It took 12 separate flights to do it, but getting to 'Birds in Art' via Ecuador from Australia was an experience!
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Most people want to visit Africa and see the wildlife at least once in their life – and being a keen naturalist, I was no different. In 2013 I had the opportunity to spend 6 weeks exploring while also supporting the Elephant Orphanage at Tarangire.
Murphy’s Law works well for Glossy Black Cockatoos!! Glossies practice being particularly annoying to observe and photograph…. They make the practice of lurking behind any stray bit of foliage an art-form. While they feed on the She Oak seed capsules you can get very close thus lulling you into the false impression that getting reference material will be a snap - but it’s always through a veil of foliage, or into the sun, or on the far side of the forest.
Trying not to die while snorkelling around Lady Elliot Island was a bit tricky, as I am not great in the water, however I managed to survive. Thankfully I was not required to scuba dive to see...
We have recently returned from a field trip to Far North Queensland. Although I had glimpsed wild cassowaries once before, they are shy and often hard to see in their dense rainforest home. We were lucky enough to spend time with several birds around Mission Beach, but their long term survival here and in Australia generally is in serious doubt. Dogs, cars and habitat loss coupled with a low birth-rate is pushing this iconic species to the edge.
When my golfing mates heard I was going to spend 5 days in Griffith their thoughts immediately went to drugs and Calabrian heavies. However Griffith has another claim to fame – it has the highest diversity of different cockatoos and parrots than just about anywhere on earth.