Orange Book Worm

Not including my doctoral thesis, my honours thesis, any of the assignments I did at University and completely ignoring all of the reports that I have written at work as a biological consultant for Animal Plant Mineral I have written close to 30, 000 words. That is 133, 000 key strikes (not counting deletes or rewrites) written of my own volition. 

Why? Because I enjoy it. 

I didn't do good in school, but I was good at catching reptiles. I never envisaged that I would spend my days sitting in front of a computer, but with blind luck as my life's liaison officer I ended up working for a biological consulting firm doing exactly that: Sitting in front of a computer entering data and writing reports documenting the field biological surveys I would undertake. As an aside, I found this (the first computer I ever used) in an eclectic little shop in Singapore.

In those early days (still now) one of the greatest gifts I ever got (more good than any other) was the opportunity to learn to touch type. I did (or tried to do) a week long touch typing course paid for by my employer. I sucked at it; really, I did! It was, in fact, Miss Mavis Beacon that saved me. If you want to learn to type good, check her out. Now as my fingers glide across the keyboard like Sally Whitwell (check her out too!! Australia's most amazing pianist) glide across the keys of her Stuart and Sons, writing has become a form of catharsis for me. 

Does anybody read it? Not really, but I don't really mind. If what I write is interesting enough, I will slowly pick up an audience. As Kevin Costner once said "If you build it they will come" (actually, he did not say it, the voices in his head said it). And so I write. I write when I can't sleep: I write when I am travelling: I write when I have something to say: I write when I am bored: I write when I am agitated. I genuinely enjoy it. 

But write here write now it is another writer who's work I want to share with you. Miss Eva La Demon (@orangebookworm). 

She is only 14 - yes, fourteen. Eva also reads prodigiously; to the point that it causes her parents some concern. In her world Vitamin D is a fictional deity and outdoor activities are something that only people like Bear Grylls engage in.

Eva has just started reviewing books on Instagram and the way she captures the essence of the novels she reads is exceptional. For example, in describing her favorite character in the book Strange the Dreamer she writes "He is so well written that reading him watch paint dry would still be exciting." I simply love that line. What's more, she does it within the limitations of Instagram's interface.

Do yourself a favour when next you are searching for a book to read. Check out Orange Bookworm Reviews by clicking the link or searching @orangebookworm on Instagram. 

20 Trips 75, 000 kms Traveled

Trip 20: Brisbane to Darwin to HOME

Purpose: Regulator Liaison Meeting

Total Distance Traveled: 6, 108 km

Distance Traveled Year to Date: 75, 205 km

Last night and the sun sets on a manic 2017

Frequent flyer?

There really is not much left to say. 

At the beginning of the year I said “This is what I do for a living. It is not always unicorns and rainbows but when I am working hard I feel like I am hardly working.” I take that back: I am wrecked. Twenty trips and over 75, 000 km travelled. Dozens of different beds I have slept in and innumerable filthy showers I have washed in. I have packed and re-packed my bag so often I don’t even bother to unpack it anymore. I just dump it when I fly in and pick it up when I fly out. Would I do it again? I think I would, because there have been moments that have further defined me as a person and as a biologist. Those moments are usually realised when I am way out in the outback where I am so alone, but I am never lonely.

Was it worth it? As a business owner I should be content that clients just pay the bills; a fair price for a job well done paid on time and without question. It rarely happens quite like this but for the most part we have always been in receipt of what we were owed.  But sometimes clients go over and above with special thanks or kind words. That helps. It makes a tough job that much easier.

How appropriate then that my last journey for 2017 should end this way.

Struggling Boys?!?

Trip 19: Perth to Walford Creek and Lawn Hill National Park

Purpose: Biological Survey and eDNA Research

Total Distance Traveled: 7, 474 km

Distance Traveled Year to Date: 69, 097 km

Not looking the best!

I remember exactly where I was, exactly when it was and exactly how I felt when I saw the first cane toad cross the border into W.A. I was guttered. I made a vlog about it called BorderCrossing and the pain on my face was not a put on. When I watch it now it still makes me shudder. That night I said goodbye to all that I adored about the Kimberley: the fresh water crocodiles, the massive Mulga Snakes (King Browns) and the giant plains goannas Varanus panoptes. I knew they would all be gone in a few short years and I was right: it was March 2010.

Fast forward to 2015 and I saw a glimmer of hope when I first travelled to far north-west Queensland. The toads have been there for more than 30 years and the native fauna are coping. No: they are fighting back. Make no mistake, there are toads everywhere; they are still thick on the ground, but many of the predatory bird species and some of the goannas have figured out how to eat them and avoid the toxins. Other animals have simply decided not to eat them at all despite their ease of access and abundance as a food source. 

Fast forward to 2017 and things are looking still better again. Or are they? This was the first year I have worked in FNWQ in the late dry / early wet and all I saw was death; but not the natives. Dead toads everywhere. There were toads scrambling for refuge and cramming themselves into the smallest nook or cranny where moisture prevailed. Those that lived looked shocking and those that didn’t make it were littered across the landscape, all dry and crispy like the leaves of deciduous trees that fall in Autumn. 

Count the dead toads.

I don’t hate toads. I admire them as an example of accelerated evolution and phenotypic plasticity. But I hate what they do; the damage they cause. I am not a horrible person, but I could not help but feel some relief when I saw so many struggling for survival; even in places where water was available. It was odd. I could not help but wonder if something more significant was going on?

I know I am waxing lyrical here, but this is my blog spot and, therefore, I can and will. Could this species have over-evolved and somehow gone off the rails? Maybe the primary prey items (invertebrates) are scarce this time of year? Certainly, the iconic frill-neck lizard aestivates over the dry when food resources are low and the air is dry, accelerating water loss through cutaneous evaporation and evapotranspiration.  I guess that could be true, but the receding water bodies were swarming with water borne or water dependent insects casting some doubt on that inference. 

I kept trying to think logically about what could be going on; right up to the point where I saw multiple males in amplexus with rotting dead females. Yes. Rotting dead females. With absolutely no explanation for this behaviour, which I witnessed on multiple occasions during the survey, I resolved myself to the one and only thing I know to be true: the more I learn about nature the less I know.