This will hurt me...

Shag on a buoy. Constitution Dock, Hobart. July 2013. As you know, the Internet is a wonderful place filled with the rich and varied treasures of the world holds (and RSS feeds.) The following are some things that I've had a look at in the last week. I call this: a Compendium of Click-throughs for Monday Morning... Schools of economic thought explained as bumper stickers. The World Inside a Camera. Candidate Obama debates President Obama. A Point of View: Is democracy overrated? How does a nation heal itself?

Before I start, I want to say that four am is far too early to have to put up with a whining and grizzling 18 month old. Here's a kookaburra that I snapped sitting on the power lines in Burnie last month. Most Tasmanians don't know that kookaburra's are actually introduced species here in Tasmania. Given that they love to eat snakes, I'm not complaining too much. Here's a poem. There's no earthly way of knowing , by Roald Dahl There's no earthly way of knowing Which direction they are going! There's no knowing where they're rowing, Or which way they river's flowing! Not a speck of light is showing, So the danger must be growing, For the rowers keep on rowing, And they're certainly not showing Any signs that they are slowing...

I was thinking about calling this photograph A shag with a little buoy , but feel the title A cormorant with a little buoy might be a little more appropriate, lest anyone confuse me with Bill Henson...

My moles in the ornithological world report to me that this little dickie bird specimen is Egretta novaehollandiae , better known as a White-faced Heron . I got a couple of snaps of this baby down in Cornelian Bay the other day, but couldn't decide if I liked it better in black and white or colour. I thought that I'd post both, and let YOU be the judge.

There's nothing finer than a shag in the shallows on a public beach! Here is a fine specimen hustling up some grub looking south from Howrah beach mere days ago. So yesterday you got LOVE, today you get HATE: 1. Most Hated Food: NUTS! Peanuts mainly. Not really a nut I know, but the list of things that can kill me is not a short one: peanuts, pine nuts, almonds, hazelnuts, walnuts, cashews, pistachios, macadamias, and they are just the ones I know about! Vile, detestable things! 2. Most Hated Person: I can't just pick one. I generally don't like people who think and carry themselves as if they are learned or broad-minded when in fact they are as - if not more - ignorant, narrow-minded or judgemental than those they look down upon. Unfortunately, there is no shortage of such people. 3. Most Hated Job: Any job where you find yourself getting lumped with work that should be done by those being paid twice as much as you (and they're off eating cake...) 4. Most Hated City: T...

Here you can see a shag take wing on the Derwent. Yesterday we had an odd sort of a day. Lots of rain, started off cool but got increasingly humid as the day wore on. It was rather uncomfortable by late afternoon, with everyone sweaty and cranky. The icy poles didn't last too long after the were broken out. The above photo is mine, but I have a few others to share below that I can't claim credit for. It's a big country, Australia. Sometimes events in different states serve to illustrate that very well. Over the last couple of days, two stories have featured heavily in the news. One concerns the intense bushfires that appear to have killed quite a few people across the state of Victoria. As this photo courtesy of the ABC demonstrates, it must have been pretty unpleasant out there. The other story is happening in North Queensland . Heavy rains have caused some reasonably severe floods in a lot of areas. The photo below isn't of a fish farm, it's some cattle yards c...

A pigeon in the sandpit, just one of the monstrosities to be found in the big city. So my little contribution to the conference (it's international , don't you know) has come and gone. Given the hectic nature of work at the moment, the arrival of teeth on teeth on the Ezra front, and the terrible twos on the Henry front, and the fact that I left all preparation to literally the last minute (again), I am inclined to give myself a reasonably good mark. One day I will learn...

Ezra of course made an appearance at the Tulip Festival as well. He was guarding the empanadas, and helpfully kept this seagull at bay. Thank god we took him, or I would have lost my lunch.

In order to get to play group, Henry and I generally cut across the lower fields of Geilston Bay High School. I have noted something on these fields for the past two months, but have thus far failed to secure a decent photograph. That didn't change today, but I am noe prepared to settle for something less than a decent photograph. Can you see them? Look closer. Click on the picture to enlarge it if you like. See it now? Yes, as I posted some time ago, the birdies are back! Eastern Rosellas , to be precise. Here you can see the two that I got closest too. And here were a bunch hanging around just behind them. I'd guess that there are maybe a good thirty or forty that have taken up residence directly across the road from us. Them and a huge mob of cockatoos , numerous 'plovers' (well, 'banded lapwings' to be precise), and quite a few breeding pairs of magpies . It's not a bad scene each morning.

I will admit that today's photograph is not the most technically impressive, however I could not resist posting it. I can't say that I've ever seen four magpies all chatting happily together before (three maybe, but not four), so I was impressed enough to snap away. Henry and I took a long stroll today along the river this afternoon and found ourselves taking a well-earned rest watching the seagulls squabble at ANZAC Park, the home ground of the mighty Lindisfarne Two Blues football club. Now, I took a few shots of their splendid grandstand, and a couple more of Henry booting torpedo punts through the middle of the sticks from 60-70 metres out, but they couldn't compete with the four magpies. Now, you have to understand that here in Tasmania, we have a sub-species of the typical Australian magpie . Not only is the Tasmanian magpie slightly smaller than its mainland counterparts, it has a far more advanced inquisitive nature. Unlike their dim, obnoxious Collingwood bret...