Loads of papers on our feathered friends

I'm a bit tied up with setting up a new laptop after the display broke on my old one. Well, it wasn't very old but it was out of warranty. Setting up the new notebook will occupy me for most of the rest of the day, so reporting denier weirdness is being put on hold for a few hours. (I checked. There is nothing of note to report in any case. Or not much that I can see.)

Rather than leave you hanging, I went looking for something to tempt the science in you - and found a treasure trove of papers. That is, if you are interested in birds. In particular, if you are interested in the evolution of birds.

A diversion and thank you for one million page views

Climate change is a demanding topic. This is a brief diversion by way of thank you to all HotWhopper readers and contributors.

I know it's not the "done thing" to write about reader stats (when did HotWhopper ever worry about the "done thing"?) - but according to Google blogger, HotWhopper reached it's one millionth page view earlier this week, which astounds me. It's way beyond what I envisaged when the blog was started seventeen months ago. All thanks to readers.

This milestone is also a reality check to lift the game and keep striving for better content.

Here's my thank you to climate scientists everywhere and to HotWhopper readers, particularly to those of you who comment here, and to those of you who retweet and link from other blogs and discussion boards - at least those of you who like bird photos :) These photos were all taken in our back yard or just over the back fence, and are of common visitors. As always, click to enlarge.

First a little Grey Fantail, a lively bird.

Grey Fantail

Then the Laughing Kookaburra.

Kookaburra

And a view of its tail :)

Kookaburra

The Pied Currawong pops in quite often, usually with lots of mates.

Pied Currawong

Eastern Rosellas are a tad shy, but enjoy eating the thistles in the land on the other side of our back fence:

Eastern Rosella

While the Satin Bower Bird likes figs:

Satin Bowerbird

White (sulphur-crested) cockatoos make a racket - this one is screeching while flying overhead:

Cockatoo

Finally my favourite bird, the Magpie, which sings the most beautiful and complex songs in between chatting. Magpies are the friendliest birds and very smart (and playful). They also get to know individual people. They don't swoop on their friends :)

Magpie