The Land of Oz

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Louise - You have often mentioned that you live in Oz. There is a brand new documentary on PBS (Public Television) tonight entitled "Parrots in the Land of Oz. The colors, behaviors and habitats of the parrots occupying Australia." I don't know if you can access this, but I thought members here in the U.S. might be interested. In Eastern Standard Time, the show airs at 8:00 PM.

Hi Goldfinch

We do get some PBS programmes. I'll keep an eye out for it. Strange things happen. DH and I were in Boston in May last year and shared a meal in a Mall with a couple of environmental science students. One of them told me about an amazing TV doco she saw about cane toads in Australia. So I am keeping an eye out for that as well.

FYI, cane toads are poisonous great ugly toads brought to Australia mid-20th century to control a beetle that was decimating sugarcane crops. Well, that was a bad move. Every animal that eats the poison glands on their backs dies, and as they are all over Queensland and the Northern Territory, making their way over the border into Western Australia too. It is having a really serious effect on carnivorous wildlife numbers. About the only thing they are useful for is that there is a company that traps them, kills them, grinds them up and makes lovely liquid fertiliser out of them. I call that sweet revenge! These toads are so horrible that even the animal lib people are not screaming out to save the toad!

Cheers

Louise

I was only able to catch about half. Very interesting. I was sad to see the conflict of man
and animal, as the birds plague farmers. I was thrilled to see how many cockatoo species
there are ! I had no idea. I had the privilage of knowing one once. Smart and so loving - I adored him.
But I could Never have bird, it seems domesticity is a lousy life for a bird. It always breaks
my heart to think about. I actually had a cockatiel that I "inherited" from a woman I took care of.
He outlived her a couple years and died in my hands after desperately calling me to him. I thought
I would just die of grief, he was so precious and had such a hard life. Sorry TMI ? but it's in the telling
that we honor and remember , no ?

I laughed when I first saw you call your land "Oz", because I felt I
knew just what you meant. I've always been quite fascinated with
the exotic flora, fauna, Aborigines and history. And Oz. My Dad read
every single one to me. Do you really even have Lunch-basket trees ?
I know you have some of my fave orchid species... growing in those lunch-basket trees ?...
Zelda

Now when I hear about Australia I think of Louised !
Zelda

Hi-
saw Louise's post about the toads- I live in Qld and the news here the other night they said with all the recent flooding that the toads will be swept down deep into new territory in NSW, SA etc. However, a recent article said that they've found toads that have mutated in newer generations- that the ones with traces of desert bacteria are getting malformed bones and joints that may end up wiping them out. Almost as good news as the fertiliser (may I ask where this fab product is being sold?)
Please let me know if it does come to oz tv- I have been making paintings about parrots and it would be very useful to my research...
this really is an international forum?!
bluemama xxoo

Hi Bluemama

Glad to hear you are in our hemisphere too. I just googled Toad Juice and came up with two products, one a horse product, the other a liquid fertiliser. Here is the URL for the fertiliser story. http://www.abc.net.au/darwin/stories/s1591341.htm . You wouldn't want to get the two products mixed up! It sounds like the fertiliser might not quite be on the market yet, but I am sure it won't be far away. On the other hand the date of the story was 14 March which is not far short of April Fools Day, so don't hold your breath!

Cheers

Louise

The documentary is being shown again on NATURE (PBS) tonight in case anyone missed it the first time it aired. Lovely scenes of Australia...and of course parrots!