Burning land 2: mid-week links
Remarkable birds and trees
This week I talked more about the ways that Australia’s plants and animals are adapted to living with fire. It gave me a chance to talk about one of my favourite plant groups – eucalyptus trees. I’m not alone in my admiration of the eucalypt – there is a charitable trust called Eucalypt Australia dedicated to these marvellous trees. Each year they hold a public vote for Australia’s favourite eucalypt, and there is even a National Eucalypt Day. If you think one eucalypt looks very much like another, take a look at some of the species they feature.
I also talked about Australia’s ‘firehawks’ – birds of prey which pick up burning twigs and drop them in unburned areas, then hunt for prey as it flees the flames. Thanks to Peter Williams for telling me about these amazing birds. If you want to read more about them, here’s an article which summarises the research. If you want to dig a bit further, here is the link to the research publication.
Finally, you may remember that Australia wasn’t the only country affected by severe fires over the last couple of years. The USA has also had a rough time with forest fires. I’ve started reading the articles on this Substack archive, which are about wildland fires in the western USA. Many of the issues are similar – the polarised nature of the discussion about the impacts of climate change, debates about land management and the marginalisation of indigenous voices. If you want to know more about forest fires, from someone with first-hand experience, it’s worth a look.
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