October Meeting Our speaker was Diana Prada, a PhD student at Murdoch University, whose current research focuses on the population genomics of microbats and the viruses they carry. She has expertise in applying molecular tools to conservation projects. Surprisingly, bats—which are the only nocturnal flying mammals—make up 20 per cent ...
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Contains reports from meetings and excursions
September 2019 Meeting Our speaker was Nat Reisbeck-Brown, a spatial scientist who has been working on the Atlas of Living Australia (ALA). Nat walked us through some of the features of this database of nature observations, so that we can use it to find out more about our local areas ...
Read more →It’s three years since the DRB moved to Jorgensen Park Pavilion: a large, two storey and rambling building with squeaky floors and lots of character. At first, not all members wanted to move but we knew the Pavilion had won people’s hearts when someone announced it was ‘The Home of ...
Read more →August: KRM Branch The August 24-25 field excursion was to Goodale Sanctuary, where we were kindly hosted by Bob and Lynette Goodale. On the Saturday morning five members plus two guests turned up in fine weather, perfect for exploring this marvellous property to see what plants were in flower and ...
Read more →August Northern Suburbs Branch The unseasonably hot weather forecast did not stop a very pleasing turnout of 16 members and visitors (at least three of whom had seen it on Meetup, including a recent arrival from Wales) from visiting Marangaroo Conservation Reserve—all of them I think for the first time. ...
Read more →August DRB Nats Excursion It is only be fitting to report that on our excursion to Wedgetail Reserve on August 25, we saw a Wedgetail Eagle (Aquila audax), along with 17 other birds, including Inland Thornbills (Acanthiza apicalis), White-browed Scrub-wrens (Sericornis frontalis), and Scarlet Robins (Petroica boodang). Forty-eight members and ...
Read more →September: Main Club Excursion Ten of us joined excursion leaders, Ry Beaver and Tanya Marwood at this unique reserve east of Pingelly. Tutanning NR is a DBCA managed property with accommodation at the Percy Marshall field station. The habitat is Wandoo woodland, with some kwongan heathland and several large granite ...
Read more →August KRM Branch meeting With spring just a couple of weeks away the topic for the August meeting was orchids, and the speaker was Colin Prickett. This topic was scheduled to provide extra motivation for audience members to get out and about in reserves throughout the South-west in search of ...
Read more →August NSB Meeting In the past it would have been called science fiction, today it is referred to as cutting-edge research, tomorrow it will be the norm! This is possibly the best way of summarising the information delivered by our speaker, Dr Olly Berry, leader of CSIRO’s Environomics Future Science ...
Read more →The City of Melville hosted a three-hour bird workshop by the DRB on 7th September, and about 45 members and visitors attended. Prior to the workshop, two of us spent an hour doing a bird count at the workshop location: the AH Bracks Library on Canning Highway. The list was ...
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