-
Outback Queensland’s Dr Dolittle
September 27, 2018Richard Johnson (BOOBOOK Senior Ecologist) loves conversing with animals. He has been face to face with a roaring silverback Mountain Gorilla in the Congo and a less-intimidating, though equally rare, leaf-tailed gecko in a tiny patch of vine forest near Kilkivan, NW of Gympie, Queensland. On ecological surveys around Roma in Outback Queensland he has… Read more »
-
Botanist Spotlight: Orchids
September 20, 2018What do orchids look like? They are technically a perennial herb because they lack woody stems – instead most grow from a structure called a pseudobulb. You may already be familiar with them as popular plants with colourful and often fragrant flowers, used in floral arrangements and highly sought after by collectors. Where do they come… Read more »
-
Life’s Never Boring – Outback Travel
September 13, 2018A quote found on Facebook recently: “Europeans….I drove 20 minutes and now I’m in France. Australians….I drove 20 minutes and now I’m at the end of my drive way”. So True. There are some spectacular places in Outback Australia, however you do need to be prepared to travel to get there. The last two weeks… Read more »
-
Life is Never Boring – Swans
August 30, 2018I had an early morning start in the crispy cool air to run some molasses out to cattle on the farm. With three dogs on board and the 1000 litre molasses tank full, away we go in the dark, watching as the sun rises to expose what the new day will bring. We run molasses… Read more »
-
Grevilleas, Hakeas and Rose
August 8, 2018Take the BOOBOOK Ecotours Gurulmundi Wildflower Wander and you’ll see flowering grevilleas, hakeas, boronias, wattles and bush peas. You might even find the threatened Gurulmundi Heath-myrtle, and if you’re particularly lucky you will find a Rose. Rose Aisthorpe is BOOBOOK’s resident botanist and wildflower tour guide and has been identifying the plants of Outback Queensland… Read more »
-
Life is Never Boring – Red Kangaroo
August 2, 2018A couple of nights ago our dogs started to off their rocker in the middle of the night – something was amiss outside. After rolling out of bed and grabbing a torch off I toddle half awake to see what all the commotion was about. And wouldn’t you know it there was a Red Kangaroo… Read more »
-
Listen Out for the Striated Pardalotes
July 26, 2018These beautiful little birds are Striated Pardalotes, sometimes known by the old bush name ‘Chip Chip’. That name comes from one of its calls. Its repetitive ‘chip chip’ or ‘dick did it’ calls can be heard just about anywhere that eucalyptus trees grow in the Maranoa. The word ‘striated’ means striped or streaked: elsewhere this… Read more »
-
Life is Never Boring – A Typical Monday
July 5, 2018A typical Monday. We start with me running a load of molasses out to our farm for the cattle. We use molasses with a mix of other supplements to help the cattle digest the older dry grass during the winter months to help them maintain condition and ensure that they’re at their best going into… Read more »
-
This Rock: Home-grown or Extra-Terrestrial?
June 28, 2018This rock, about the size of a rockmelon and weighing 1.76 kilograms, is made of black glass. It was found in the Roma district recently. One of our friends brought it to the office recently and it’s got us scratching our heads. Part of the rock has been broken away and that’s where we can… Read more »
-
A Day in the Life: Fauna Spotter
June 14, 2018Dusty, dirty, long days scrambling over timber, debris and conducting searches through long grass, along tree branches, hollows, logs and bushes for native critters to get them out of harms way, before and after machines have felled timber or cleared land for some construction purpose. Not everyone’s cup of tea, however our BOOBOOK Fauna Spotters… Read more »