by Paula Peeters | Jun 6, 2015 | Tales of science, Wildlife illustration, Writing
Australian swans are black, while most swans are white. Why should this be? When I was a child, growing up in Australia, the only swans I saw were black. At Lake Wendouree in Ballarat, or in the Botanic Gardens of Melbourne, the swans were slightly menacing in their...
by Paula Peeters | May 16, 2015 | Tales of science, Wildlife illustration, Writing
This post is co-authored by Gordon Sanson.ยน Early dawn light is creeping across a glassy-still wetland, as wreaths of mist curl upwards. A large white egret stands still, poised ready. Nearby a man is waiting for kangaroos to venture onto the lush grass near the...
by Paula Peeters | May 1, 2015 | Tales of science, Wildlife illustration, Writing
Many years ago, Franz Kafka imagined a creature that was elusive, and remained tantalizingly out of reach, so that its exact nature was never quite discerned: The animal resembles a kangaroo, but not as to the face, which is flat almost like a human face, and small...
by Paula Peeters | Apr 22, 2015 | Tales of science, Wildlife illustration, Writing
Over the last couple of months four species of egret have been frequenting Dowse Lagoon. Sometimes I see them together in the same muddy corner near the bird-hide. They are the great egret Ardea alba, plumed or intermediate egret Ardea plumifera, little egret...
by Paula Peeters | Apr 12, 2015 | Tales of science, Wildlife illustration, Writing
A recent visitor to our house – a keen naturalist from southern Australia – was startled the first time he heard the sound of an Asian House gecko, and was even more surprised that a gecko was responsible for the call. It is unusual for a lizard to be so...
by Paula Peeters | Apr 8, 2015 | Tales of science, Wildlife illustration, Writing
The rainforest holds many secrets in its high vaulted green ceilings, swooping loops of vines, a million soft mossy pockets and damp rotting piles of leaves. So many tales to tell. Of tree and leaf, beast and bug, season and storm. This one is about the black booyong,...
