Ali's Random Musings

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[allisondroberts]

A rare bird not seen around Melbourne since 1988 turns up in the jaws of a hunting dog near Werribee.

Well the method of discovery is a bit disappointing, but it is very encouraging to find a bird far outside its shrinking range. I hope that there is a population in this area and not just a single bird off course which is unlikely. I hope someone without a hunting dog can investigate further if there is a population that needs conservation action.

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High School Cracks Down On Journalism Teacher For Teaching Journalism

Administrators put an award-winning high school teacher and newspaper adviser on leave months after students accused administrators of censoring the school newspaper from publishing a story.

This new trend of not allowing teachers to teach the subjects that they have been hired to teach least they offend or upset their students or administration is getting ridiculous. Freedom of speech is never going to make everyone comfortable, but it is a very important part of America and critical to be able to hold organizations accountable for their actions. I am disappointed, but not surprised.

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Gould's petrels back from the brink

The discovery of breeding pairs of Gould’s petrels on Montague Island signifies the success of two conservation projects separated by hundreds of kilometres

A good bird species recovery species, and a good example of why sometimes even native aggressive animals have to be culled to allow a target species to recover from the brink of extinction. I would have an extremely hard time being a part of any animal cull, but I do understand why it is sometimes necessary and that it is particularly hard when it is native animals and not an invasive pest.

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Glamour Shots of the World’s Cockiest Supermodels

Ernest Goh’s new book will change your mind about chickens.

There is a slick new photo book out featuring... chickens! I actually got a peek at this while I was in Los Angeles recently and it is a pretty sexy book :)

[allisondroberts]

The title pretty much says it all! Drones are giving us some amazing wildlife videos that were never possible before, but as they become more common, I wonder what rules need to be set up to protect wildlife as even small drones will be perceived as a threat by territorial animals. This drone was no match for an eagle, but a smaller bird may have been injured in the attack.

[allisondroberts]

El Nino- Mixed Feelings

So apparently we are in another El Nino that may end up being as powerful as the one in 1997/98 while I was living in SoCal that brought awe inspiring waves and some pretty big storms. While I am very hopefully that California gets a lot of the much needed rain, I now have mixed feelings because Australia will likely be in drought.                       El Niño could bring disaster and drought relief to California

                      How El Niño will affect you In Australia

[allisondroberts]

Playing Mozart’s Piano Pieces as Mozart Did

A music scholar plays classical piano pieces with techniques that 19th-century performers learned, producing a markedly different effect that researchers are studying.

I have always loved Tori Amos’ piano music, and one of the things I like when I get to see her in concert is that she plays the piano while moving her entire body. Tori was originally trained as a classical pianist, but I think she rejected the confinement of the way musicians are taught to play those pieces. It is interesting that perhaps those pieces were originally played with different expression and movement than how they are normally taught today. The techniques being rediscovered by Christina Kobb today are also regimented and restrictive in some movements so I doubt that these techniques would appeal to Tori either though it is interesting how the rediscovered techniques change the sound and expression of the pieces.

[allisondroberts]

Lion Hunters, Beware: You Could Be the Next Walter Palmer

An American hunter became the world’s most hated dentist in a matter of days, after he allegedly baited, wounded with a bow and arrow, stalked, shot with a gun, decapitated, and skinned a 13-year-old black mane lion named Cecil. But Walter Palmer, whereabouts unknown, is not the only person to...

There was a lot of public outcry and articles about the death of Cecil the Lion, but I liked this one because it talks about the reality that big game hunting in Africa is still a big business and that Cecil was not the rare lion killing in Africa, but one of almost two killed on average each day through legal hunts. I am not completely opposed to hunting, but I think that hunting for a trophy and not food is undesirable in modern times when so many of our ecosystems are on the brink of extinction.

[allisondroberts]

It’s the 30th Anniversary of One of the Best Nerd Movies Ever Made

In 1984 two male classmates and I were invited to dinner in Pasadena, California, to talk with the producers and director of a movie that was going to be set in a fictional version of our school, the California Institute of Technology. David Marvit, a senior at the time who...

The fact that this awesome movie makes me feel old, but this is an enjoyable article that discusses Caltech and women in tech back then versus today. I think I would have liked the author if she had been at Caltech when I was, but alas, I was 10 years too late.

[allisondroberts]

Rescued from fishing line, owl makes return to the wilds of the Lake of the Ozarks

Less than 48 hours after being rescued from a tangled fishing line, a juvenile barred owl was released back into the wild at Lake of the Ozarks State Park

Fishing line is a well known killer of water birds, and there are regular, sad rescue stories in my local area of South East Queensland, but this story demonstrates that fishing line can be a killer to woodland birds, and ones that live far away from the ocean. Luckily, for this little owl, he was rescued in time, but many birds and other animals are not so lucky. If you fish, please please please, dispose of your fishing line properly whether you are in a stream, lake, or the ocean.

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Twelve steps to draw a robin

Nature artist Marco Nunes Correia is going to help you, step-by-step, to draw a robin.

I like birds and I like to draw so what could be better than practicing drawing birds. At least in theory... In reality while I own several bird drawing books, I haven’t actually gotten around to practicing much, but maybe you will be more motivated than me, and this is a nice guide to get you started.

[allisondroberts]

As globe warms, melting glaciers revealing more than bare earth

As globe warms, melting glaciers revealing more than bare earth

It is interesting the things that are being discovered as permafrost and glaciers are melting around the world.

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Meet Guardian Dogs -- the latest weapon in the fight to save native animals from predators.

This is a nice video about how working dogs are being trained to help conserve Australia’s endangered animals. I have become a Maremma fan after I learned about their role with the Little Penguins so I am happy that they are expanding their conservation role to other native animals.

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These are the best 100 photos entered into the Audubon Photo Competition this year and they are most stunning!

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Thousands of birds abandon eggs, nests on Florida's Seahorse Key

SEAHORSE KEY — The din created by thousands of nesting birds is usually the first thing you notice about Seahorse Key, a 150-acre mangrove-covered dune off Florida's Gulf Coast near Cedar Key and Sumner.

This is concerning both because all the nests and eggs were abandoned, but also because no one seems to know what may have caused it. Seabird numbers are in decline so they need to have successful breeding seasons.

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Birds can learn languages of other species, ANU biologists prove

Long gone are the days of Polly wanting a cracker, with a group of biologists succeeding in teaching wild birds to understand a new language.

I am not at all surprised to learn that birds learn other species alarm calls as anyone who has spent time birdwatching has seen ALL birds dash for cover when one species starts alarming, but it is interesting that they have trained captive bred birds to recognize other species alarm calls which could give them a substantial advantage upon release. Often captive bred birds do not survive long in the wild because they don’t have the necessary predator avoidance skills of wild birds that survive to maturity.

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A Group Of 9 Women Kept A Secret For Decades That Not Even Their Husbands Knew About

For three decades, 9 women met up at 4 am to run a secret business. And it's still not over.

This is a really nice, heartwarming story of a group of women being kind to strangers. It is also a wonderful tale of Southern generosity and caring at a time when the media would have you believe that most Southerners are racist hate mongers bordering on terrorists. I grew up in the South. I love the South. Every place has its pros and cons, and I really wish the media would spend a bit of time focusing on the cool aspects of the South and being a Southerner.