http://www.stewartmacdonald.com.au/blog Some random thoughts, gently stewed, served on a bed of love Sat, 23 Aug 2008 06:25:50 +0000 http://backend.userland.com/rss092 en Bigfoot found - for real? If this is true, it's earth-shattering stuff. Bigfoot in a freezer? FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE August 12, 2008 BIGFOOT BODY FOUND DNA evidence and photo evidence to be presented at a PRESS CONFERENCE to be held on Date: Friday, August 15, 2008 Time: From 12Noon-1:00pm Place: Cabana Hotel-Palo Alto (A Crown Plaza Resort) 4290 El Camino Real, ... http://www.stewartmacdonald.com.au/blog/2008/08/a-real-macropod/ Brown tree snakes destroying more than just Guam's birds A brown tree snake In the last 60 years, brown tree snakes have become the embodiment of the bad things that can happen when invasive species are introduced in places where they have few predators. Unchecked for many years, the snakes caused the ... http://www.stewartmacdonald.com.au/blog/2008/08/recent-environmental-news/ This is a message directed at the hundreds of single guys who read this blog daily. A good friend of mine... Well, we've only just met recently, but she's sent me a couple of dozen emails since last night so it feels like we've been friends for ages... Anyway, this ... http://www.stewartmacdonald.com.au/blog/2008/08/the-stewed-thoughts-match-making-service/ From: Emmett Ochoa Who do you turn to when the only person in the world that can stop you from crying, is exactly the one making you cry? http://www.stewartmacdonald.com.au/blog/2008/08/smot-spam-message-of-today/ Some people are apparently welcoming climate change. Grape growers in Austria (note: that's a little country in Europe, not a huge mass of land keeping the Indian and Pacific oceans separate) have found the warmer conditions to be quite beneficial. http://www.stewartmacdonald.com.au/blog/2008/08/an-interesting-take-on-climate-change/ A striped mammal has been photographed by a camera trap set in a remote forest. Is this the sole surviving thylacine? Unfortunately not, as this Edge of Existence blog post shows. http://www.stewartmacdonald.com.au/blog/2008/08/picture-of-a-modern-day-thylacine/ Search engine giant Google has today introduced StreetView into its online mapping system. While users have long been able to view maps and satellite imagery for specific locations, StreetView now allows users to go on a virtual tour of many streets by providing images taken from car-mounted cameras. Have a look ... http://www.stewartmacdonald.com.au/blog/2008/08/google-maps-australia-gets-streetview/ In the Galapagos Islands, there lives a lonely boy. Well, he's at least 60, so we can't really call him a boy. He's lonely not for want of trying on the part of his neighbours. Many girls have been offered to him, but he's refused all of them. That is, ... http://www.stewartmacdonald.com.au/blog/2008/08/tortoise-porn/ Australia's Environment Minister Peter Garrett has today banned savannah cats from Australia, saying they pose an extreme risk to native animals and the environment. "On all the evidence that I have seen, the risks associated with allowing this cross-bred cat into the country, when we already have up to 12 million ... http://www.stewartmacdonald.com.au/blog/2008/08/savannah-cat-importation-banned-in-australia/ Great white shark versus virtually defenseless seal. http://www.stewartmacdonald.com.au/blog/2008/07/more-amazing-animal-photos/ No, it's not a new B-grade horror movie. It's a series of images taken in Africa's Kruger National Park. See the images at the Telegraph. http://www.stewartmacdonald.com.au/blog/2008/07/leopard-vs-crocodile/ On the way from Cape Range to Karijini we drove though a lot of spinifex country and saw a number of dragons dashing off the road as we went by. We stopped and tracked one down to find it was a ring-tailed dragon (Ctenophorus caudicinctus). Ring-tailed dragon (Ctenophorus caudicinctus). Ring-tailed dragon (Ctenophorus ... http://www.stewartmacdonald.com.au/blog/2008/05/karijini-national-park/ We arrived late at night after an all-day driving session from Hamelin Pool. While driving through the park we found the snake species we were looking for - the Pilbara death adder (Acanthophis wellsi). Pilbara death adder (Acanthophis wellsi). It was a very small and cooperative individual. We moved it off the ... http://www.stewartmacdonald.com.au/blog/2008/05/cape-range-national-park/ Monkey Mia Still in Shark Bay, we had to go and see the famous Monkey Mia dolphins. Dean wanted to get some sunrise shots. It's not often that Western Australians can see a sunrise over the sea. The place was very touristy, which is to be expected of a tourist attraction. We ... http://www.stewartmacdonald.com.au/blog/2008/05/monkey-mia-and-hamelin-pool/ Today we're heading up to Shark Bay, the first stop on our two week adventure. I'm heading out with Dean Bradshaw and Farhan Bokhari. As we left Perth I noticed that the latest in hair fashion has only just arrived in Perth. The latest in hair fashion has just arrived in ... http://www.stewartmacdonald.com.au/blog/2008/02/shark-bay/ I've spent the last couple of days on Rottnest Island. Information on the island abounds, so this will just be a brief pictorial overview of my time on the island. I'm heading off to Shark Bay early tomorrow morning. Rottnest is famous for many things, but none more so than its ... http://www.stewartmacdonald.com.au/blog/2008/02/into-the-rats-nest/ This afternoon Alecia left for her seven-month-long trip to Africa. Before she left she wanted one last look at the gorgeous tiger snakes (Notechis scutatus) one can find here in Western Australia, so we all headed down to a nearby lake to try our luck. We saw two tiger snakes, ... http://www.stewartmacdonald.com.au/blog/2008/01/leaving-for-africa/ Today Alecia and I decided to get a healthy dose of zoological goodness, so we headed to the Perth Zoo. It was an exceedingly hot day, but that unfortunately didn't deter the crowds. We headed to the nocturnal house (as did a noisy group of teenagers) to see the ghost bats ... http://www.stewartmacdonald.com.au/blog/2008/01/perth-zoo/ Today Dean Bradshaw, a friend of ours (and a fantastic photographer), picked us up and the three of us headed down to Dryandra Woodland, a small chunk of remnant wandoo forest surrounded by the vast expanses of Western Australia's wheatbelt. Before we even entered the woodland, we found what we ... http://www.stewartmacdonald.com.au/blog/2008/01/numbat-alert/ We got up early today to make our way to The Pinnacles, a spectacular and eerie series of rock formations near the coastal town of Cervantes. The eerie rock formations that make up The Pinnacles The eerie rock formations that make up The Pinnacles It was a stinking hot day, so thankfully we ... http://www.stewartmacdonald.com.au/blog/2008/01/the-pinnacles-and-lesueur-national-park/ I'd heard that there was a healthy tiger snake (Notechis scutatus) population in the lakes around Perth. We headed to a nearby lake early today to try to find some tigers. The view of Perth CBD from a local lake A sign warning park-goers of the numerous tiger snakes to be found ... http://www.stewartmacdonald.com.au/blog/2008/01/tiger-time/ After an early start and an uneventful drive we arrived at Brisbane airport. We'd checked in online the previous day, and when we presented our printed boarding passes to the hostess at the gate they weren't accepted. We had to go and see the guy at the ticketing counter. After ... http://www.stewartmacdonald.com.au/blog/2008/01/perth-day-1/ Alecia and I are heading to Perth, Western Australia, tomorrow. We've got ten days together, then Alecia heads to Africa for a 7-month stint on a mongoose research project. After she leaves I'm heading up north to Shark Bay, Exmouth and the Pilbara to find some reptiles. http://www.stewartmacdonald.com.au/blog/2008/01/a-western-odyssey/ It's been raining and/or overcast in Brisbane pretty much continuously since early December. This is great for our drought-stricken city, but not particularly great if you want to get out and look for reptiles. Yesterday, there was a break in the rain in Brisbane (though other parts of South-east Queensland ... http://www.stewartmacdonald.com.au/blog/2008/01/glorious-again/ At the end of last year, Alecia and I headed out to the Brigalow Belt in Queensland to meet some friends of ours and see what cool critters we could find. I've been out to this particular spot a few times, but have never managed to see a De Vis' ... http://www.stewartmacdonald.com.au/blog/2008/01/herping-in-the-brigalow-belt/ Alecia and I drove down to New South Wales last night to have a bit of a poke around. Unfortunately, we found a lot of dead snakes, and only three live ones. Critters found dead or dying on the road: Eastern small-eyed snake (Cryptophis nigrescens) Rough-scaled snake (Tropidechis carinatus) Brown tree snake (Boiga irregularis) ... http://www.stewartmacdonald.com.au/blog/2007/12/road-to-springbrook/ I just found an eastern blue-tongued skink (Tiliqua scincoides scincoides) in the yard. Eastern blue-tongued skink (Tiliqua scincoides scincoides) Eastern blue-tongued skink (Tiliqua scincoides scincoides) http://www.stewartmacdonald.com.au/blog/2007/12/backyard-blue-tongue/ Alecia and I spent 24 hours up at the Lamington Plateau with some (human) friends of ours, looking for some (animal) friends of ours. Rough-scaled snake (Tropidechis carinatus). He's hanging around a frog pond waiting for dinner. Rough-scaled snake (Tropidechis carinatus) Southern angle-headed dragon (Hypsilurus spinipes) Southern angle-headed dragon (Hypsilurus spinipes) Eastern water skink (Eulamprus ... http://www.stewartmacdonald.com.au/blog/2007/12/lamington-plateau/ Yet again Alecia and I headed to Mt Glorious to see what we could see. We saw a lot. Critters we saw but didn't photograph were: Echidna (Tachyglossus aculeatus) Brushtail possum (Trichosurus vulpecula) x 2 Keelback (Tropidonophis mairii - dead on road) Eastern small-eyed snake (Cryptophis nigrescens) Brown tree snake (Boiga irregularis) x 2 Another coastal ... http://www.stewartmacdonald.com.au/blog/2007/12/two-nights-at-mt-glorious/ Alecia and I have made some calendars from a bunch of our images. One calendar features images taken in September on a privately owned conservation reserve in far western Queensland. I’m donating all profits from the sale of this calendar to the property’s owner, Bush Heritage Australia. More details and ... http://www.stewartmacdonald.com.au/blog/2007/12/looking-for-a-christmas-gift-for-that-special-someone/