by Paula Peeters | Apr 3, 2015 | Wildlife illustration
Last winter Dowse Lagoon nearly dried up completely. The water- and swamp-plants died back, and green pick was hard to find. Every day, groups of purple swamphens would forage in the grassy parks nearby. The lawn grass around here is the sort with underground runners....
by Paula Peeters | Apr 1, 2015 | Tales of science, Wildlife illustration, Writing
Around Easter-time it starts. The stirring of retired folks – the ‘grey nomads’ – as they load up their 4WD’s and caravans and head north for the winter. In south-east Queensland you see them on the freeways, mostly up from the colder south. On...
by Paula Peeters | Mar 26, 2015 | Tales of science, Writing
Lifestyle choices or better beauty products? The Australian white ibis often looks grubby, but the white plumage of egrets always looks freshly laundered – with a purity and glow that the makers of clothes detergents would die for. Both birds start out with...
by Paula Peeters | Mar 21, 2015 | Wildlife illustration
A yellow robin lights up the gloom of a forest at dusk. Sometimes, when I’ve been working quietly in a forest, I sense a presence nearby. A tickle on the back of the neck, or a flicker of something half-seen. And it’s this still little yellow bird. Perched...
by Paula Peeters | Mar 10, 2015 | Writing
I live north of Brisbane, Australia, on the shores of Moreton Bay. This is paperbark country, or was. A place where blue gum woodlands once sank into grassy paperbark swamps which themselves interlocked fingers with muddy inlets flanked with mangroves. The...