Really happy to hear that. There's so many more!

Just wanna say that I really enjoy these posts. I am learning about animals I didn't even know existed! :D

South Australians, band together for Bandies! We've lost and are losing so many beautiful smaller species.

You've just reminded me, I've got to do another 'know your species' post (starting with 'B').

💚

The bird beef started one day when Louis was swooped while riding his bike.

It escalated when he hit the bird with a broom while defending himself from an attack.

If you attack, threaten and yell at male magpies defending their kids, you're in for it! 😆

I put it up as a sort of running gag. We've had a number of posts on magpie swooping in the last month or two, especially what to do with magpies that are insistent on swooping and people want to relocate them. This little fun piece just gives a pretty simple solution (which may work but should not be used continuously as the food mentioned is bad for magpie health).

it is unaustralian not to be swooped. 👍 😆 💚

Sounds like his parents and teachers failed to teach him how to make peace with the Magpie.

Also crickets are a healthier snack for Magpies. You can find them in the garden (shocking) but some pet stores also sell them as food for lizards and fish.

Is this... news? Everyone gets swooped - it is unaustralian not to be swooped.

I don't really read the ABC front page anymore but I was surprised to see it filled with these kinds of filler pieces when I looked at it recently.

What did he do?

😂 😂 😂 What a drama queen!

Time for this classic https://youtu.be/YGGTcYfrEZU?is=p24zpSEYyQ-J8Nnp

Oof, a dolphin? Don't know why, but I wasn't expecting it to affect them.

Its been interesting to see the WA governments approach to wind generation in the wheatbelt (thats the agricultural area in southwest Australia), they're trying to position them in different areas to maximise wind geberation throughout the day based on the different times of day the wind picks up in different areas.

It took me a minute to find it, but this reminded me of research I'd previously heard of that also turns out to be from UNSW and in fact one of the same authors:

UNSW research finds solar can act as early bushfire warning system

While investigating on the effects of wildfire smoke on rooftop PV installations, University of New South Wales (UNSW) researchers have found that solar arrays, due to their sensitivity to smoke, could serve as an early warning detection of wildfires by providing temporal and spatial information on the presence and approximate concentrations of smoke.

So that's a silver lining to this problem.

Unfortunately, smoke concentration is high when wind speeds are low, so you could get a double-whammy of degraded solar and degraded wind generation. Usually the two are pretty complementary, so conditions where generation from both is reduced is something that needs to be addressed. Offshore wind power is less variable, so this might underline its importance, as well as generally spreading out generation and firming with batteries.

Yeah it's a bloody farce isn't it?

When the punishment is a slap on the wrist, it's no wonder stuff like this keeps happening.

The problem is that moneyed interests is what keeps the punishment a slap on the wrist.

The answer of course is money. When it is no longer profitable to dig up fossil fuels and burn them/ship them to other countries, they'll stop.

As much as we want this to be an ecological response, it'll always boil down to a money thing.

The trawling will stop when farming fish becomes more profitable than trawling the ocean for fish.

Perhaps the type of arsehole who doesn't actually want to kill the fish but can't find anyone to take them (You should be able to take them to a vet or similar and have them put down humanely).

Or, it could be an eco-terrorist. There are people out there who do want to destroy nature.

Yet in Australia we are still backing new and expanded coal mining, gas fracking and marine gas exploration and exploitation with all the problems we know fossil fuels bring. How do we get through to our governments and conservative parties and their hangers-on? They are selling our kids out.

Why is Mario there though?

A person like this? The most famous of illegal fish introductions.

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/J._Stewart_Smith

https://teara.govt.nz/en/biographies/6s11/smith-joseph-stewart

https://www.stuff.co.nz/national/118845051/the-liberator-how-one-mans-15000-pest-fish-changed-new-zealands-waterways

Judging by the locations in the photos it must be the same group of koi we saw several months ago.

Oh, I was gonna suggest Gina Reinhardt or maybe Alan Jones.

My bad.

I can tell you that Curtis Island has always had that problem.

I asked Gladdy locals about it, because yeah, you’d see a storm coming from the west and you could watch it break apart before it got to you. They all told me it’s not unusual.

Edit: if I had to guess, that’s where the incinerators are.

As funny as Neil is, he's putting himself and everyone around him in danger every time he decides it's Bother The Humans Time. I don't know how they'll manage to deal with him, though. He doesn't look like mere mortals can contain him.