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Penelope Lind @penelopelind.bsky.social · Jun 21

It's seems crazy that a super secretive skittish Lewin's Rail was spotted on Wednesday in Brisbane's South Bank (an inner city greenscape). My son and I bussed in this morning and found it foraging close to a busy footpath! An unexpected lifer!
#birds #birding #Australia #lewinsrail #lifer

A Lewin's Rail in shadow water in the pond of South Bank. It is 21-25 cm tall and has black and white barring along its sides, rufous back with streaking and a grey breast. It was out in the open for a couple minutes foraging which is amazing because the pond is next to a busy footpath which is a popular tourist destination. This bird is super difficult to see because it is so secretive and hides when disturbed.

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Penelope Lind @penelopelind.bsky.social · Jun 18

That was soooo stressful to watch. Go the Mighty Maroons! #QLDer #StateofOrigin

A photo of the Queensland Maroons captain being congratulated by 3 team players with the full time score showing the Queensland Maroons won the second State of Origin game against the New South Wales Blues 26 to 24.

Penelope Lind @penelopelind.bsky.social · May 31

I'm in Brisbane, Australia. At one of our universities (UQ) where the jacarandas bloom in October during the end of year exam period, legend has it that if a jacaranda flower falls on your head, you will fail your exam!

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Penelope Lind @penelopelind.bsky.social · May 20

Cheers!

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Penelope Lind @penelopelind.bsky.social · May 20

Let's all celebrate bees because today is #WorldBeeDay! There are over 20,000 bee species globally and ~2,000 species of Australian native bees but their survival is threatened by habitat loss, intensive farming processes, diseases and pests. Here's a selection of bees I've photographed.

Buff-tailed Bumble Bee (Bombus terrestris) in New Zealand however it isn't native there. It has a yellow stripe on it thorax and abdomen and also a buff-white abdomen tip ("tail").

Blue-spotted Cloak-and-dagger Bee (Thyreus caeruleopunctatus) in Australia. It never stopped flying so I got a terrible photo. But the look amazing with their vibrant black body and blue spots.

Broad-handed Carpenter Bee (Xylocopa latipes) seen in Singapore. These bees and solitary, large, and mostly black but does have some markings that aren't seen in this photo. While their wings are also black they have a metallic blue-green or purple colour in sunlight.

Fire-tailed Resin Bee (Megachile mystaceana) in Australia. It has a black head and thorax and a distinctively bright orange-brown abdomen.

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Penelope Lind @penelopelind.bsky.social · May 10

Being celebrated on Mother's Day by my kids is a wonderful distraction from all the doom and gloom that's going on in the world right now. I always love getting their hand made cards. #mothersday #handmade

Two handmade cards from my kids wishing me Happy Mother's Day. One is decorated with pink, blue and red flowers and the other card is decorated in colourful hearts.

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Penelope Lind @penelopelind.bsky.social · May 8

#predatoryjournal follow-up emails both amuse and annoy me.
Today's email: You failed to receive this [2 month old] message, or intentionally you are not responding...
2 months ago: We genuinely emailed you quite a lot of times but received no response, so we'd like to try once more....

Penelope Lind @penelopelind.bsky.social · May 1

I was so excited to vote in my first Australian Federal Election since becoming a citizen. The election is tomorrow but I early voted today. After 20 years living here I finally got to have my say as to who I want governing Oz. Check out the long Senate ballot paper!
#Australia #FederalElection

The tents for the two main parties: Labour (red tent) is similar to the Democrats while the Liberal National Party (LNP) party (blue tent) are the Republican style party of Australia. However there are about 18 parties you can vote for in this election for Senate.

The upper house of parliament Senate ballot paper has at least 18 parties (plus independents) you can vote for. To make an eligible vote you either number 1 through 6 above the line (the order of your preferred parties) or 1 through 12 below the line (preferred party candidates).

The green ballot paper is for the lower house of parliament called the House of Representatives. They represent your local electorate in parliament.

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Penelope Lind @penelopelind.bsky.social · Apr 24

30ish

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Penelope Lind @penelopelind.bsky.social · Apr 20

It's great that we contributed data from four Australian cohorts to the largest genetic study of #osteoarthritis published to date. The study identified hundreds of genetic risk loci and drug targets that could accelerate the development of more effective treatments.
www.nature.com/articles/s41...

Translational genomics of osteoarthritis in 1,962,069 individuals - Nature

A genome-wide association study meta-analysis combined with multiomics data of osteoarthritis identifies 700 effector genes as well as biological processes with a convergent involvement of multiple ef...

www.nature.com

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Penelope Lind @penelopelind.bsky.social · Apr 8

That actually made me snort laugh 😆

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Penelope Lind @penelopelind.bsky.social · Apr 5

After becoming an Australian citizen in 2023 I'm looking forward to voting in my first federal election on May 3. Three useful websites to figure out who to vote for are 'Vote Compass 2025', 'They Vote for You', and '2025 Federal Election Preview'. #AustralianElection #federalelection #Australia

Penelope Lind @penelopelind.bsky.social · Mar 29

That bird that day was my lifer and it's the only time I've ever been so close to a Spotted Pardalote. I was there looking for Yellow-tufted Honeyeaters so it was a surprise when we came across it as we had stopped and were looking higher in the trees for the HEs! And yes, their call is interesting.

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Penelope Lind @penelopelind.bsky.social · Mar 29

It's amazing that you can make this image by stacking photos!

Penelope Lind @penelopelind.bsky.social · Mar 29

I definitely lucked out! There were a few birders on the waling track watching it a couple metres from us.

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Penelope Lind @penelopelind.bsky.social · Mar 28

Thank you!

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Penelope Lind @penelopelind.bsky.social · Mar 28

After trying to see one for a long time this Spotted Pardalote was a lifer for me (lucky I had a camera on me!). Seeing it made up for me dipping yet again on Yellow-tufted Honeyeaters (what I was trying to find) which I still need to find! I how you get to see a Spotted Pardalote soon.

Penelope Lind @penelopelind.bsky.social · Mar 28

Spotted Pardalotes are native to Australia and one of our smallest birds at 8-10 cm in length! They are also one of my favourite Australian birds. I saw this one entering and exiting its small nest burrow in a soil bank along a walking track.
#spottedpardalote #pardalote #birdsofaustralia #birds

A Spotted Pardalote perched on a small twig. It is looking at the camera side on. It has a golden yellow chin, throat and rump. It has a pale belly and a white-spotted black crown and white eyebrows. White spots travel down its back.

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Penelope Lind @penelopelind.bsky.social · Mar 21

They always remind me of our Varied Sittellas in Australia which feed while going down tree trunks and branches. I was very happy to see a White-breasted Nuthatch (which is think it's in your photo) in Virginia a couple years ago.

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Penelope Lind @penelopelind.bsky.social · Mar 18

PubMed searches weren't working an hour ago and it made me think again about whether PubMed will get targeted for a DEI purge along with all the other US government websites. I may be overly paranoid but what can we do to prepare if this happens?
#PubMed #systematicreview #publications #research

Screen shot of a PubMed search that failed. The errors were "Search is temporarily unavailable. Please try again later" and "Timeout waiting for worker".

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Penelope Lind @penelopelind.bsky.social · Mar 18

Check out our new study that will improve our understanding of Anxiety disorders - in particular the identification of genetic or environmental factors that predict individual responses to common interventions, with the aim of increasing personalized care. #livingwithanxiety
livingwithanxiety.org.au

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Penelope Lind @penelopelind.bsky.social · Mar 7

Take shelter and stay safe everyone in South East Queensland and northern New South Wales! Fingers crossed we all make it through without loss of life. #tropicalcycloneAlfred #cycloneAlfred

Brisbane City Council just sent out a "Take Shelter Now" alert as Tropical Cyclone Alfred makes landfall in next few hours.

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Penelope Lind @penelopelind.bsky.social · Mar 4

Bar-shouldered Doves are native to #Australia and Southern New Guinea. It has a distinctive call that sounds like 'Bob Hawke' who is Australia's 23rd Prime Minister!
#birds #birdsofAustralia #Dove #birdphotography

A Bar-shouldered Dove perched on a branch. It has a scaled metallic copper patch on the back of its neck.

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Penelope Lind @penelopelind.bsky.social · Mar 3

Thanks!

Penelope Lind @penelopelind.bsky.social · Mar 3

Hopefully there's not too much damage