It's always an amazing experience to see one!

The art competition flyer explaining that we welcome art submissions that reflect all types of anxiety experiences. Submissions close on December 9th and the submitter can win one of four $500 gift cards.

Our Living with Anxiety Study is hosting an art competition to showcase artistic representations of what it means to live with anxiety. If you are aged 18+ and reside in Australia and want to participate, please visit
livingwithanxiety.org.au/artprize/
#anxiety #art #artprize #artcompetition

A Lewin's Rail in shadow water in the pond of South Bank. It is 21-25 cm tall and has black and white barring along its sides, rufous back with streaking and a grey breast. It was out in the open for a couple minutes foraging which is amazing because the pond is next to a busy footpath which is a popular tourist destination. This bird is super difficult to see because it is so secretive and hides when disturbed.

A Lewin's Rail in shadow water in the pond of South Bank. It is 21-25 cm tall and has black and white barring along its sides, rufous back with streaking and a grey breast. It was out in the open for a couple minutes foraging which is amazing because the pond is next to a busy footpath which is a popular tourist destination. This bird is super difficult to see because it is so secretive and hides when disturbed.

It's seems crazy that a super secretive skittish Lewin's Rail was spotted on Wednesday in Brisbane's South Bank (an inner city greenscape). My son and I bussed in this morning and found it foraging close to a busy footpath! An unexpected lifer!
#birds #birding #Australia #lewinsrail #lifer

A photo of the Queensland Maroons captain being congratulated by 3 team players with the full time score showing the Queensland Maroons won the second State of Origin game against the New South Wales Blues 26 to 24.

That was soooo stressful to watch. Go the Mighty Maroons! #QLDer #StateofOrigin

I'm in Brisbane, Australia. At one of our universities (UQ) where the jacarandas bloom in October during the end of year exam period, legend has it that if a jacaranda flower falls on your head, you will fail your exam!

Cheers!

Buff-tailed Bumble Bee (Bombus terrestris) in New Zealand however it isn't native there. It has a yellow stripe on it thorax and abdomen and also a buff-white abdomen tip ("tail").

Blue-spotted Cloak-and-dagger Bee (Thyreus caeruleopunctatus) in Australia. It never stopped flying so I got a terrible photo. But the look amazing with their vibrant black body and blue spots.

Broad-handed Carpenter Bee (Xylocopa latipes) seen in Singapore. These bees and solitary, large, and mostly black but does have some markings that aren't seen in this photo. While their wings are also black they have a metallic blue-green or purple colour in sunlight.

Fire-tailed Resin Bee (Megachile mystaceana) in Australia. It has a black head and thorax and a distinctively bright orange-brown abdomen.

Let's all celebrate bees because today is #WorldBeeDay! There are over 20,000 bee species globally and ~2,000 species of Australian native bees but their survival is threatened by habitat loss, intensive farming processes, diseases and pests. Here's a selection of bees I've photographed.

Two handmade cards from my kids wishing me Happy Mother's Day. One is decorated with pink, blue and red flowers and the other card is decorated in colourful hearts.

Being celebrated on Mother's Day by my kids is a wonderful distraction from all the doom and gloom that's going on in the world right now. I always love getting their hand made cards. #mothersday #handmade

#predatoryjournal follow-up emails both amuse and annoy me.
Today's email: You failed to receive this [2 month old] message, or intentionally you are not responding...
2 months ago: We genuinely emailed you quite a lot of times but received no response, so we'd like to try once more....

The tents for the two main parties: Labour (red tent) is similar to the Democrats while the Liberal National Party (LNP) party (blue tent) are the Republican style party of Australia. However there are about 18 parties you can vote for in this election for Senate.

The upper house of parliament Senate ballot paper has at least 18 parties (plus independents) you can vote for. To make an eligible vote you either number 1 through 6 above the line (the order of your preferred parties) or 1 through 12 below the line (preferred party candidates).

The green ballot paper is for the lower house of parliament called the House of Representatives. They represent your local electorate in parliament.

I was so excited to vote in my first Australian Federal Election since becoming a citizen. The election is tomorrow but I early voted today. After 20 years living here I finally got to have my say as to who I want governing Oz. Check out the long Senate ballot paper!
#Australia #FederalElection

30ish

Translational genomics of osteoarthritis in 1,962,069 individuals - Nature A genome-wide association study meta-analysis combined with multiomics data of osteoarthritis identifies 700 effector genes as well as biological processes with a convergent involvement of multiple ef...

It's great that we contributed data from four Australian cohorts to the largest genetic study of #osteoarthritis published to date. The study identified hundreds of genetic risk loci and drug targets that could accelerate the development of more effective treatments.
www.nature.com/articles/s41...

That actually made me snort laugh 😆

After becoming an Australian citizen in 2023 I'm looking forward to voting in my first federal election on May 3. Three useful websites to figure out who to vote for are 'Vote Compass 2025', 'They Vote for You', and '2025 Federal Election Preview'. #AustralianElection #federalelection #Australia

That bird that day was my lifer and it's the only time I've ever been so close to a Spotted Pardalote. I was there looking for Yellow-tufted Honeyeaters so it was a surprise when we came across it as we had stopped and were looking higher in the trees for the HEs! And yes, their call is interesting.

It's amazing that you can make this image by stacking photos!

I definitely lucked out! There were a few birders on the waling track watching it a couple metres from us.

Thank you!

After trying to see one for a long time this Spotted Pardalote was a lifer for me (lucky I had a camera on me!). Seeing it made up for me dipping yet again on Yellow-tufted Honeyeaters (what I was trying to find) which I still need to find! I how you get to see a Spotted Pardalote soon.

A Spotted Pardalote perched on a small twig. It is looking at the camera side on. It has a golden yellow chin, throat and rump. It has a pale belly and a white-spotted black crown and white eyebrows. White spots travel down its back.

Spotted Pardalotes are native to Australia and one of our smallest birds at 8-10 cm in length! They are also one of my favourite Australian birds. I saw this one entering and exiting its small nest burrow in a soil bank along a walking track.
#spottedpardalote #pardalote #birdsofaustralia #birds

They always remind me of our Varied Sittellas in Australia which feed while going down tree trunks and branches. I was very happy to see a White-breasted Nuthatch (which is think it's in your photo) in Virginia a couple years ago.

Screen shot of a PubMed search that failed. The errors were "Search is temporarily unavailable. Please try again later" and "Timeout waiting for worker".

PubMed searches weren't working an hour ago and it made me think again about whether PubMed will get targeted for a DEI purge along with all the other US government websites. I may be overly paranoid but what can we do to prepare if this happens?
#PubMed #systematicreview #publications #research

Check out our new study that will improve our understanding of Anxiety disorders - in particular the identification of genetic or environmental factors that predict individual responses to common interventions, with the aim of increasing personalized care. #livingwithanxiety
livingwithanxiety.org.au

Brisbane City Council just sent out a "Take Shelter Now" alert as Tropical Cyclone Alfred makes landfall in next few hours.

Take shelter and stay safe everyone in South East Queensland and northern New South Wales! Fingers crossed we all make it through without loss of life. #tropicalcycloneAlfred #cycloneAlfred

A Bar-shouldered Dove perched on a branch. It has a scaled metallic copper patch on the back of its neck.

Bar-shouldered Doves are native to #Australia and Southern New Guinea. It has a distinctive call that sounds like 'Bob Hawke' who is Australia's 23rd Prime Minister!
#birds #birdsofAustralia #Dove #birdphotography

Thanks!

Hopefully there's not too much damage

The weather forecast as Tropical Cyclone Alfred makes landfall in Brisbane this Thursday. We shouldn't be affected by flooding where we live but I worry about the rest of Brisbane as it could bring 300 to 600mm of rain over multiple days.

Tropical #Cyclone Alfred will be the first cyclone to make landfall near Brisbane since 1974 (that one caused the historic 1974 Brisbane floods). I'll be working from home and we're preparing for the rain and wind. I hope it doesn't cause too much destruction. #TropicalCycloneAlfred #Brisbane

My three specialist feeds that focus on birds, dragonflies and urban sketching.

You can create specific feeds for things you like that are separate to your Discover and Follow feeds. I've got three set up (birds, dragonflies and urban sketching) and you navigate to them at the top of your screen.

Announcement by Washington Post owner Jeff Bezos that he is going to suppress opinions that don't align with his own. All in the name of "freedom". This has resulted in David Shipley, the Opinion Editor, to quit.

This was the last straw and I've cancelled my Washington Post subscription. Bezos is now suppressing opinions that don't align with his own in the name of "freedom".
#cancelwashingtonpost