NATURAL HISTORY MUSEUM, LONDON: A Few of Our Favorites

Diplodocus dinosaur skeleton in front of the Natural History Museum, London.

On our recent trip to London, the Natural History Museum was our first stop. The museum is enormous and you can’t possibly see it all in one visit. And even if you do have time, it is best to decide which things to focus on. Our main goal was to see the exhibit of the winners of the yearly photography competition—100 photos selected from more than 4000 entries. We also wanted to revisit some of our favorite parts of the museum.

Blue whale skeleton in Hintze Hall.

We walked to the museum from our hotel near the South Kensington tube stop and entered at the East Gate, where we followed a path through the Evolution Garden to get to the Central Entrance. The museum is free, but we had to line up to go through security. Once inside, the giant skylit space of Hintze Hall loomed before us, with a huge whale skeleton hanging overhead and a grand staircase leading up to a statue of Charles Darwin.

Art with Statue of Charles Darwin.

After paying our respects to Darwin, we stopped at the information booth to pick up a map and get directions to the photo exhibit. The map divides the museum into four color coded zones. We focused on the Green Zone which includes birds, the wildlife photographer of the year gallery, fossil marine reptiles, and treasures of the museum, where we saw the fossil skeleton of Archaeopteryx, the first bird.

Caroline with fossil of giant sea reptile collected by Mary Anning.

On our way to the photo exhibit we passed by the amazing display of fossil skeletons of giant marine reptiles, many of them collected by Mary Anning in the nineteenth century. During the Dinosaur Age the oceans teemed with these huge reptiles.

Wild Photographer of the Year Gallery.

The Wildlife Photographer of the Year photo exhibit requires a ticket, which we purchased at the entrance. Each photo in the exhibit was backlighted so that it glowed in the partially darkened room and was accompanied by a label with the title, photographer’s name and other pertinent information. What surprised me was not only the diversity of the subjects and locations where they were shot, but the variety of cameras—ranging from specially designed equipment to a simple iPhone.

Photo of moth camouflaged against tree bark--taken with an iPhone.

Having worked with photographers on many of my books, I know how hard it is to get just the right shot. I appreciated a quote mounted on one wall of the exhibit: It is vital to be patient and wait for the moment that completes the story you are trying to tell, even if it takes hours or days or weeks, or sometimes even years. (Akansha Sood Singh, natural history filmmaker)

Models of two dodos. Extinct since 1681 due to overhunting, habitat loss and predation by other animals.

The exit from the photo exhibit was through the museum gift shop where it was possible to buy postcards and books of the images in the exhibit. We then visited the bird room in search of the Archaeopteryx fossil but got sidetracked by a case full of birds that have gone extinct, including the dodo, which once lived on a remote island in the Indian Ocean. Although we found a cast of Archaeopteryx in the bird room, we learned that the actual fossil, one of the most valuable items in the museum’s collection, was upstairs in the room of treasures. So we trudged up the stairs to find it.\

Fossil of Archaeopteryx embedded in limestone. You can see impressions of feathers attached to the wings.

After viewing Archaeopteryx and the other museum treasures it was time to sit down and have some refreshments, which we did in the Central Café behind the stairwell on the main floor. We had seen many of our favorites and been inspired by the photo exhibit. We’ll come back another day to see more.

Main entrance to the Natural History Museum, London.

BEAUTIFUL BIRDS AT LAKE MANYARA, TANZANIA, Guest Post by Karen Minkowski

Yellow-billed Stork, Lake Manyara, Tanzania.

My friend Karen Minkowski has visited Africa many times and has contributed often to The Intrepid Tourist, sharing her beautiful photographs and insights about animals. She recently went to northern Tanzania, visiting four national parks: Lake Manyara, Serengeti, Ngorongoro Crater, and Tarangire. This is the first of her reports of that trip. 

I recently completed a wonderful safari in Tanzania’s northern circuit with three German friends. We ranged in age from 22 to 81 and travelled together very well; everyone was enthusiastic about everything we saw, and we had lots of great observations. We visited four sites over eight amazing, intense days that exhausted even the youngest of us! Our guide was excellent. He had a great sense of humor and worked hard to meet our requests.

Our first destination was Lake Manyara National Park. Human settlement has reached one side of the lake, and erosion of agricultural fields nearby may be the cause of the brown appearance of the water on some days. 

Heavy rains in the last years have resulted in a rise in the water levels, partially submerging many trees.

But birds were abundant. Below: Red and Yellow Barbet; Grey-headed Kingfisher; Little Bee-eater. The Barbet nests in termite mounds and feeds on termites (and other insects). The Kingfisher, despite its name, feeds primarily on insects on the ground and only occasionally fishes. The Bee-eater catches insects on the wing.

Red and Yellow Barbet.

Grey-headed Kingfisher.

Little Bee-eater.

Blue monkeys were common in the forested area.

Blue Monkey.

The next three pictures  show two female elephants greeting one another. The sequence lasted just a few seconds, and I know nothing of the context. It seemed like a very intimate interaction, perhaps an elephant version of a warm hug.

 

Looking from the Lake to the forested area.

Ground Hornbill.

Note: Karen's post about her visit to Serengeti National Park will appear next week.

AUSTRALIA: IT’S FOR THE BIRDS (SERIOUSLY!) Guest Post by Caroline Hatton

An emu, as tall as me (5'2" or 1.57 m)

My friend Caroline Hatton, a children’s writer and frequent contributor to this blog, took these photos in Australia in November-December 2023, springtime Down Under. She wrote this blog post to help our mutual friend Sara Kras dream up her own upcoming trip to Australia.

Laughing Kookaburra (the size of a crow)

In Australia, my husband Bill and I were lucky to see wild koalas and kangaroos, echidnas, wombats, wallabies, and more. We also saw birds, of course. What I hadn’t expected was how they made me feel: not only delighted, but overwhelmed with enchantment.

Like elsewhere on the planet, birds go about their business around towns, urban parks, and farmland. In Australia, many species display bright colors or exquisite pastels, unusual shapes or make funny noises. Australian birds are spectacular!

We visited the states of Victoria, Tasmania, and New South Wales, but most bird sightings, and the best ones, were in Victoria. The photos in this post show only some of the diverse species we encountered. 

Superb fairy-wren (smaller than a sparrow).

The first attraction we visited in Australia was the Healesville Sanctuary, an hour-and-a-half drive from Melbourne, to see koalas, kangaroos, and other wildlife celebrities up close and calibrate our eyeballs to spot them in the wild. But what hypnotized us was a brilliant blue gem on the ground, a wild, tiny, well-named superb fairy-wren.

Australian ibis.

At lunchtime at the sanctuary, a wild Australian ibis startled us when it landed on our picnic table with a loud clunk. Despite the intimidating size of its weapon-grade beak, its attempts at swiping our sandwiches failed.

Masked lapwing (the size of a gull).

From Healesville, we drove to Geelong, the start of the Great Ocean Road along the south coast. On the beach, I gazed endlessly at masked lapwings.

The next morning in Geelong, we visited the Narana Cultural Centre to see Aboriginal artworks indoors, as well as captive, tame wallabies in an outdoor enclosure. Other residents included emus, flightless birds smaller than ostriches. In the photo at the top of this blog post, I caught one snatching a bite of salad after eating breakfast cereal, some of which stuck to its nostrils.

Crested pigeon.

Wild birds that stopped by included incredibly pretty crested pigeons.

Australian king parrot.

From Geelong, we drove west along the Great Ocean Road from one scenic viewpoint to the next and arrived at Kafe Koala in the afternoon. The parking lot welcome committee included “wild” Australian king-parrots. Two of them perched on visitors emerging from the Kafe. The birds never got any food, but the tourists got many selfies. We didn’t get to hear how the king-parrot “makes a loud piercing metallic ‘squeak’ like a forced metal hinge.”

Crimson rosella. (Photo by Bill Hatton)

In the same parking lot, my husband Bill caught one skittish crimson rosella… on camera. Afterwards, we walked up the adjacent dirt road far enough to see five wild koalas!

Galah.

Farther west along the Great Ocean Road, flocks of an exquisite pastel parrot grazed on sidewalk grass: the galah. I couldn’t believe that some consider it a pest.

Purple swamphens.

Purple swamphens wandered near grassy ponds in Melbourne parks and in small towns on the Great Ocean Road. I wondered whether each one goes through life never suspecting that it has a snow white back end. Bird-identification books should show photos taken from behind!

We left the Great Ocean Road at Warrnambool and turned inland, heading north to the vacation town of Halls Gap in the low Grampian Mountains. There we saw dozens and dozens of wild kangaroos, wild emus in pastures and on the golf course, and the only wild kookaburra in almost a month in Australia (see the second photo from the top of this blog post). It never made a sound, unlike the others we’d heard laughing, perhaps because we could not find them. This one, I spotted by stopping every few steps along a trail, for a visual scan of the forest all around me.

Sulphur-crested cockatoo.

Acting like city pigeons, sulphur-crested cockatoos everywhere patrolled sidewalks outside eateries, surrounded us at picnic time, and gathered on trash piles. Online, they star in videos featuring their dance moves. On site, they reminded me that they are wild birds. They have a rich, noisy social life. Flocks treated us to “extremely loud harsh screeches lacking any musical quality whatsoever.”

In the Blue Mountains (New South Wales), an hour-and-a-half drive from Sydney, I watched sulphur-crested cockatoos from a cliff top in the town of Katoomba as they flew home at sundown. They swooped overhead before diving into the vertiginous abyss, to the valley floor below. Down there, they circled and circled above the dense treetops, bright white, slow-swirling dots against the darkening green background, as if the birds were lit up. The beauty and prowess of their flight earned them my respect.

In closing, I’ll mention a bird encounter I’m glad I didn’t miss (the Penguin Parade in Victoria) and one flying animal encounter I wish I hadn’t missed (the fruit bat, or flying fox, flyout in Sydney).

The Penguin Parade in Victoria is where to watch residents of the largest little penguin (the smallest penguin species) colony in the world waddle home from the ocean to their burrows every night. The Activities and Tickets page has excellent videos of the experience to expect with each type of ticket. I’m glad we bought tickets months in advance to make sure they were available, splurged on Underground Viewing tickets to make sure we wouldn’t get wet or exposed to wind in any weather, and arrived extra early to claim a spot at the window. Penguins waddled past in successive groups. Another visitor kept belting out movie tunes to accompany selected penguins along their march, but I stuck my fingers in my ears to keep him from ruining my experience. Taking photos or videos was prohibited. You can also read about Caroline Arnold’s Penguin Parade experience.

The fruit bat flyout in Sydney occurs 20 minutes after sunset, when up to thousands of the largest bat species, known locally as flying foxes, take off from their tree roosts to forage. While walking in the Sydney Central Business District one evening, I stopped to look up at tall buildings catching the last sunrays. That’s when I saw huge bat silhouettes flying along the street at the altitude of several stories—nowhere near my face, thank goodness! You can read about Caroline Arnold’s flying foxes experience. 

On a visit to Australia that delivered on its promise of great wildlife encounters, the birds were a big bonus!

 

For more info:

Australian ibis (Threskiornis Molucca) https://ebird.org/species/ausibi1

Australian king-parrot (Alisterus scapularis) https://ebird.org/species/aukpar1/

Crested pigeon (Ocyphaps lophotes) https://ebird.org/species/crepig1/

Crimson rosella (Platycercus elegans) https://ebird.org/species/criros2/

Emu (Dromaius novaehollandiae) https://ebird.org/species/emu1/

Galah (Eolophus roseicapilla) https://ebird.org/species/galah/

Laughing kookaburra (Dacelo novaeguineae) https://ebird.org/species/laukoo1/

Masked lapwing (Vanellus miles) https://ebird.org/species/maslap1/

Purple swamphen (Porphyrio porphyrio) https://australian.museum/learn/animals/birds/purple-swamphen/

Superb fairy-wren (Malurus cyaneus) https://australian.museum/learn/animals/birds/superb-fairy-wren/ 

Sulphur-crested cockatoo (Cacatua galerita) https://ebird.org/species/succoc/

 All the birds listed above are native only to Australia, except for the masked lapwing which is also found in New Zealand.

SCENES FROM THE BREEDING SEASON IN A SOUTH FLORIDA WETLAND, Guest Post by Karen Minkowski

Wood storks at Wakodahatchee Wetlands, Florida.

My friend Karen Minkowski, a world traveler and excellent photographer, especially of birds, reports on the birds of South Florida that she observed last spring.

A prolonged stay in Delray Beach, Florida allowed me to observe most of the breeding season of many of Florida’s wading and water birds. From February through July, I watched moments of feeding, courtship, mate attraction rituals, nest construction, incubation, and chick-rearing at Wakodahatchee Wetlands, previously a wastewater utility property. Boardwalks lead the visitor over the ponds and through the marshes, giving access to much of the site.

Wakodahatchee Wetlands.

Wood Storks, North America’s only native stork species, nest in colonies at the tops of woody trees and were the most easily observed of Wakodahatchee’s birds. Their courtship was interactive and intimate. Members of a pair frequently preened each other and hung out together. Sometimes they clattered their bills by repeatedly opening and snapping them shut, the only sound I ever heard from adult storks, except for the whooshing of their wings as they took flight.

Wood storks.

To attract a mate, herons display by pointing their bills straight up while sometimes also stretching their long necks upwards. Here is a Tricolored Heron displaying in breeding plumage. 

Tri-colored heron.

This male Great Blue Heron displayed while uttering a low-volume, moaning sound.

Great blue heron.

I watched a Great Blue Heron mortally injure and ultimately eat a Florida Banded Water Snake.

Great blue heron.

The heron pierced the snake several times, and the innards could be seen emerging from its body. The bird struggled to maneuver the snake head first into its mouth. After more than ten minutes, the snake either died or was too weak to resist the Great Blue Heron, who walked out of sight with the bird securely in its mouth.

Great blue heron.

An elegant Great Egret pair, in breeding plumage, relaxes after copulating.

Great egrets.

As the birds pair off, nest-building begins in earnest. The Green Heron on the left had just returned to the nest with a broken-off branch, and the pair seemed to be figuring out where best to place it.

Green herons.

Herons, egrets and Wood Storks in Wakodahatchee build their nests amidst dense branches. Wood Storks are colonial breeders, and their nests are often very closely spaced.

Wood stork.

Predominantly male storks fly from the nest site in search of suitable dead branches to make a platform. The stork below was breaking off a twig with soft leaves to line the nest. Wood Storks continue to repair the nest throughout the period of chick-rearing.

Wood stork.

Tricolored Herons, significantly smaller than Wood Storks, nest amidst thick foliage. Just to the right of the heron’s bill, and peeking above a leaf, lies a pale blue egg.

Tri-colored heron.

These Great Blue Heron chicks were the first nestlings I saw, in late February. The parent looked exhausted from the constant demands of its rapidly growing nestlings. (The Cattle Egret in front was not part of this nest.)

Great blue heron with two chicks and a cattle egret.

These Great Egret chicks were visually tracking their parent’s flight path as it flew overhead on its return to the nesting area.

Great egret chicks.

Wood Storks chicks in a colony can be irritatingly noisy as they insistently announce their hunger. To my eye, the parents remained impassive, but I wondered if one was ever moved to push a chick out of the nest in utter exasperation!

Wood stork and chicks.

Anhingas, Glossy Ibis, Boat-tailed Grackles, Red-winged Blackbirds and Black-bellied Whistling Ducks, among others, were also nesting in the Wakodahatchee wetlands.

Tri-colored herons.

Already fledged, these immature Tricolored Herons were “sparring”.

Wood stork.

Wood Storks find food by feel rather than visually, using their bill and foot to stir up the water. This immature stork is learning the art of foraging.

Yellow-crowned night heron.

A juvenile Yellow-crowned Night Heron waits for a crustacean to appear in the watery marsh.

When the breeding season had passed its peak, I started visiting the nearby Green Cay Wetlands. A former pepper farm, Green Cay was converted into a wetland that comprises a beautiful mosaic of open water, marshes, patches of cypress forests and tree islands, accessible by boardwalks, as in Wakodahatchee. 

Pied-billed grebes.

Though widely distributed in North America, the Pied-billed Grebe is somewhat secretive, and I rarely saw them.

Red-winged blackbird chicks.

In their well-concealed nest just two feet above the water, two Red-winged Blackbird chicks quietly waited for their parent to return with a meal. Suddenly they opened their mouths wide and began to chirp for food, though I was the only adult in sight. I finally realized that my camera lens, pointing down at them from twelve feet away, may have stimulated their begging response, so I moved away.

Least bittern.

On one of my last visits to the wetlands, I saw the beautiful Least Bittern, a first for me.