It is pretty cool! I was up on Tarikākā today (in less than ideal weather) and there's some great wind-sculpted semi-bonsai plants up there.

Also, here's my article highlighting some candidates.
theturnstone.substack.com/p/precious-p...

Here's the link www.nzpcn.org.nz/flora/favour...

America's Finest News Source. Let's be honest, it's pretty hard to tell The Onion @theonion.com from the New York Times these days. www.thewrap.com/new-york-tim...

But once rats were eradicated from Campbell Island in 2001, the snipe flew home. They were later confirmed to be a unique subspecies unknown to science.
Here's my full article on austral snipe
theturnstone.substack.com/p/a-snippet-...

Subantarctic snipe had never been seen on Campbell Island in the Southern Ocean, which was overrun by rats before 1820. But in 1997, birds were seen on a tiny islet nearby. They'd survived more than 180 years on 19 hectares of rock and scrub.

I'm in New Zealand, so I'm one of those who had it foisted on them months before the rest of the world. It was so intrusive I couldn't work with it. I had to revert to a previous version of office and block updates for the next six months until I could opt out.

Lucky indeed! I do hope that I might see one of these one day.

I saw a few when I was counting cockles on Sunday. Stunning birds!

I feel so bad for all that you are going through in the US, and also all the other countries severely affected by the regime's awfulness. It's heartbreaking to see the damage they are doing on so many levels and in so many areas. Kia kaha (means "be strong", said as a statement of support)

To some extent, yes, and this certainly has to top the list. If we can't get that right, the rest is moot. In New Zealand, the big stuff is also controlling the worst of our invasive species. Without that, we will have dozens more extinctions in the next couple of decades.

We've been an incredibly resilient species, not in terms of surviving over a long time but surviving in diverse environments and being adaptable. But in the last 10,000 years we've been becoming much less so.

Australia has such heartbreaking extinction statistics. So many unique species have disappeared and are disappearing.

Thanks. Yes, so much destruction caused by the arrogance and ignorance.

Forgot to add link and #sciart theturnstone.substack.com/p/silent-end...
At least the wētāpunga, illustrated in the article, is making a small comeback.

Wellington details

Apologies, forgot alt-text again, it says SCANZ networking night, 15 Oct, 5.30 pm, lists the cities and says everyone welcome and nibbles provided.