Welcome to Mojo Friday! TexDem is out of town today and has left this mojo fest in my hopefully capable hands. This diary content is free of a number of popular topics.
My family spent eight weeks in Australia and New Zealand this summer. I took over 1700 pictures.
I selected a few Australian animals of various sorts for this diary. These are all from the first 500 pix, so there's plenty more to come. ;-)
The intro shot is the Southern Cassowary. This bird is related to the ostrich, emu, rhea, and moa. The male bird nests the eggs and raises the young. This is my favorite Aussie bird. The Southern Cassowary is endangered due to habitat destruction from sugar cane farming.
This is a model of a male cassowary with the hatched babies:
There are many interesting birds, besides the cassowary and emu, in Australia. The swans are black:
Some of the cockatoos are black (with red tails):
The kookaburras laugh (and pose):
Australia is renowned for its particularly poisonous snakes. I don't recall if this guy is very deadly, but he is beautiful. The Carpet Python:
We went to a few butterfly gardens. This specimen posed nicely for me:
I could not photograph a live version of this, the Australian Ulysses butterfly. These are the size of small birds and can be seen in the rainforest at the top of the canopy. This makes for a spectacular view and a bad photograph by me. So here is the museum version:
When I said "Australian critters" you probably thought of the spectacular marsupials. For example, the koala:
Or perhaps the kangaroo (and babies), with its wallaby (medium) and pademelon (small) relatives:
Note: my children are ONLY included for size reference ;-).
The koala's relative, the wombat - they have a common ancestor, evolved identical characteristics for completely different uses, and I am not sure if they are nearest related animals to each other or not. Anyway, a snoozing wombat in Port Douglas at Cairns Tropical Zoo:
The exotic (imported) wild smithette was seen frequently:
I love this picture. My son just cracked up with these birds sitting on his shoulder. The small bird is a sun conure named Tinsel, who remained on son's shoulder until we left the entire place, and had to be somewhat forcefully removed ;-). The cockatoo is a pink version found in the desert, sometimes known as Major Mitchell's cockatoo.
All of the above photos were personally taken by me.
Mojo Friday Guidelines
- If you comment you have to recommend all comments. (in order to receive mojo you have to give mojo. It's only good mojo manners.)
- Everything you say may be taken as a joke (so if you ask a question, expect a silly answer)
- You must recommend the diary (and pimp it unapologetically)
- You don't have to comment to recommend.
- You can't steal my idea (right, like that ain't goin' to happen)
- Please, no pictures or YouTubes until after 300 comments. Now, after 300, use a little common courtesy and be responsible in the number.
- Mojo mojo mojo mojo, mojo mojo mojo.
- TexDem (that's me) is not bound by the guidelines. Heh
Mojo Friday Goals
A. At least 300 different commenters and 1000 comments by 1:30 PM EST and 1500 by 5:00 PM EST Friday Night that it's posted.
B. 100 recommends for each comment, at least.
C. Stay on Recommend List at least five hours (this requires some strategic planning by you guys, refer to guideline #3)
D. At least 200 diary recommends. 300 would be better, spread the word.
E. And always, fun fun fun.
F. Have at least 75% average participation rate as seen here in the Mojo Friday Postgame Show by Hedwig.
G. (New) Have at least 30 kossacks over 90% participation (see here for some tips).
H. Overload the servers with recommends, not to mention dominate Top Comments Mojo list. (we do tend to mess with the site with all of our recommends at one time)(also, to dominate the Top Comments Top Mojo we need at least 50 comments with over 200 recommends, see guideline B)
I. That's enough for now. (Have a suggestion? Post it.)
MKinTN posted a diary to help everyone achieve greater success called How to Succeed at Mojo Friday Without Really Trying.
For those of you new to MF (Mojo Friday) we have our own lingo about a few things. Thank's to MF'er Jez (the link will explain) go to this diary for a little more fun and explanation. Official Mojo Friday Snecktionary.