Carranya

Avid birdwatcher and amateur fossil hunter, Melissa Lawery, recently hit the jackpot by finding the earliest recorded Aussie fossil bird tracks on a beach along the south coast. There turned out to be 27 tracks from different species, all had three widely-spaced toes ending in sharp claws, and some had a distinctive claw for perching. Dating back some 120-128 million years ago, these have been verified as the oldest bird tracks in the Southern Hemisphere. To put this in perspective, at this…

As I dream of returning to holidays overseas, I have become envious of the free-ranging, long-distance migrations by some of our avian friends. And, yes, there is a pang of jealousy that they travel to and fro, landing where they will, and not an immigration official in sight. But the recent experiences of godwit 4BWRB on its journey from Alaska to New Zealand demonstrate that it is not always easy. Our little friend took off from Japan for a marathon flight over open ocean of more…