Ghost Crab holes, and the sandy remains of excavation, on 80 Mile Beach

Our first catch at 80 Mile Beach, in the late afternoon, gave all of us a real sense of accomplishment. After two days of experimenting with small-mesh nets (setting one high and one low), the team leaders, Clive, Roz and Chris […]

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Red knot flight feathers. Primary flight feathers (or “primaries”) are at the outer wing, secondary flight feathers (or “secondaries”) are at the inner wing. The 10 primaries point more toward the wing tip while the secondaries point more toward the body (you can see this difference below the bend of the wing).
If dealing with the […]

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Oriental Plovers (foreground) and Grey-tailed Tattlers on 80 Mile Beach
We left Broome, successful to the extent that we had caught over a 1,000 birds, with sufficient samples of a number of species and few mortalities. It was a remarkable feat considering the heat. Clive, Chris and Roz along with Pru and Maureen helped the team […]

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Red “Pindan” soils and limestone formations surrounding Roebuck Bay, near Broome in Western Australia

Within an hour of our arrival in Broome, we met most of the 30-member team — our colleagues for the next ten days. Clive Minton leads the group as he has done for the last 28 — years ever since he drove […]

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Nourlangie, a outlier of the Arnhem Land escarpment of red sandstone, in Kakadu National Park, NT
After a short ride from Kakadu National Park, we pulled into the town of Katherine and, after a quick re-supply, took the paved road to Katherine Gorge National Park. The Northern Territory (an Australian state) manages the park even though […]

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Roadside warnings about swimming near Kakadu National Park, Northern Territory, Australia
We stayed Sunday night at Edith Falls National Park, just north of Katherine, and got a quick lesson in Australian ants. Our first acquaintance was at Devils Marbles. While Mandy raised the tent, I started dinner on the portable gas grill. Beneath us roamed […]

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By day three we flew through fertile southeast Australia and pushed into the barren deserts in the center of the continent. The contrast couldn’t have been greater. In both places, phrases like “up the road apiece” mean nothing. For the most part nothing lies up the road and the distance between places keeps getting longer. […]

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For the last seven years, our shorebird blogs have focused on our work in North and South America, from the tundra of the Canadian Arctic to the pampas of Tierra del Fuego. This blog will be different. Although eventually it will describe a shorebird expedition, this time to northwest Australia, it will also describe our […]

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