Bunyip blows the Mercedes …

In its drive to promote only the politest of speech,Mercedes has announced that it is about to reclaim Professor Bunyip’s luxury car for this outrageous piece published recently.

It would be impolite of me to ask Mercedes to comment on this …

Daimler-Benz … avidly supported Nazism and in return received arms contracts and tax breaks that enabled it to become one of the world’s leading industrial concerns. (Between 1932 and 1940 production grew by 830 percent.) During the war the company used thousands of slaves and forced laborers including Jews, foreigners, and POWs. According to historian Bernard Bellon (Mercedes in Peace and War, 1990), at least eight Jews were murdered by DB managers or SS men at a plant in occupied Poland.

Doubtless an unconscionable slur, isn’t it actually the case that they took Hitler’s car off him for suggesting six million Jews died of gas or something?

Zen and the science of demography …

“Master, Alan Jones has said a rude thing”.

“Oh, little grasshopper”, said the Zen master glancing up from his Google News page of bushfires, plane crashes,  terrorism, mayhem and murder, “What will you do?”.

“I shall take away his Mercedes“.

“Well, I’m sure that will please the Labor party. Do they purchase a lot of Mercedes, I mean, other than those that are milking their union members for all they’re worth?”

The Pixaim River …

We spent two nights at the Pantanal Mato Grosso Hotel, right on the riverbank. A sizeable Caiman had found its way onto the verandah in front of one of the rooms. The polished concrete was too slippery for it to gain a purchase with its feet. Before the lucky guest could access their room the caiman had to be carefully assisted back onto the grass.

The days were spent on the river, after dark we went spotlighting in the back of a truck.

After a while the boatman dropped in a line. Within seconds he had a Yellow Piranha.

What with them and the caimans the life jackets may not have been a lot of use.

The poor fish was banged on the head and then thrown out. Well educated birds were waiting. First in was a Black-collared Hawk.

Subsequent fish were claimed by Great Black-Hawks and by Cormorants.

Jabiru …

In the north of Australia we are lucky to have the beautiful Black-necked Stork …

Many Australians call this the Jabiru, indeed just outside Kakadu National Park there is a town named after this popular mistake. Kakadu, of course, is Crocodile Dundee country. Mick Dundee might well have said, “Call that a Jabiru? This is a Jabiru.”

The South American claim on the word is undeniable, Jabiru is from Tupí–Guaraní for swollen neck. Other Tupí–Guaraní words that are likely to be familiar are jaguar, tapioca, jacaranda and anhinga. Jabirus are found through a broad swathe of Central and South America east of the Andes. They are at their most abundant in the Pantanal. They look fairly gruesome on foot but are the picture of grace once airborne.

The Pantanal …

65 million years ago a huge inland sea, the Xaraés, began to dry out. As it did it became a huge lake and then the seasonally flooded basin called the Pantanal.

Touted as the largest wetland on earth it extends into two Brazilian states, Paraguay and Bolivia covering upwards of 150,000 square kilometres. One to one and a half metres of rain falls each year, mostly between November and March. The water level rises as much as three metres as a consequence. The rains stop, the level falls and by the end of the dry season the roads are dusty and the water birds and caimans are struggling for the remaining ponds. Ranching is the principal human activity but the problems that extensive flooding brings keep the human population fairly low and give the wildlife a space in which to survive.

The Transpantaneira is a highway into the northern Pantanal, in Brazil’s Mato Grosso. It is an unsealed road with numerous wooden bridges. It was the route that took me to the Pixaim river last month.

Coatis cross the Transpantaneira

 

Every puddle held something …

Say hi to the Yacare Caiman. Spotlighting at night reveals the density of these creatures to be astounding, and by the end of the dry some will be encountered going cross country, maybe even on the balcony outside your door! They mainly eat fish. The Capybaras don’t seem to show them a great deal of concern …

Click on the pictures to see them in better detail. More to come soon …

Good to see Mr Williamson back in the news …

In July, the Temby report, an internal investigation into allegations of corruption within the union, found that nepotism and cronyism resulted in Mr Williamson, his family and friends reaping millions of dollars from the troubled HSU during his 15-year reign.

The report found that companies controlled by Mr Williamson and his family had received $5 million from the union over the past four years.

He was arrested this morning and charged with twenty offences. At first glance it seems they are mostly in relation to possible attempts to cover up his previous actions. Investigations are continuing. Will we see charges of embezzlement?

Santuário do Caraça …

The continuing saga of my recent trip to Brazil …

Leaving the not quite visited Serra da Canastra National Park in flames behind us it’s another six hour road trip to the Santuário do Caraça. This is a beautiful 17th century seminary set in a stunning mountain setting. The sanctuary covers a little over 11,000 hectares and is home to the Maned Wolf and Masked Titi monkey as well as birds of the Atlantic forest. It’s about two hours drive here from Belo Horizonte, capital of Minas Gerais and Brazil’s sixth largest city, getting on for 2.4 million people, weekends and holidays are best avoided.

The accommodation is simple but comfortable, meals are provided in the refectories, alcohol can be purchased. The church is fully functional and a place of pilgrimage.

Walking paths quickly get you to lush forest or up to heathy scrub. If you are a birdwatcher preparing for a visit don’t miss this post.

Another regular guest is the Maned Wolf, or lobo-guará because of its reddish fur. After dinner a tray of food is set out for it in front of the church doors, a priest calls “Guará” and in it comes … within an hour or three if you’re lucky. They are solitary beasts not pack animals, they come one at a time and they are quite unconcerned about the tourists and their flash photography but maintain a sharp lookout for other wolves. The food tray has fruit and meat on it. Interestingly the fruit was the first to go on the evenings I was there.

The birding was fabulous, the list included Velvety Black-Tyrant, Cliff Flycatcher, Blackish Rail, Serra Antwren, Biscutate Swift, Swallow-tailed Cotinga, Red-ruffed Fruitcrow, Hyacinth Visor-bearer and Large-tailed Antshrike. Dusky-legged Guan and the Rufous Gnatcatcher posed for their photos.

Guianan Squirrel and Masked Titi Monkey presented themselves for inclusion on the mammal list.

It’s hard to predict the highlight of a trip. This Brazil trip provided many and lived up to expectation in every respect. Caraça, though, was really special. I could go there for many reasons, I don’t believe in god but I do believe he commissioned some wonderful works, the setting is magnificent and the other creatures on hand to share it with … splendid.