10,000 Birds

MARCH 31, 2013

We had last experienced this cheerful family of birds in Katherine in the Northern Territory over 13 years ago, so although the population is isolated there they had the same characteristics. They roam in family groups varying from eight birds upwards and have a certain confidence about themselves as they strut around the bush.

Investigation 166

Investigation Australia Family Collecting 166

10,000 Birds

OCTOBER 21, 2012

It is about an hour’s drive to Lake Argyle, which is Australia’s largest artificial lake by volume. Crocodiles below the dam wall As we entered the park we noticed the tap was dripping and although it was not potable for humans it was much appreciated by the Silver-crowned Friarbirds. An inquisitive Great Bowerbird!

Investigation 103

Investigation Australia Humane Family 103

10,000 Birds

SEPTEMBER 7, 2014

Not, as Linneaus thought, an ostrich, nor even, as later scientists concluded, a distant cousin of pigeons deserving of family rank, it was an honest-to-goodness pigeon, deeply embedded within the family Columbidae. The Dodo ( Raphus cucullatus ) — that towering icon of modern anthropogenic extinctions — was a pigeon.

Solomon Islands 278

Solomon Islands Guinea Mauritius Humane 278