Road trip memories. When you notice the nice clouds, jump out of your car, check carefully for traffic, and run to the middle of the road for a quick photo. Barrier Highway, near Olary, South Australia.

Happy Sunday, everyone! Thompson Beach, South Australia. From my archives.

I just saw an aurora alert come through. So, if you are in Tasmania or along the very south coast of Australia, you might like to take some test shots tonight (if you have clear skies). No moon, so that's good. It's likely to be sporadic though.

Rounding off Cockatoo Saturday with some little corellas. These guys can appear in huge numbers. In the many thousands sometimes. So, some people view them as pests, but I like them. They are characters. Photo from when I lived in Auburn, Clare Valley.

Present Sandy is thankful for Past Sandy who very thoughtfully cooked up some delicious meals and froze them for future convenience. That Past Sandy is a keeper! 😆

Cockatoo Saturday: The smallest cockatoo is the cockatiel. I've had a few of these as pets over the years. These days, I don't have any pets. I prefer to see them in the wild. This flock was at Mount Bryan East a few years back.

Cockatoo Saturday: A sulphur-crested cockatoo with an opinion 😆 Mount Crawford, South Australia.

Me on my 2024 visit to Olympic National Park, Washington State. OMG - it was so lovely. Do recommend. I miss doing this right now. 2026 so far has been pretty awful. Hopefully I'll get back to normal soon though.

Cockatoo Saturday: Galahs are a type of cockatoo. This one is peering out of its nesting hollow. Old (even dead) trees and their hollows are so important to preserve. Black Springs, South Australia.

Cockatoo Saturday: A yellow-tailed black-cockatoo at Anstey Hill Recreation Park. This park is very local to me and on the edge of suburbia. It's so lovely that these incredible birds can be seen - and heard - in the burbs.

Cockatoo Saturday: A close look at the magnificent crest of a pink cockatoo (formerly called Major Mitchell cockatoo). Kinchega National Park, New South Wales.

Since I'm still on the sick list, I don't have any new photos to share. So, I am declaring today Cockatoo Saturday. To kick off, here's a red-tailed black-cockatoo that I found at Walgett, New South Wales, on my 2023 road trip.

Just saw this on FB. Posting FYI: Gluepot Reserve is currently closed due to heavy rain. We hope to open again in a couple of days.

A spotted pardalote collecting nesting material at Spring Gully Conservation Park, South Australia. Tree is a red stringybark (Eucalyptus macrorhyncha).

A red-rumped parrot having a drink at a boat ramp at Euston, New South Wales. Archive shot.

From my 2019 trip to England: A dunnock at RSPB Marazion Marsh, Cornwall.

While I'm mucking about with old files, here's one from 2018 that hasn't seen the light of day until now. A bald eagle near Point No Point, Kitsap Peninsula, Washington State.

Sometimes I revisit old photos as, over the years, there is better software & my editing skills (hopefully) improve. Such is the case with these poor, distant photos of an endangered marbled murrelet, seen at Point No Point, Kitsap Peninsula, in 2018. Loss of habitat is a huge issue for these birds.

GP is trying a different antibiotic. If I see no improvement in 3-4 days, I will need to go to hospital for IV antibiotics. But he seemed confident that this will work 🤞

Cuterly 😆

Another museum, another delightfully mishapen #echidna. I reckon #echidnas are the world's most consistently misrepresented #taxidermy species. In #museums, their legs have usually been twisted to point in the wrong direction - like this one in @ulstermuseum.org - in life they point backwards.

I need to take Peter Malinauskas birding sometime. He needs to spend some time with the amazing creatures and environments he is trying to bugger up 😠

Peter Malinauskas wants to overturn the ban on fracking in the south-east of the state. What the hell is happening? He is just doing whatever the hell he wants. He can frack right off! 😠

apparently knowledge institutions that employ thousands of experts on racism, colonialism, and geopolitics did not conform to a specific form of words acceptable to this one tiny powerful lobby group who provide cover for a livestreamed genocide. www.abc.net.au/news/2026-05...

This account thinks it's funny to muck about with my lovely bird photo. Frankly, I'm disgusted 😠

A piece today by @beer4-beer.bsky.social (my boss) about the budget and the regions. theconversation.com/despite-some...

48 hours on antibiotics and no change 😕 On the upside - it's not any worse.

Well this just gets better, the whining Boomer Bob Conkey is a Journalist and a member of Democracy First. #TheAustralian journalist Cliona O'Dowd interviewed another Journalist for their views on the budget. #getinthebin

It was three years ago that there was an irruption of rare scarlet-chested parrots at Gluepot. Birders from far and wide showed up and the normally quiet reserve was like Grand Central Station 😂 I was there too, of course. A remarkable birding highlight.

A sacred kingfisher coughing up a pellet. Many birds do this and I've only photographed it just a few times. The pellets are made up of indigestible material. Clare Valley, South Australia.

Before I got this infection, I was planning to take time off and head north to take a flight over Kati Thanda-Lake Eyre (to see the 1000s of pelicans there!). Now I need to wait until I'm better. Until then, here's a pic from the last time I was up north. A wedge-tailed eagle near Marree.

I’ve been an academic for 20 years and have yet to meet a student who works for award wage and also puts “most of her pay into index fund ETFs”. This is AI generated—but that’s not the problem. The problem is using a *deliberately* inaccurate scenario to complain about CGT changes you don’t like

Really hard to summon up any sympathy for a guy with a Porsche 🙄

Happy Wrensday Wednesday! A sick day for me as I wait for the antibiotics to kick in. No change yet. Here's a white-winged fairywren seen at Boolcoomatta. #wrensday

Everyone knows about the pitch drop experiment, yeah? Quite fascinating. Read about it and watch the live stream, if you like, here ... smp.uq.edu.au/pitch-drop-e...

The boy child and his bride livin' the life on the Amalfi coast. Totes jelly 😆

A rock parrot ... on a rock! Louth Bay, Eyre Peninsula.

Pildappa Rock, Eyre Peninsula.

A male zebra finch. Taken on one of my trips to Boolcoomatta Reserve.

We tried to get Lawson to get in a box the other day. Might need a bigger box 😆

Stickybeaks. Curious teenager emus came all the way from the horizon to see what I was doing. Boolcoomatta Reserve, South Australia. Adnyamathanha and Wilyakali country. From my archives. I probably won't get to Boolcoomatta this year due to road damage there.

I got to pat a friendly neighbourhood doggo on the way to the bus this morning. Always a lovely way to start my day. I almost missed my bus. I had to run. But totally worth it 🙂

Stuck at home ... but living vicariously through my son's Italian food adventures. Everything looks delish! 😋

Some more photos from the big Aurora Australis event two years ago. It was quite something! Eudunda, South Australia.

I'd really love to be out exploring places like this right now - but it will have to wait until I'm well. Near Secret Rocks on the Eyre Peninsula.

And two years ago, I jumped in the car for the second day running, to go chasing auroras. I ended up near Eudunda and saw some fantastic beams and colours on what was a much photographed global event. It was even better than the night before!

All the people saying "that's good news" should look up cellulitis 😬 However, having a diagnosis/medication is good.

Update: I saw the surgeon. Cellulitis. So, strong antibiotics to take. Not actually related to the surgery or treatment. Just a coincidence that it's near a wound site. She thinks it might be an insect bite. Fingers crossed that the antibiotics do the trick.

Oh dear ABC News ... is this a typo or was it written by AI?

Reports are coming in of a big meteor seen off the east coast of Tassie tonight at around 9:30.