Bill Bateman

I heard several Lemon-bellied Flyrobins making some noise in a tree, I had a closer look and saw a Tawny Frogmouth 'Podargus strigoides' #BirdsSeenIn2026 in Darwin #Australia

www.inaturalist.org/observations...
#wildoz #aves

Native trees key to more woodland bird chicks A global synthesis of decades of research suggests that woodlands dominated by native tree species support higher numbers of breeding birds and more fledged chicks than forests with a high proportion of non-native trees.

Woodland birds produce more fledged chicks in forests dominated by native tree species than in those with a high proportion of non-native trees, according to a major new global study:

A figure depicting continental drift from when Gondwana existed to present day, with continents and countries colored according to the ratite species that occur or occurred on them. Next to that is a cartoon of a phylogeny that we would expect support for if continental drift explained patterns of species occurrence and relatedness. And next to that is a cartoon of the phylogeny supported by the genetic data presented in this paper, which demonstrates that closely related species must have traveled great distances after Gondwana broke up, after which flightlessness evolved, and that this happened more than once.

This paper is a great for teaching phylogenetic trees.

"Ancient DNA reveals elephant birds and kiwi are sister taxa and clarifies ratite bird evolution"

Clearly written. It discusses hypotheses of relatedness among species via continental drift vs genetic data. 🧪

www.science.org/doi/10.1126/...

Rare butterflies bounce back after landowners in Wales cut back on flailing hedges More than 300 brown hairstreak butterfly eggs were recorded in hedgerows near Llandeilo this winter after decade of decline

Emphasises how relatively easy some conservation actions are and how rapidly positive results happen www.theguardian.com/environment/...

‘We shouldn’t be surprised’: bushfires in Victoria push threatened species to the brink The impact of fires on wildlife can be ‘catastrophic’, with some plant species feared extinct

Was glad to speak with The Guardian about the impacts of frequent fires on ecosystems, and bang my usual drum about the need for a state level strategy on how we manage the inevitable change that is going to occur to many forest ecosystems. www.theguardian.com/environment/...

New Holland Honeyeater in the green shade at the hottest point of the afternoon #birdsseenin2026 #birds #WildOz

Ancient pine trees growing in eastern Spain have quietly recorded more than five centuries of Mediterranean weather. Analysis of tree rings clearly shows that todays storms and droughts are becoming more intense and more frequent than almost anything the region has experienced since the early 1500s.

Wide path through a forest if quite tall native trees

Comesperma virgatum - Milkwort - a pink flower spike against a tree trunk in the background

Ptilotus manglesii - Pom Pom - a fluffy flower head with bright pink tips

Xanthosia atkinsoniana - Tufted Xanthosia - a white flower divided into four groups of petals

A cool weekend with a bit of welcome rain is the perfect time to get out for a walk in the Perth Hills.

There are flowers to be seen out there too, despite last week’s scorching temperatures. Details in ALT

#ozflora #wildoz #bativeplants #inaturalist #nature

Tawny frogmouth doing what they do best - being an innocent stick #birdsseenin2026 #birds

The interesting applications of AI are all, like, "we built an open framework that uses processors on recycled cell phones to identify and triangulate the location of rare bugs in tropical rainforests" while big tech is going "what if we burned down that rainforest to summarize your emails?"

Crime against wildlife is surging in Australia. These 4 reforms can help tackle it A new study reveals the most prevalent crimes against Australia’s wildlife and environment.

Crime against wildlife is surging in Australia. These 4 reforms can help tackle it share.google/zWecZo5N9b3m... @counteringcrime.bsky.social

Delicious to me

Picture over a large open area of forest with a sunrise in colours of peach and purple

Lovely sunrise after an overnight “low” of 27°C 🥵

📍Kalamunda National Park
⌚️22/01/2026 5.30am

We won’t be the only ones feeling the heat, if you can please put fresh water out for our native wildlife on these really hot days 💧🐝🐞🦋🦜🦉🦎🦘

#sunrise #weather #PerthWeather #nature

Timing of extirpation of a native mammal population from a location relative to the time of arrival of feral cats at that location. Data are taken directly from Supplement 1 in Wallach and Lundgren (2025), using the last record of the native species, and the earliest arrival date from the range of arrival dates of cats to that location. Based on this information, extirpation of a native mammal occurs before cats arrive in only two cases, and these are where Wallach and Lundgren (2025) arbitrarily give the last record dates of 1788 and 1789 (i.e., time of European colonization, in 1788) for undated subfossil material. Of the 178 cases given in the Supplement, eight are omitted from this graph because: they were repeats of another row (n=4), there is no date for the last record of the species (n=1), the species is still present at the location (n=2), or the species never occurred at the location (n=1).

Introduced foxes and cats have had a devastating impact on Australia's mammals. This threat to biodiversity has been widely recognised, documented and acted upon by scientists, policy makers and land managers. Here we refute recent assertions to the contrary.

Read more (OA): doi.org/10.1093/bios...

Investigating the Causes of an Extinction Catastrophe: Controlling Introduced Predators Remains Essential for Conserving Australia’s Mammals Abstract. At least 40 Australian mammal spcies have been driven to extinction since European colonization in 1788. For conservation management to be effect

Cats and foxes are indisputable major causes of extinction and decline of Australian native mammals academic.oup.com/bioscience/a...

Another Aurora Australis photo from last night. The beams were naked-eye visible. This event was even better than 11 May 2024.
Near Truro, South Australia.
#aurora

Aurora australis in our neighbour’s paddock last night, Perth Hills.

A high angle photo of a yellow snake on tree bark.

Cape Cobra (Naja nivea), highly venomous.

#snakes #herpetology #herping #snakesofsa #southafrica

Three more #kakapo matings last night: Tumeke + Te Atapo on Whenua Hou, and Kotahitanga mated with both Marama and Kohengi on Anchor. Mating with different males substantially increases the likelihood of clutch fertility: peerj.com/articles/146.... Here's Te Atapo booming. #conservation #parrots

Rare and beautiful bird rediscovered 100 years after becoming 'extinct' faces fresh threat It was one of 10 species highlighted in a worrying new report. Find out more.

12 years after Australia’s 'extinct' night parrot was rediscovered, a worrying new investigation by the Australian Conservation Foundation has revealed swathes of its remaining habitat are under threat.
au.news.yahoo.com/rare-and-bea...

Ringing in the media, 100 years ago. @btobirds.bsky.social

Herring gull bemused by ice #birdsseenin2026 #birds

A quiet (apart from plane going over) early morning campus and the Carnaby’s Cockatoos were getting breakfast #birds #WildOz

#birdseenin2026 Rook in the snow #birds

Lichen in the snow

#birdseenin2026 common buzzard way up high and calling

Redshank taking advantage of pair of mallards churning up the water

As is traditional when in correct hemisphere - New Year walk to old churches and pub in the cold

Winter blooming of hundreds of plants in UK ‘visible signal’ of climate breakdown New year plant hunt shows rising temperatures are shifting natural cycles of wildflowers such as daisies

Winter blooming of hundreds of plants in UK ‘visible signal’ of climate breakdown www.theguardian.com/environment/... Great article by Ajit Niranjan in @theguardian.com about the @bsbibotany.bsky.social #NewYearPlantHunt #NYPH