CONFIRMED! Date locked in and everything.

Thinking about JEPPP's Sousa. About Splasher and his two unnamed podmates, and about Bertha and her baby, Bubbles.

We've got a couple of eight-legged roommates at the moment. A Pale Cellar Spider has set up shop in the corner of our main bathroom, and a Dome Web Spider has built a considerable web between a post and a pot plant by our front door.

We're currently hoping to make a trip out to Darling Downs Zoo as a Christmas present, since I've been wanting to go back for YEARS now. Unlike the perpetually-on-hold 18th birthday Taronga trip, DDZ is much cheaper and much closer, so we should be able to manage it. Maybe throw in an encounter too.

Couple of (semi) recent Crows.

Today we were lucky enough to encounter a superpod while on the water in Puget Sound with the @whaleresearch.bsky.social ! For now, we wanted to share an update on 2 of the Southern Resident orcas we get asked about the most: both L25 Ocean Sun and L87 Onyx were there! #whalesky #killerwhales

Php has an Australia episode and it features Megalania 😁 It looks like this 😐

Crazy to me that even the biggest activist groups are STILL using this number when at this point even Cetabase lists 141 dead cetaceans at the Miami Seaquarium. All using "120+" does is make MSQ look better by underselling just how horrific their death toll is.

This dolphin just died. They shipped a chronically ill dolphin to a park actively fighting eviction because of severe animal abuse, including specifically neglecting chronically ill animals, and less than 5 months later he's dead. I'm so sorry Boomer. What a useless, preventable death.

Glad to see people are being really Normal about Old Faithful's move to Australia Zoo and aren't just blindly regurgitating talking points they've seen on Instagram. There are very genuine and very serious criticisms to be made of his removal and relocation, but most people are sweeping them aside.

Here's another of my classic Scalding Hot Cetacap Takes, but I highkey respect Marineland Ontario for so openly talking about potentially euthanising their whales. I think Marineland Antibes should be making the same considerations and have the same public bluntness about their situation, tbh.

After MONTHS of seeing them zip around the yard, I've finally managed to catch some photos of a Fiery Skimmer! Even with my dogshit eyes and minimal Invert ID skills, these guys are unmistakable.

Feels like 25° at 1am. Oh yeah, today's gonna be fun 🙃

Not even 10 minutes apart lol

Welp. Summer Season's here. Tomorrow's gonna be fun 🙃

I guess SeaWorld has just fully dropped the whole "education" schtick when it comes to their orcas, huh? They pretended to give a shit about wild whales for less than a decade before they couldn't stomach it anymore and went back to Shamu doing front flips and blowing kisses to upbeat pop music.

Bro, why wouldn't the Bird Count be like 3 weeks ago 😭 The Grevellia's at the end of its bloom and the only bird the Lilly Pilly attracts is a Crow who I think only shows up to watch the bees. My checklists are looking PITIFUL.

Got woken up at 8am this morning, but it's okay, because it was so I could see (and confirm ID) this little fella!!!

Our back neighbours have a big Lilly Pilly that's just started flowering recently, and while it isn't anywhere near as popular with birds as the Grevellia, it is an absolute hit with the Inverts, and it's not uncommon for me to hear Flying Foxes stop in for a snack at 3am either.

We had a month or so of quiet there from the neighbours dog. So much so that I thought they'd moved out or the dog had died or something. But nope. Very much still there. As I'm typing this it's been barking non-stop for literally 30 minutes straight.

The list of every animal that has died under the Miami SeaQuarium's care will be made public on the day the last animal leaves that park.

Some itty bitty friends from today (Splendid Ochre & Grey Wall Jumping Spider)

Oh. Look at those palate markings. It's practically 1:1. That's Keto's son.

Pretty Dome Web Spider set up camp on the overhang outside my window yesterday. Such a stunning species, the lighting and angle really didn't do her any justice, but it was a delightful little visit regardless.

People who swear up and down that a fear of certain animals is hardwired into the human psyche are so fucking funny to me. Because like. It's SO clear they've never seen a child given a safe, controlled environment to interact with a snake or a bug or any "scary" animal.

Look who popped back in again this morning! And in much better lighting too, so I could actually get some nice photos of them. Definitely wouldn't mind if this face became a regular at the Grevillea. No hate to the Lorikeets and Miners, but it's nice to see something else from time to time!

Very special guest at the Grevillea this morning.

Bimini was one of the four animals set to be confiscated from the Miami SeaQuarium in early 2024. About her, a January 2024 USDA Inspection Report stated; "Atlantic Bottlenose Dolphins with respiratory abnormalities often experience a rapid decline in health which can result in Pneumonia and death."

I do my best not to anthropomorphise animals, even in my own head, but it's the Southern Residents specifically that always trip me up. I know they are wild animals, I know they have no choice, but sometimes I look at them and I wonder how they have the will to keep swimming.

A few moments from yesterday's "westside shuffle" with J-Pod (September 9th) in Haro Strait off San Juan Island 🥰 #whalesky #orcas #srkw

🦜✨ The Aussie Bird Count is back 20–26 Oct! Spend just 20 mins counting birds in your backyard, balcony, schoolyard, workplace or local park. Last year 57k people counted 4.1M birds – let’s make 2025 bigger! 🐦 Register now! 👉 aussiebirdcount.org.au #AussieBirdCount #BirdLifeOz

We're not even two weeks into Spring and it's already starting to get noticeably a bit too warm in my room. I had two years of an airconditioned room, and now I'm back in a townhouse. I fear this summer season might just kill me.

Honestly I gotta go back to the museum when my body isn't trying to fucking kill me. I got to see the things I really cared about today but I couldn't spend the time with them I wanted. I could only really appreciate like 2/3rds of the taxidermy/model floor, and that's always been my favourite bit 😭

We also stopped in at Roma Street Parklands today! Unfortunately we couldn't stay anywhere near as long as I wanted (health issues flared up BAD) but we were there was still enough time to see easily 25+ Eastern Water Dragons. Always love to see how much they're thriving in urban environments.

Queensland Museum has a small collection of live animals on display, and while most are pretty standard, they also have a Southern Leaf-Tailed Gecko, which is a species I'd never seen in person before! Very nice little treat, and I got to learn something new too - I didn't know QM named the genus!

My beloved Muttaburrasaurus, how I've missed you ❤️ This mount used to be in the entryway to the museum, the first thing you saw when you walked in, and though they've been moved back into a dedicated paleo room, they're as stunning as ever.

Went to the Queensland Museum today and saw my first Killer Whale, in the form of this skull of the adult female from the 2013 stranding in Great Sandy Straight. She was HUGE, I couldn't wrap my head around how big she was. And then to imagine the size of a bull from one of the bigger ecotypes...

Wikie and Keijo's situation has reignited my firm belief that euthanasia for non-medical welfare reasons should be more common for captive ceta. Hopefully it won't come to it, but if transfer is not possible then I don't want to see more whales left to languish and rot for years, maybe decades.

Surprised to get a brief visit from a Crow today. They fly over all the time, but this is the first time one has actually stopped and hung around long enough for me to pull out the camera to take some photos.

It's been mostly overcast the past few days, with quite a bit of rain, but there's still been plenty of Lorikeet action.

I cannot believe that 2025 decided to throw not only a cyclone (the first in 51 years) but also a significant earthquake (the first in 50 years) at SEQ. What the fuck. What's next? We've got some dead volcanoes around here, any one of them want to get a bit silly?

mother fucker I guess I'm awake now. what the fuck

Creature Alert! Spent an hour or two today slapping together a local butterfly id guide in my notesapp on my phone, looked up, and lo and behold; a Black Jezebel! Lovely little Lifer to make my day!

The neighbours two doors down also have a Grevillea that's in line with my window. The distance means the photos I get aren't as good, but it does get some really nice lighting in the evening.

♥

I'm glad to see that PONPA has put dolphins in with Lynn pretty much immediately, but it does make me feel a little bitter when Earth would regularly spend months upon months isolated in a back pool away from Stella and Lynn and they never once bothered to try giving him company.

sometimes grief looks like a tree stump in your neighbours yard

The Grevillea was pretty good today! Lots of birds at dawn, followed by literally 0 birds throughout the day but a handful of interesting inverts, and then lots of birds again at dusk!

Couple of miscellaneous Lorikeet shots from the past few days. I love being able to just sit and watch them hop from branch to branch and twist about like a ballerina to get to the best spot on a flower.

it's 520am and I'm so glad I'm home alone because I just cheered sof ucking loud holy shit finally