Download Free A Natural History And Field Guide To Australias Top End Book in PDF and EPUB Free Download. You can read online A Natural History And Field Guide To Australias Top End and write the review.

Finding Australian Birds is a guide to the special birds found across Australia's vastly varied landscapes. From the eastern rainforests to central deserts, Australia is home to some 900 species of birds. This book covers over 400 Australian bird watching sites conveniently grouped into the best birding areas, from one end of the country to the other. This includes areas such as Kakadu in the Top End and rocky gorges in the central deserts of the Northern Territory, the Great Barrier Reef in Queensland, rainforests distributed along the eastern Australian seaboard, some of the world's tallest forests in Tasmania, the Flinders Ranges and deserts along the iconic Strzelecki and Birdsville Tracks in South Australia, and the mallee temperate woodlands and spectacular coastlines in both Victoria and south west Western Australia. Each chapter begins with a brief description of the location, followed by a section on where to find the birds, which describes specific birdwatching sites within the location's boundaries, and information on accommodation and facilities. The book also provides a comprehensive 'Bird Finding Guide', listing all of Australia's birds with details on their abundance and where exactly to see them. Of value to both Australian birdwatchers and international visitors, this book will assist novices, birders of intermediate skill and keen 'twitchers' to find any Australian species.
Australians have a love–hate relationship with spiders. Some spiders, such as the Redback and the Sydney Funnelweb, inspire fear. Yet Peacock Spiders, with their colourful fan-spreading courtship dances, have won rapturous appreciation worldwide. A Field Guide to Spiders of Australia uses photographs of living animals to help people identify many of the spiders they encounter. Featuring over 1300 colour photographs, it is the most comprehensive account of Australian spiders ever published. With more than two-thirds of Australian spiders yet to be scientifically described, this book sets the scene for future explorations of our extraordinary Australian fauna. This field guide will be enjoyed by naturalists and anyone with an interest in learning more about Australia's incredible arachnids.
The Australian bustard is Australia's heaviest flying bird. It is an icon of the Australian outback where it is more commonly known as the bush or plains turkey. It is also culturally and spiritually significant to Aboriginal people, who prize it as a favourite bush tucker. This book provides the first complete overview of the biology of the Australian bustard, based on the first major study of the species. The author explores the bustard's ecology and behaviour, its drastic decline since European settlement, and the conservation issues affecting it and its environment. Colour photographs of juvenile and adult birds complement the text as well as showcase particular behaviours, such as the spectacular display routines of males when mating. Australian Bustard is the perfect book for natural history enthusiasts.
This definitive work on the introduction of domestic animals to Australia begins with the first white settlement at Botany Bay. It explores the foundations of our wool and beef industries, examining the role of early leaders like Phillip, King, Macarthur and Bligh.The book considers the successful introduction of the horse, Australia's first live animal export, and goes on to explore the role of the acclimatisation societies, the development of the veterinary profession and the control and eradication of some of the major exotic and introduced diseases of sheep and cattle. The author, Dr Ian Parsonson, retired as Assistant Chief of the Australian Animal Health Laboratory at Geelong, Victoria, after a long career in veterinary practice and research. His areas of expertise include bacterial and viral diseases, pathology and microbiological laboratory safety. He is a committee member of the International Embryo Transfer Society and the Animal Gene Storage and Resource Centre of Australia.
This second edition of Australian Bird Names is a completely updated checklist of Australian birds and the meanings behind their common and scientific names, which may be useful, useless or downright misleading! For each species, the authors examine the many-and-varied common names and full scientific name, with derivation, translation and a guide to pronunciation. Stories behind the name are included, as well as relevant aspects of biology, conservation and history. Original descriptions, translated by the authors, have been sourced for many species. As well as being a book about names, this is a book about the history of the ever-developing understanding of birds, about the people who contributed to this understanding and, most of all, about the birds themselves. This second edition has been revised to follow current taxonomy and understanding of the relationships between families, genera and species. It contains new taxa, updated text and new vagrants and will be interesting reading for anyone with a love of birds, words or the history of Australian biology and bird-watching.
Australian Alps is a fascinating guide to Kosciuszko, Alpine and Namadgi National Parks. It introduces the reader to Australia’s highest mountains, their climate, geology and soils, plants and animals and their human history. It traces the long-running conflicts between successive users of the mountains and explores the difficulties in managing the land for nature conservation. The book gives credit to little-known or understood stories of the people who have worked to establish better understanding of the Alps, especially their vital role as the major water catchments for south-eastern Australia. This new edition updates many themes, including the involvement of Aboriginal people in the region, catchment function and condition, pest plants and animals, fire and the issue of climate change. Written by a specialist with over 25 years’ experience in community education in and about the Australian Alps National Parks, this new edition features many excellent natural history and historical photographs. Ideal as support information for field trips, it will make a wonderful memento of an alpine visit. This book acts as a detailed companion to park interpretive material and to topic-specific field guides: it caters for readers who want a broad overview of areas of interest they will come across in a visit to the mountains.
Birds of the Darwin Region is the first comprehensive treatment of the avifauna of Darwin, a city located in Australia's monsoon tropics, where seasons are defined by rainfall rather than by temperature. With its mangrove-lined bays and creeks, tidal mudflats, monsoon rainforests, savanna woodlands and freshwater lagoons, Darwin has retained all of its original habitats in near-pristine condition, and is home or host to 323 bird species. Unlike other Australian cities, it has no established exotic bird species. Following an introduction to the history of ornithology in the region and a detailed appraisal of its avifauna, species accounts describe the habitats, relative abundance, behaviour, ecology and breeding season of 258 regularly occurring species, based on over 500 fully referenced sources, and original observations by the authors. Distribution maps and charts of the seasonality of each species are presented, based on a dataset comprising almost 120,000 records, one-third of which were contributed by the authors. Stunning colour photographs adorn the accounts of most species, including some of the 65 species considered as vagrants to the region. This book is a must-read for professional ornithologists and amateur birders, and an indispensable reference for local biologists, teachers and students, and government and non-government environmental agencies, as well as other people who just like to watch birds.
A land of extremes, the Northern Territory’s arid deserts and monsoonal forests harbour some of Australia’s smallest and the world’s largest reptiles, as well as some of the world’s most venomous snakes. Field Guide to the Reptiles of the Northern Territory is the first regional guide to the crocodiles, turtles, lizards and snakes of this megadiverse region. It presents introductions to order, family and genus; keys to family, genus and species; and species profiles, including descriptions, photos, distribution maps and notes on natural history. It features profiles for the 390 species that occur or may occur on the land and in the sea of the Northern Territory. Extensively illustrated, this is an essential resource for wildlife enthusiasts and professional and amateur herpetologists.
Dragonflies and damselflies are conspicuous insects: many are large and brightly coloured. They are also valuable indicators of environmental wellbeing. A detailed knowledge of the dragonfly fauna is therefore an important basis for decisions about environmental protection and management. This comprehensive guide to the Australian dragonfly fauna covers eight families of dragonflies and 10 families of damselflies, comprising the 113 genera and 333 species found in Australia. It has been updated with newly identified species and revised family names to reflect new world consensus systematics. Stunning full-colour images and distribution maps are accompanied by identification keys for adults as well as larvae, which are often used as bait for freshwater fish. This second edition of The Complete Field Guide to Dragonflies of Australia also includes illustrations by Albert Orr, one of the most renowned dragonfly illustrators. The extraordinary diversity of dragonflies will interest entomologists and amateur naturalists alike.