowledge about the health and distribution of our birds, but also about how our environment is changing. Like frogs and other sensitive creatures, birds are literally the canaries in the coalmine of our world.  My bird photography is a lot like my seal photography.  If you play this at fullscreen you may see the rear of a Yellow Throated Honeyeater For instance, last year’s Backyard Bird Count involving 72, 421 people and 1,972, 250 birds, noted a decline in Kookaburra populations right across the south eastern states, though the reasons have thus far remained elusive. However, there ar...

“Knick Knack Paddywhack, Give a Frog a Home….” (Sung to the tune of “This Old Man Came Rolling Home.”) While I was out orchid hunting I passed a hidden dam where Pobblebonks – a.k.a.    Eastern Banjo Frogs were happily singing and yesterday my son sent me a photo from Queensland of a tree frog he had found in the air conditioner. These two incidents got me thinking about the status of frogs, which have been in worldwide decline since they started being closely monitored in the 1980’s.   This matters because they are our canaries in the coal mine, telling us about the health of our environment and especially our water. The frog that came in from the heat - Gordon's Air Con loving Tree Frog   It wasn’t that long ago that standing waters of any kind– frog habitat, were anathema to councils being associated with waterborne diseases and thought to be breeding grounds for mosquitoes and other unpleasant things.   Swamps and wetlands were also r...