Ella Bay Forever

nice opinion.. thanks for sharing....

I've just stumbled across your wonderful blog ...

2012-01-02T10:27:34.437+08:00

I've just stumbled across your wonderful blog while I was looking for more information on the amesthystine python. I live in the Samford Valley near Brisbane and development is a big issue here too - although there seems to be no shortage of animals, big or small, harmless or dangerous, that want to share living in and around my home. Thanks for the pic of the Sand Dollar. I saw these in Picnic Bay at Maggie Is. but had no idea what these beautiful and delicate shells were.
Ange

Thank You anonymous was interesting to see images ...

2011-10-06T08:31:33.362+08:00

Thank You anonymous was interesting to see images of these gates in use. Thanks for taking the time to share this link and your thoughts on these "Gates of last resort"!
cheers Russ

A note on the Canadian system: the one way gates m...

2011-10-06T04:23:42.759+08:00

A note on the Canadian system:
the one way gates mentioned truly are a last ditch effort for removing animals after they have become trapped inside a fenced area. Much more effective have been the various under and overpasses for exclusive migratory wildlife use, mainly employed in the parks of the rocky mountains.
(http://www.pc.gc.ca/eng/pn-np/ab/banff/plan/transport-transportation/routes/chap1/sec1.aspx)

Thank you Liz and Paul for your comments.Good to s...

2011-07-07T16:35:48.984+08:00

Thank you Liz and Paul for your comments.Good to see your web site is going well Liz, you have assembled some fine work there! If any reader wants to check out the premium Mission Beach cassowary website here is the address! http://www.missionbeachcassowaries.com/

At the very least, once we are aware we can act to...

2011-06-25T16:24:44.985+08:00

At the very least, once we are aware we can act to minimise the risks and impacts on allthe fascinating wildlife.

What a great article ... need to get all the idiot...

2011-06-09T21:09:06.212+08:00

What a great article ... need to get all the idiots off the roads too as they are killing so many fascinating creature big and small including the cassowaries.

Sorry if I repeat myself - think my post vanished!...

2011-01-07T12:18:00.744+08:00

Sorry if I repeat myself - think my post vanished! Just wanted to say thanks for great info I found searching for flowers for my large orchid in my car port in Phuket Thailand. Have also recommended some from the Philippines! All the best, Sofia

Dear Russ, found your blog looking for the giant o...

2011-01-07T12:06:47.928+08:00

Dear Russ, found your blog looking for the giant orchid I have growing in a pot in my car port in Phuket Thailand,and realised happily that it's name is the same as my friends e-mail address! Just did not realise and trivia of course. I was actually after the flower and as much as local gardener tried to help I just had to Google and came upon you! Thanks for great and informative text and pictures - I now know what to spend the next fifteen years looking for!! Have been told it's very pricey but I think I remember getting mine very reasonably...if you are interested I'll happily send some pics of my somewhat modest collection, but would prefer email as have no site. Thanks again, all the best, Sofia

You want the long or the short answer anonymous? ...

2010-09-17T11:11:53.557+08:00

You want the long or the short answer anonymous?

Here is the short

Property developer Ella Bay Pty Ltd have proposed the creation of a traffic strike threat for endangered southern cassowaries by proposed building/enlarging roads through the birds Seymour Range habitat (including road through supposedly protected World Heritage National Park).

To reduce this unacceptable threat they then propose fragmenting cassowary habitat by putting up huge fences along 3 kilometres of this road. This in turns blocks access to essential food resources and habitat for the cassowaries and creates another unacceptable threat.

Then to help fix the mess they have created they propose putting up magical (excuse my sarcasm) Satori gates that don't seem to have worked very well for their original inventors in Canada...something the feel good newspaper article kind of forgot to mention!

So to simplify things they

1 Create a severe problem
2 Try to fix the problem which in turn creates another severe problem.
3 Claim to have invented solutions to the problems the developer is creating even if the solutions have not worked in the field elsewhere (I'm thinking Canada here).

What do I suggest?

Don't create a threat to the cassowaries in the first place and then you don't have to come up with fanciful solutions like fences and magic gates etc that you have to fool the public into embracing via feel good media stories.

Talking of media stories here is a story that shows why I intensely dislike roads through Cassowary habitat http://www.terrain.org.au/news-for-members/340-bramston-beach-cassowary-fatally-injured-after-vehicle-strike.html

When you sit with a mortally injured road strike cassowary for an hour or so I can assure you that extra roads slashed through their precious habitat by Ella Bay Pty Ltd seem more distasteful with every minute that passes.

Thank you Luuuuuua. You take a pretty wicked photo...

2010-09-14T11:12:04.327+08:00

Thank you Luuuuuua. You take a pretty wicked photo yourself and Romania is very different to my little part of the world indeed though it has a rugged beauty all of its own. Bravo to you too!

Hi Red nomad I think a lot of the coconut death st...

2010-09-14T11:00:59.413+08:00

Hi Red nomad
I think a lot of the coconut death stuff is a bit of a beat up to be honest but that is not to say I don't have a very healthy respect for the coconuts on the trees in my own garden! They certainly come down with a thud.
I certainly enjoyed your story re the Frankland Island trip that you posted on your blog. It has made me determined to follow through and take the tour one day soon!

Very interesting article - I'd never given any...

2010-09-12T19:43:59.100+08:00

Very interesting article - I'd never given any thought to whether or not coconut palms were exotic! But I do find it bizarre that while coconuts are apparently responsible for more deaths than sharks (sorry, can't recall where I saw this), we are yet to see a movie called 'Husk'! 'Jaws' has, of course, been around for ages.

Look forward to more about your area!

Red Nomad OZ
http://www.rednomadoz.blogspot.com

f interesant blog,bravo

2010-09-02T18:02:35.707+08:00

f interesant blog,bravo

So what do you suggest then Russ?

2010-08-26T10:07:14.259+08:00

So what do you suggest then Russ?

Thank you for your comments Andrew and I am sincer...

2010-07-20T10:45:47.566+08:00

Thank you for your comments Andrew and I am sincerely looking forward to the release of your book on our threatened Australian animals. I got a lot out of your talk on threatened species in Cairns last year.

The removal of traditional owners from their coastal homes and massive post contact mortality from European diseases, reduction of white tailed rats in some coastal areas and increased populations of farmed coconuts on nearby land masses would certainly have started swinging things in the coconut palms favour post European contact that's for sure!

If we are to accept Rigby's fossilised coconut from Chinchilla as evidence then that would suggest that coconuts have had at least 2 million years to colonise Australia and still had not managed to do so so prior to first contact. I could ask of the plant ecologists how many more hundreds, thousands or millions of years would we have had to wait if the pre European status quo had remained?

I think it is fascinating that the very feature that encouraged our species to cultivate coconut palms all over the tropics was the very same feature that prevented it from colonising Australia. That is it was too damn edible! I would hazard a guess that if coconuts were highly poisonous they may well have colonised Australia prior to European contact/settlement.

I had not considered the fact that coconuts provide shelter for other non native rat species and thanks Andrew for bringing this to my attention.

Again I look forward to your book and if the quality of the presentation you gave is indicative of the quality of your book it will be a winner!

Very impressive Russell; its nice someone has time...

2010-07-19T21:32:36.434+08:00

Very impressive Russell; its nice someone has time to do all that research and I am glad you came to the same conclusion I had.

However, speaking as an ecologist specialising in seed dispersal, it seems clear to me that it was only a matter of time until they did get established here. The fact that human animal's made it happen first is quite a normal occurrence in seed dispersal; animals and stochastic events (e.g. big storms) often bridge the gap to hard to get to places for plants.

In addition, a plant ecologist would probably look at the distribution (at small and large scale), competitive interactions with other plants and age structure of cocos populations and quickly determine it was in an early colonising phase.

Of course the coconut story doesn't end there; they interact quite strongly with other introduced pests. Many beach communities sustain significant populations of black rats thanks to the shelter and food provided by coconuts - especially when Uromys make the breaking in job easier...

Regards

Andrew J. Dennis

Thank You Denis for your kind comments. I have re...

2010-07-17T14:35:17.609+08:00

Thank You Denis for your kind comments.

I have researched the Bligh breadfruit story in the past. The irony of the whole story is that the slaves they were being collected to feed refused to eat breadfruit according to a few sources I have found including wikipedia http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Breadfruit !

Oh well looking at positives if it wasn't for Bligh we wouldn't have the wreck of the Pandora to treasure!

All coconuts sink eventually so who knows, new evidence might get discovered that shoots me down in flames but at the moment I'm pretty happy with the story.

Hi Russell Great piece of research there. . Many e...

2010-07-17T14:14:47.771+08:00

Hi Russell
Great piece of research there.
.
Many early explorers were trained as transplanters of tropical plants of economic value.
.
One of Captain Bligh's official tasks was to introduce Breadfruit from Tahiti to Jamaica - under direct instructions from Sir Joseph Banks. See "Plant Explorers":
http://www.plantexplorers.com/explorers/biographies/captain/captain-william-bligh.htm
.
The Australian Plant Names Index is ambiguous, suggesting India as the real home of Coconuts.
http://www.anbg.gov.au/cgi-bin/apx?taxon_id=18519
But the earliest references are from 1860 - well after the records you cite.
.
I think your case is as water-tight as a floating Coconut shell.
Cheers
Denis

http://www.anbg.gov.au/cgi-bin/apx?taxon_id=18519

Thanks for your comments Amanda and there's no...

2010-07-17T12:18:06.141+08:00

Thanks for your comments Amanda and there's no denying marsupials take all the prizes when it comes to cuteness! Snakes are handsome in their own way but unfortunately don't have a great public image. The fact that Australia has some of the deadliest snakes in the world doesn't help either!

Thanks snail I won't mention how many hours we...

2010-07-17T11:44:25.570+08:00

Thanks snail I won't mention how many hours went into this but it was a fascinating journey and was a bit like a book that you just can't put down!
The courage of our earliest mariners is mind blowing and sadly many of the historical figures I mentioned had their lives shortened due to the strains and dangers of the projects they undertook.
The whole "coconuts make the place look tropical" issue must be a real pain for North Queensland councils. I note it was recently published in the Cairns Post that the Cairns council spent a quarter of a million dollars maintaining de-nutting etc. their coconut trees. Imagine how many wonderful native trees could have been planted on Cairns beaches alone with those wasted dollars!
To be fair Dr Foale's nut splitter looks very shiny and handsome but like you I don't see myself rushing out to get one!
Thanks for your comments Snail, you are always a welcome visitor and it's about time I trawl through your site and see what your cheeky rufous pademelons and tree kangaroos have been up to!

A great piece, Russell! I'm completely gobsmac...

2010-07-17T11:02:32.313+08:00

A great piece, Russell! I'm completely gobsmacked that one of the arguments in favour of retaining coconuts is that they make the tropical coast look tropical. *shakes head*

And a coconut splitter? For $140 plus postage? There's one born every minute.

eeeek! I prefer wallabies ;) Granted, it is beau...

2010-07-10T17:09:20.279+08:00

eeeek! I prefer wallabies ;) Granted, it is beautiful in it's own special way lol.

Hi Snail. Your right they are ungrateful little cr...

2010-06-30T15:31:23.478+08:00

Hi Snail.
Your right they are ungrateful little critters at times and now that we are entering the cooler dry season I expect to be shifting a few more snakes off the warm bitumen during my nocturnal travels.
The big amethystine has been chased off the road in front of my home on a few occasions and I usually see it when I have no camera apart from my very average mobile phone!
Thank you for your comments snail
Cheers Russ

Thank you for your encouragement Chun. I thoroughl...

2010-06-30T15:22:03.104+08:00

Thank you for your encouragement Chun.
I thoroughly enjoyed your latest nocturnal field trip on "Encounters With Nature" at http://star-charmed.blogspot.com/.
I really must do a few more nocturnal field trips myself!