The BBC Last Chance To See website now has an excerpt from Chapter 1 of the new book Last Chance To See - Return, which will be published in October 2009 by HarperCollins.

This funny excerpt from the book, written by Mark Carwardine and Stephen Fry, concerns the famous exploits of the candiru fish, or "willy fish"...

Read The Excerpt

Well, for some reason I haven't yet figured out, Blogger is posting my pictures in the opposite order that I uploaded them. So instead of starting with caterpillars and scrolling down to the lovely adult specimen, you'll have to go backwards in time. Oh well....

In a previous post, I saw a female Cloudless Sulfur butterfly laying eggs on a little cassia tree. Now that same plant is just loaded with eggs and small caterpillars.

Beautiful female


I've never seen a sulfur chrysalis this color before.



Green larva on leaves

In the chill of morning, (if you can call lower 60's chilly), this tiny lizard had a little basking time on my thumb.

I hope everyone had as eventful a Halloween as I did! We attended a party at the same house as last year. The costumes were outrageous, and I have decided that for reasons of privacy, I won't be posting the photographs of my colleague who went as Frankenfurter, or any of the other attendees. We somehow managed not to take any photographs of ourselves, so I will have to wait obtain some from

Three little pigs appear to be facing a future of bacon and sausages, after New Zealand's authorities demanded their removal from Stewart Island, fearing that the pigs may pose a threat to local wildlife, including the Kakapo Parrots. 3News.co.nz has the story.

Gavin Ferguson who brought the pigs to the island says he knew that feral pigs were banned on Stewart Island, but thought that domestic pigs were permitted - unaware that a bylaw had been passed last September that banned all types of pigs from the island.

Stewart Island is home to some of New Zealand's rarest native birds, including kiwi and kakapo. Authorities say that while they do not want to play the role of the big bad wolf, pigs pose too big a threat to wildlife.

Hi, Brent here with an update on our new player for the Mac and PC. We're past the first phase of our beta already, so I'd like to give you a chance to join in. But before doing so you need to consider the following:

• There may be bugs. We are logging all errors, but if you run into problems you can help out by posting details here in the blog comments.
• Not all movies are available to watch with Silverlight. You may notice errors or lower than normal quality when watching certain titles.
• Our new player works on PCs and Intel-based Macs.
• Windows users should be aware that if you opt in, you will need to use Silverlight on all the machines you use to watch instantly.

Today I voted, thank the lord for early voting here in Florida. It took me 30mins to go through the whole process. While I was waiting to vote I was jamming to Caribou, The Milk of Human Kindness and it took me to a world where we really cared about each other, where honesty matter, a place where you walk down the road and say hello to everyone passing by, a place that never heard of Voter fraud, terroism, youtube, Republican, Democrat, a place that values "we" and not "me", yes I was there standing with my ballot in my hand watching time flash and flicker, then a Machine sucked my ballot up and I wondered when we stop being Great.......

I was at the arboretum for a tour this morning, and when it was over, I was doing a little bug-hunting. I heard something scuttling in the leaf litter under a tree. It figured it was a lizard, because we have lots of lizards, and the weather is warm enough that they are still active. But as I sought out the source of the scuttling sound, what I saw didn’t move quite like a lizard. A mouse perhaps? I thought I saw a pair of beady eyes before it submerged itself in the leaves. I waited a bit. The leaves began to twitch as the creature surfaced again. It was a lizard, with its entire head stuck fast inside what looked to be a palm kernel shell!

I picked up the lizard, and pulled gently on the shell. There was no way I could pull it off without wringing the reptile’s neck. There was no telling how long it may have been stuck, but I didn’t want to leave it to suffer for days or even weeks before it slowly died of thirst or starvation. So I brought it to the attention of a couple of the garden staff working nearby, Greg and Jonathan. They were appropriately impressed by the lizard’s predicament, and immediately began brainstorming about the best way to remove the shell, which was smaller than a golf ball, but extremely hard, like a coconut shell.

I tagged along (I found the lizard, after all) and we all went to the service yard, where an array of tools were available to try to crack the shell without cracking the poor lizard’s tiny skull! First they put it in a vice, but the roundness of the kernel made it hard to tighten without it shifting around in the clamp. I suggested that maybe we could use a drop or 2 of olive oil and "lube" it free, much as a person might work a too-tight ring off their finger. I don’t know if there was even any olive oil in the arboretum’s little kitchen, and I didn’t want to chance using soap on a lizard, but it didn’t matter, because the guys had already moved on to the next piece of hardware: a hacksaw.

Carefully and slowly, Jonathan sawed on the tough kernel shell with one hand as he held the lizard in his other hand. Every few seconds he would stop and check the progress of the shell. It was slow going. The lizard was squirming a little, but not as much as I was! Finally, the saw just barely broke through, but the shell was still intact. The next step would be to hold a chisel in the cut and tap it with a hammer. They set the lizard down, held its captive head steady and began tapping, tapping….

Suddenly the kernel shell gave way and split apart, and in that same instant the lizard dashed across the yard at an incredible speed. I don’t think I’ve ever seen a lizard move that fast! We all thought we might have seen something on its head. Whether it had been injured, or whether it was just a bit of shell still stuck on its head, we will never know because that little guy just kept running, but the fact that it could run so dang fast was encouraging.

Tools, empty shell halves and a long-gone lizard.

Photos by Greg Pongetti

Continuing with partner news, we’re pleased to announce TiVo as our latest partner. In December, TiVo Series3, TiVo HD, and TiVo HD XL subscribers who are also Netflix subscribers will be able to stream over 12,000 choices of movies and TV episodes from Netflix to their TV. We’re starting testing with several thousand TiVo owners now and we will let you know when the capability is broadly available in December.

Stephen Fry has revealed on his Twitter feed what the probable running order may be for the Last Chance To See TV series.

With some of the animals probably already extinct (Northern White Rhino, Yangtze Dolphin), and others doing rather well (10,000 Juan Fernandez Fur Seals), the choice of locations for the TV series was something that the team thought long and hard about, including what new animals to introduce to the series. The Where In The World? section of this page has more on this decision process.

Here is the possible running order according to Stephen's Tweet, with the probable animals added by me...

1) Amazon (Amazonian Manatee etc)
2) Africa (Mountain Gorillas, Rhinos, Chimpanzees etc)
3) Madagascar (Aye-Aye Lemurs, Rodrigues Fruitbats etc)
4) New Zealand (Kakapo Parrots, possibly whales etc)
5) Indonesia (Komodo Dragons etc)
6) Bay of Cortes, Mexico (More whales? Not quite sure yet)

This is insane.

Sad news from 3News.co.nz this morning. Lee the Kakapo, who could have been as much as 100 years old, has died a day before he was due to be returned to his island sanctury. He was successfully treated for lead poisoning recently, and everything seemed to be going well for him.

[Lee] died suddenly at Auckland Zoo last night from a small tear in the side of his crop, the sac-like part of the digestive system where food is stored before it enters the stomach.
[...]
"While working to repair this injury, Lee's heart stopped twice, but we managed to resuscitate him," said senior vet Dr Richard Jakob-Hoff. "However, he went into cardiac arrest again at the end of the procedure, and this time we were unable to bring him back - the shock on his system just too great."

Everyone remember Ted Stevens?



FreeVideoCoding.com


The Democrats may be able to chalk up another seat, as the "Internets" challenged Republican Senator from Alaska has been found guilty of seven counts of corruption and is now facing up to 35 years in prison.

Ted Stevens may be forced to find another use for his own "tubes", in prison.


video source: crooks and liars
hat tip: Rob Cottingham

Went to the zoo this weekend, it was lots of fun. I'll post a few pictures, hope you guys come back for somemore.........

CNN are among many news agencies reporting that Congolese rebels have seized Virunga National Park, home of the Mountain Gorillas, and this has sent upwards of 50 park rangers fleeing into the forest, fearing for their lives. A truly dreadful development.

Congolese rebels seized a major military camp and a spacious gorilla park in a renewed bout of heavy fighting that sent thousands fleeing, according to the United Nations and park officials.
[...]
A park ranger described the takeover.

"When the rebels started approaching the park station we thought we were all going to be killed," said Park Ranger Bareke Sekibibi, 29, who spoke by cell phone from the forest earlier as he fled, according to the park statement.

I'm very pleased to begin our fourth annual AnotherChanceToSee.com fundraiser, and this time we'll be raising funds for The Durrell Wildlife Conservation Trust, which helps to save endangered species around the world.

Gerald Durrell visited Madagascar in 1990 to start captive breeding programs with a number of animals such as the Aye-Aye Lemur. From this expedition came his final book The Aye-aye and I: A Rescue Mission in Madagascar. Since Aye-Aye's were the very first animal visited by Douglas Adams and Mark Carwardine for what would become the original Last Chance to See, I thought it would be nice to raise a few pennies for them, and I hope you can help, even just a little.

After sponsoring a Mountain Gorilla infant called Urwibutso for $50, raising £281 for Save The Rhino and then another $96 for Mountain Gorillas, I hope we're able to repeat this success for the The Durrell Wildlife Conservation Trust.

Donating through Justgiving is quick, easy and totally secure, and any amount will be welcome. If you’re a UK taxpayer, Justgiving will also add a 25% bonus donation in Gift Aid, but you're still able to donate to this fundraiser from anywhere in the world.

Many thanks for your anticipated support.

Hi, Brent here with some exciting news - today we started testing a new player for watching instantly. Based on Microsoft Silverlight, the new player works on PCs and Intel-based Macs and includes some nice new features such as faster startup and adaptive stream switching. We’re testing it with a small percentage of new Netflix members so that we can conduct a thorough analysis before rolling it out broadly. Rollout to all Mac users will happen as soon as we're done with the testing, then we'll roll out to all users by the end of the year. I’ll let you know the moment that happens.

Back in October 2007, we reported that Lulu, a Southern White Rhino at Budapest Zoo, was successfully inseminated from frozen sperm donated by Colchester Zoo's Simba.

Over the weekend, the Telegraph reported that, after a year long gestation period, the baby was born on Wednesday 22nd October, has been accepted by its mother Lulu, and is doing very well.

While the rhinos here are all Southern White Rhinos, the research team led by Dr Robert Hermes of the Leibniz Institute in Berlin, are optimistic that similar results could be obtained with the remaining Northern White Rhino in captivity.

Dr Hermes said...

"It enables us to bring new gene material from the wild to the rhino conservation breeding programme without having to transport the animals", said Dr Hermes. "In the future, reproduction experts can anaesthetise wild bulls, collect semen from them, and use the frozen sperm for breeding offspring in international zoos.

"This is a very important result for conservation efforts. The northern white rhino population, in particular, could benefit dramatically from this procedure as there are only three, possibly four individuals left in the wild and only eight individuals in zoos worldwide. Using this method, we hope to be able to sustain the dwindling populations of these highly endangered species."

One of many illustrations I worked on last 2 weeks. More on Flickr.

Cowboy was chewing the fat with the owner of the holiday apartments we were staying at in Noosa, and asked if there was anything worth seeing on the way down to Brisbane to catch our evening flight back to Aotearoa."Montville is worth a look", said the owner, whose double-forked beard had to be seen to be believed. "It's very European." We looked it up in the guidebooks, which did indeed

The official website of the Virunga National Park, which documents the work being done to protect the Mountain Gorillas, has moved to a new a brand new site at www.gorilla.cd.

The top story on the site right now is the recent re-sighting of a Silverback Gorilla called Buhanga who was spotted by Rangers near a patrol post in the Gorilla Sector. This was the first sighting in over 1 year, and was captured in this fabulous video...

Style experiment.

More at Sevensheaven.nl

UPI.com reports that Lee, one of the 91 remaining Kakapos in the world, has been lucky to survive lead poisoning after possibly swallowing a fishing weight or a piece of buckshot. The bird came was brought into Auckland Zoo in a very underweight state, but has recovered well.

"It's hugely pleasing to see Lee so healthy now," said Dr. John Potter. "He's put up with twice-daily tube feedings to enable us to get his weight up to more than 1.7 kilograms (between 3 and 4 pounds), and for a bird that's been held in captivity for the first time, he's really pretty chilled out."

Audio

Alton Ellis – I'm still in love with you – Soul Jazz Records
Fe Me Time Allstars – Awn yah! – Pressure Sounds
Fe Me Time Allstars – Hell and sorrow – Pressure Sounds
John Clarke – Pollution – Wackies
Dub Specialist – Banana Walk – Heartbeat
Whistla – Riot squad – Bankai
Scorn – Super mantis (Elemental rmx) – Combat
Pendle Coven – Exigen – Modern Love 1
Venice is Sinking – Azar #1 – Tag Team Records
Sir Freddie Viadukt – Astral Soul Dub
Mungo's Hi Fi feat. Soom T – Did you really know – Scotch Bonnet
Gorgon Hi-Powa - Dub of Life – Jah Works
Andreas Tilliander – Bonnadub – Repeatle
Gary Cail / On U Sound System - Escape - On U sound / Perfecto
Dr John and the lower 911 - Time for a Change - Cooking Vinyl
Mouthus & Yellow Swans - Duke - No-Fi
Pivot - O Soundtrack My Heart - Warp
Emily Barker - All Love Knows - Everyone Sang
Morning Call - A Little Late - Hello Operator
Alan Brown - The Freedom of the Street - Communications Unique
Hayman, Watkins, Trout & Lee - Fine Young Cannibals - Fortuna Pop
Wye Oak - Please Concrete - Affairs of the Heart
Headless Heroes - True Love Will Find You in the End - Names
Kelpe - Colours Don't Leak (The Boats Remix) - DC Recordings

The failure of the mainstream media to engage in even the most basic fact checking exercise is one of the biggest barriers for change across a host of issues.

It's an issue well known to any advocate of action on the climate crisis. A three second Google search is more than enough to prove false the most sophisticated misinformation, so it takes a perverse level of intellectual blindness to continue to print so called balanced stories that feature facts on one side and outright lies on the other.

That brings me to the events in Vancouver this week. Gregor Robertson and Peter Ladner squared off in the biggest debate of the election schedule on Wednesday night to take on the front line issues of homelessness and affordable housing.

It fell to the campaign team to lay out the truth behind a blatant misrepresentation of facts by Mr. Ladner when he said that he had never voted against the city's Homeless Action Plan - a clarification that took no more work than checking the Council Meeting Minutes posted online at the city website.

Good research and a talent with video goes a long way. Here's the clip put together by our campaign team. Ultimately, we need an independent watch dog group that specifically focuses on doing the job most media will not do - exposing political lies. Until then, enjoy the truth from Vancouver...

Stephen Fry's latest video dispatch on the BBC Last Chance To See website is a brief summary of their first week's travel in Africa. In it he describes the countryside as a place of "shuddering beauty", somewhere where even a pencil would flower if you stuck it in the ground.

When he was back in the Amazon, I have to say I thoroughly enjoyed his Attenborough-style introduction to the napkin moth. Very informative, and confirmed what I'd always thought about the origin of Branston Pickle.

The second "Afrycam African Video" is also up on StephenFry.com. Here Stephen is in a park in Nairobi where he encounters an extraordinarily moving symbol to the ivory trade.

Finally, Stephen has posted the first picture of this "Last Chance To See" animal on his Twitter photo-stream.

Hello, Steve Swasey here, Netflix VP of Corporate Communications.

We've said for several months that we have a fourth partner joining Roku, LG Electronics and Microsoft Xbox 360 to instantly stream movies from Netflix to your TV. Early this morning we announced it's Samsung.

The Samsung BD-P2550 and BD-P2500 Blu-ray disc players enable instant streaming of more than 12,000 choices of movies and TV episodes from Netflix to your TV. Of course you can use these sleek Blu-ray players to watch Blu-ray discs and upconvert standard def DVDs.

The BD-P2550 and BD-P2500 are currently available at $399.99. If you already own one you can upgrade it at no additional cost. The upgrade is available at http://www.samsung.com/bluraysupport.

Enjoy the instant watching!

Many thanks to the BBC for including a link to this little old blog on their fabulous new website "Last Chance To See - A Search for Animals on the Edge of Extinction". I'm deeply honoured, and absolutely delighted to see this new series coming to fruition in such style.

The BBC site is chock full of great content, blogs from Stephen Fry and Mark Carwardine, videos from the field, interviews with people involved in the original radio series and even a couple of episodes of the radio series itself. Hopefully more of those episodes will be made available in the coming months.

My very best wishes to Stephen Fry, Mark Carwardine and series producer Tim Green as they continue their expeditions. I can't wait to see the result.

Sincerely,

Gareth Suddes

In aid of Save The Rhino, the Seventh Douglas Adams Memorial Lecture will take place on March 11, 2009. The speaker this year will be explorer and broadcaster Benedict Allen.

I first became aware of Benedict when he presented his inspiring 1997 "video diary" style documentary series "The Skeleton Coast" in which he trekked through the Namib desert with three grouchy camels. He followed that trip with a 3000 mile trek across the Mongolian Gobi desert in "The Edge of Blue Heaven".

Benedict is a sometime guest, and sometime presenter on BBC Radio 4's "Excess Baggage". Here he is in an appearance from 2006: The Adventurer's Spirit in the Face of Adversity.

These days, Benedict is known for his Channel Five TV series Unbreakable...

in which eight athletes are pushed to their mental and physical limits, explorer Benedict Allen takes a look at what helps keep any of us going in the face of disaster.

It’s an exciting and often humorous talk which draws on his vast experience of survival in jungles and deserts and the Arctic, by himself and others who live at the extremes.

Tickets cost £15 and are on sale in January.

Please e-mail fiona@savetherhino.org to be notified when tickets go on sale.

I found this pretty S. californica girl on the trunk of a pine tree. I just loved her brown coloring.






Looking at you looking at me.

This grasshopper nymph made my day today. He's so yellow! Definitely the yellowest grasshopper I've ever seen. Not that his color suprises me. These gray bird nymphs can be just about any color.





Although he was hanging out on this Society Garlic bloom, there were Milkweed plants and some other things nearby that had yellow on them, but I'm not really sure where he was feeding and where he got that color from.

**REPOST**
New Zealand's Forest and Bird organization is currently having their 2008 "Bird of the Year" poll. Please make your vote count, and give the Kakapo Parrot the boost it needs to climb the current rankings. Polls close on the 7th of November.

**UPDATE**
The Kakapo is now in second place, about 20 votes shy of the Tui. If you haven't voted yet, now is the time. Thanks.

The LG Electronics BD-300 Network Blu-ray Disc Player is now appearing on store shelves. Best Buy and Circuit City are among the many retailers carrying the product.

In addition to playing high definition Blu-ray discs and upscaling the picture quality of standard DVDs, it instantly streams movies & TV episodes from Netflix to your TV. LG's BD-300 is the first Blu-ray player to support instant streaming from Netflix. For details, see LG's product microsite at http://us.lge.com/bluray/

Netflix is excited to see the second Netflix ready device reach consumers, and we look forward to sharing more product releases with you in the future.

The municipal campaign is hitting high gear in Vancouver and online outreach a key part of the strategy to make Gregor Robertson the next Mayor of Vancouver.

Today we launched The Vision Map, an interactive city map that gives every voter the chance to have their voice heard and to show their support for Gregor Robertson and a new era of change at Vancouver City Hall.

More than a simply an online device, it is a front line call for change that lets visitors drop their name onto their local neighbourhood and send a strong message about the issues they care about the most. It's a clear message from the community to the Peter Ladner that business as usual is unacceptable and that the people of Vancouver want better.

Stop by, have a look, and if you live in Vancouver sign on and tell a friend.

New Zealand's Southland Times reports that this years Kakapo Encounter is now winding down, but has once again proved a great success.

Trust secretary-treasurer Ann Pullen said 11year-old Sirocco had been his usual star self and had really impressed visitors.

Mrs Pullen said people were usually blown away and say they had no idea it would be such an unique experience.

An alluring aftershave for male kakapo could be developed from new research into why some of the critically endangered parrots attract females more than others.

American expertise is being called on to investigate the unique smell of male kakapo feathers, and how the sweet and vegetative odour may influence mating behaviour.

The BBC site has a place holder page for what appears to be the official Last Chance To See blog of Stephen Fry and Mark Carwardine's new trip. It's very broken right now, and full of lorem ipsum, but the RSS feed is available for subscribing at least...

Stephen Fry and Mark Carwardine travel to some of the most remote places on earth in search of animals on the edge of extinction. Follow the journey online through exclusive video and blogs.

While the Federal Liberals took a step further into the leadership void today, political junkies can fall back on some good news south of the border.  The big news out of the US this weekend was the unequivocable endorsement of the Obama campaign by Gen. Colin Powell.  

October's Dian Fossey Gorilla Fund newsletter is remembering the fabulous life of Pablo, who's 1974 birth was recorded in her book "Gorillas In The Mist". Pablo went on to become one of four silverbacks in "Pablo's Group" and became a well loved individual for decades. He disappeared on July 13th 2008, and is presumed dead at the age of 34.

Evidence suggests that he did not survive wounds received during a confrontation with another silverback when their two groups encountered each other the previous day. Although second-in-command after a brief period of dominance, for many years Pablo had fearlessly helped Cantsbee lead and protect “Pablo’s group,” which became the largest gorilla group known to researchers. He is remembered fondly by many who worked at Karisoke over the past four decades.

My clever driver Robert has taken me to a place where there is network reception. All well. Gorillas tomorrow x

Well, here we go again. Despite the overwhelmingly progressive values of Canadians, and the general unpopularity of the Conservative Party, Stephen Harper is back in the saddle for another minority term as "our" PM.

Opposition leadership has never looked shakier with Stephane Dion heading out the door tomorrow, Elizabeth May failing lead her party to Ottawa despite a modestly bigger share of the popular vote, and Jack Layton failing to make greater gains in seats because he doesn't realize that attacking the Conservatives, not the Liberals, is the NDP's ticket to success.

In offering some solutions I'd like to go back to a post I wrote back in August of 2006 - Why the Green Party Loses - as it's even more relevant now than it was then. Specifically the following passage:

The number one priority of every Green Party in Canada, both provincial and national, is to ensure that the upcoming referendum on electoral reform is passed in BC. The referendum date is set for the next provincial election in 2009, and if passed it would put BC on the road to electing a proportionally representative government in the election to follow. Based on current voting patterns, that would mean almost 10% of the seats in government going Green. If electoral reform is successful in BC, it is very likely that similar initiatives will take hold in other provinces, clearing the way for the Green Party to become a genuine political force in Canada and for progressive values to gain a stronger voice in Canadian government. But that all depends on the success of this first step.

A few weeks ago, arboretum workers pruned the huge Ombu tree. It needs pruning every year, because it's heavy and it grows so fast. The severed limbs were put through a chipper, and the resulting mounds of mulch have been composting vigorously. Yesterday morning I noticed steam rising from the top of the pile, and it looked for all the world like a mini-volcano. Today, I returned with my camera to take pictures.

A brief video of steam rising from the mulch. The little black box is the LCD display for a temperature probe I brought along.

Mulch volcano, ringed by little mushrooms. I'm guessing it was too hot up on top for the mushrooms to grow.

The ambient temperature outside the mulch pile.


The reading with the temperature probe plunged about elbow-deep into the mulch. By the way, this handy little gadget normally gets plunged inside our Thanksgiving turkey, among other edibles. Don't worry, I've already washed it.


Views of the mushroom "village"










...and I need to have a bug in this post, so here is a little fly hanging out in the Mushroom Village.

Audio

World’s End Girlfriend – Unspoiled Monster – Midi Creative / Noble
Jorge Ben – Quen Foi – Philips
Eddie – You can call me – Luaka Bop
Myra Davies – Burrough’s Bunker – Moabit Music
Dub Gabriel & Karen Gibson Roc – Spirit made flesh – Destroy All Concepts
Sekou Diabate – Mangue – Marabi
Group Doueh – Cheyla ya Haiuune – Sublime Frequenciess
Ezekiel Honig – Broken marching band – Anticipate
Barbara Morgenstern – Come to Berlin (Telefon Tel Aviv mix) – Monika
Hanggai – 5 Heroes – World Music Network
Salah Ragab & the Cairo Jazz band – Egypt strut - Art Yard
Sir Richard Bishop – Saraswati – Drag City
Alton Ellis (& The Flames) - Life is Down in Denver - Trojan
Alton Ellis - Loneliness -Orijahnal Records
Vampire Weekend - A-Punk - XL
Orchestre Poly-Rythmo de Cotonou - Se We Non Nan - Analog Africa
Empty Boat - The Church Doors - Poo Productions
Holy F*** - Super Inuit (Live)- XL
Rodney Crowell - Funky and the Farm Boy - Yep Roc
The Hold Steady - Stay Positive - Rough Trade
David Grubbs - The Not-so-distant - Drag City

New Zealand's Forest and Bird organization is currently having their 2008 "Bird of the Year" poll. Please make your vote count, and give the Kakapo Parrot the boost it needs to climb the current rankings. Polls close on the 7th of November.

If you believe the available information in the vicinity of Noosa (most notably the marketing pamphlets of the myriad whale-watching companies), it is an hour and three quarter drive to Hervey Bay. In reality, it is more like two and a half hours. We found this out the hard way, after much cursing and expensive overseas cell-phone "We're almost there, I promise. Can you hold the boat?" pleas.

This morning I was at the arboretum, scouting for bugs for this weekend's Bug Safari, (the last scheduled Bug Safari of the year.) While scanning the passiflora for Gulf Frittilary caterpillars, I came upon a conspicuous trailing line of spider silk.




I followed it a little way...


... and it led me to this beautiful creature.


She was reeling in her silk line. I think she was eating it.



She had an enormous bum! Full of eggs, I'll bet.



I marked the spot on the trail with an arrow of twigs. I do this occasionally so I can try to re-find the bug in question at a later date. Crab spiders usually stay within in a small territory, as long as food is available. I will check on Saturday morning before the Bug Safari and see if she's still there.