After great day yesterday we slept again by Lake Te Anau but as it rained all night the camper was pretty cold. The original plan was to get up early, around 06:30 and drive towards Milford Sound in order to get good shots of Mirror Lakes without wind disturbing the surface.

As we open our eyes around 07:40 there is fog all around and drizzle. We heat up the van and drive to Te Anau to get some groceries for breakfast and the rest of the day. After a few emails we drive on. The sky to our right shows some sun so we hope it will clear up for our 16:00 Milford Sound cruise.

As we make our way through this part of NZ we see steep peaks “rocketing” towards the sky. Some of them are supposed to be over 2000m high but since the clouds hang low we only see the bottom few hundred meters. We pass a valley completely covered in lupinus flowers of all colors. What a sight even in this crapy light! All around us we also see beautiful yellow bushes which at times cover whole hillsides. Beautiful!

Just as we are about to pull over to Mirror Lakes we realize that Katka misses her North Face jacket with passport, credit cards and money. Blood stops pumping in us! We fly!!! back to Te Anau, quiet and contemplating what we need to do if it’s all really gone. After “death” drive of 30min we stop in front of the laundromat. No jacket there. Thankfully, when we check in the shop next door they have it! We both thank God and cry with relief.

We head back and do stop at Mirror Lakes but the low laying clouds don’t allow much “mirroring”. We drive on and slowly start climbing up into the steep rocky valleys. The beauty is out of this world. Many peaks are still covered in snow and there are hundreds of waterfalls running down the steep faces of the mountains. We pass many waterfalls with absolutely heavenly blue water and the number of creeks is so vast that most of them lack names and are just numbered. Arriving at the 381m long Homer Tunnel through the mountain we pull over and walk on snow. This place is heaven to any hiker. Whoever said five weeks is “enough” for NZ was terribly mistaken. We can see ourselves spending 2 months here, easy!

As we pull over to one of the many lookouts we see several large greenish mountain parrots called Kea. They are definitely not shyp as they land on top of the cars and look for anything they could steal from the tourists. Some idiots! feed them despite the signs. I suggest to cage such individuals.

Once pass the tunnel we drive through georgeous valley and slowly make our way to the parking lot in Milford Sound. We quickly grab lunch/dinner There is no cell phone signal here and last petrol station is 120km in Te Anau. We get anoter blessing today, the sun is out and big patches of blue sky show up.

We board a ship called Sidnibad and set sail. We feel special to be able to see the fiordland in both types of weather. It rains here 230 days a year so sunny afternoon is rather rare. When we think of all the blessings in our lives and how good we have it, we can’t help but wonder how did we deserve it all?! We pass many beautiful waterfalls and get to see fur seals and even Fiordland Creted Penguines again. It’s a privilage to see them with less than 1500 left. The captain of the boat, Denis, a gentleman in his sixties and the tour-guide Daniel (22) keep cracking jokes over the speakers. What a wonderful crew. The thrid member is a lovely lady taking pictures of people and serving food. For all those “you have to go to Milford Sound” people we’d like to say: no! you don’t. It is beautiful but the Doubtful Sound is much nicer. If it wasn’t for the weather and crew it wouldn’t come even close to Doubtful Sound. We pass a steep mountain rising over 2000m! straight from the sound. Daniel also tells us a story about a base jumper who was hired to jump one of these tricky cliffs for a six figure sum in order to show the beauty of the area. As she is helicoptered to the platform at top and waits for 4hrs for the right conditions, the film crew chopper flies by in preliminary take. She jumps as she takes it for the signal. A sudden gust pulls her only 2 feet away from the cliff’s face. As they pick her up, the camera crew asks her if she could do it again as they did not have the cameras rolling . She collected the money and refused to jump again. Nice.

We also learn that the glacier that carved this fiord was moving at staggering 7m per day! To put it in perspective the Fox and Fr.Joseph glaciers up north move at 3m per year. Apparently it had to be so loud no one could watch it move. Well, right before we come back, Denis-the captain takes such liking of Katka that he let’s her steer the ship. I have the whole thing filmed and photographed.

Walking back to our van we see another Wicked Camper with an awesome saying sprayed on its back side “Why do always close-minded people open their mouths?” we start driving back but still manage to make a short stop at “The Chasm”. It’s a deep narrow canyon carved into soft rock by harder rocks and water. The stream has collected beautifully blue water from hundreds of waterfalls and roars deep into the abbys. Definitely worth the 20min round trip walk through forest of moss covered trees and 10m high fern trees. Georgeous! As we hit the massive valley we admire the carpet of millions of lupinus flowers. Unfortunately the valley is already shaded so we take photos with our minds.

I feel ungrateful and slow to learn that things usually (in our case almost always) work out for good. I get down sometimes because of weather or things like negotiating the next job’s conditions and loose sight of the fact that we ARE doing what we love to do the most. We travel the world together. We see things with our own eyes and hear and smell them with our ears and noses. Best of all we do it together. We are blessed to have the balls to break from the “expectations” of the society we live in and follow our hearts’s desire. We are blessed to have been raised by parents with good values who also taught us how to handle money in order to save some. I need to have more faith! and relax a bit more because to my knowledge no one made it out of life alive yet.

Driving along Lake Te Anau we witness another spectacle of nature when several bright beams poke through the clouds and lite up the beauty below. As I type all this Katka drives John Mayer rolls one great song after another from his new album. Perfectly happy and content!

We refuel again in Te Anau just to be safe, upload the blog and move on. The night moves in as we make our way towards Queenstown. Katka naps while I drive and listen to the book. Some 30km outside of QT we pull over to a picnic site and park for the night. The great day is spoiled by me running over an unknown small animal

Hey non-members:

Our Autumn 2009 newsletter is available on our website here.

And our recent email newsletter is available here.

If you were a member, you’d have your copies by now.

ANNOUNCEMENT:

The International and Public Relations Office, Universiti Brunei Darussalam,
is pleased to invite you to a

PUBLIC LECTURE entitled

EMPOWERING YOUTHS THROUGH MALAY ISLAMIC MONARCHY

by

Mohd. Shahrol Amira bin Abdullah

Deputy Director

Academy of Brunei Studies

Universiti Brunei Darussalam

Day/Date : WEDNESDAY, 18 November 2009

Time : 2.15 pm

Venue : SENATE ROOM, CHANCELLOR HALL, UBD

You are welcome to attend.

*****************************************************
Abstract :
EMPOWERING YOUTHS THROUGH MALAY ISLAMIC MONARCHY

Youths are an important asset of a country. They are involved in the government and private sectors for the welfare, security and development of the country. Those categorized as youths are many and as such the group should not be excluded or marginalized nor underestimated in, the national development agenda. Since youths are leaders of today as well as of the future, efforts to empower them in all aspects and areas, in particular those relevant to them, should be planned and executed effectively and systematically.

“Empowering Youths Through MIM” means fully utilizing Malay, Islamic and Monarchy assets to empower youths in this country. The goal of using MIM to empower youths is to create youths that are charismatic, independent and responsible, in line with the national Malay Islamic Monarchy Philosophy. Through the Malay Islamic Monarchy approach, it is hoped that the youths are able to shine, excel, and  stand on their own feet, in the local and international arenas,   but still strongly adhere to MIM norms and values.

This Surambi Public lecture, will discuss the initiatives to empower youths in the framework of the national Malay Islamic Monarchy Philosophy. From the ideas shared and discussed in this Surambi it is hoped that various effective formulas on how to empower our youths and the areas to be prioritized, will be discovered. It is also hoped that the discussion will enable us to see effective alternative measures to complement those that have been carried out by various agencies, in their efforts to empower youths in this country.

Community Roots, a program of Kootenai Environmental Alliance, has completed its third season of collecting surplus produce from local gardeners and farmers markets for delivery to local food assistance facilities.  Beginning with only a handful of people and 3,000 pounds of donations in 2007, the program has now more than tripled its impact. More than 9000 pounds of fresh produce was distributed this season to people in our community who needed it.

Community Roots 2009 Volunteers

This year, Community Roots maintained a garden plot at the Shared Harvest Community Garden on 10^th and Foster in downtown Coeur d’Alene. Through the generous efforts of  the KEA and the Garden’s supporters, particularly The Art Spirit Gallery, Community Roots built a garden shed out of re-claimed wood to act as a donation drop-off point and volunteer headquarters at the Shared Harvest Community Garden.  Produce was sorted, weighed, and loaded into bicycle carts and vehicles for delivery at 15 partnered food assistance facilities in the area.

Shared Harvest Garden organizer Kim Normand contributed to the success by fielding volunteer phone calls and by encouraging plot owners at the garden to donate food to the program. Garden volunteers signed up to rotate watering and harvesting days at the Community Roots plot, and Normand’s leadership kept the entire community garden flourishing all season long. 

Meanwhile, Davis Donuts, a great local business, publicized the program’s efforts on their street side sign. More importantly, their twice-weekly fresh food drop-off contributed enormously to Community Roots’ 2009 success. (Seriously, 2520 N 4th St, Coeur d’Alene — visit them and say thanks for us!)

This year also marked the first in a series of food preservation classes put on by the Community Roots Program.  A great success, the class contained both volunteers and people on the receiving end of the produce donations.  Community Roots intends to expand this venture into next year, focusing on education for both gardeners and recipients.  “Educating people on how to best make use of what they grow or what they receive from our program is the real way to make a lasting impact on the community,” declares Korrine Kreilkamp, founder of Community Roots. “We think we have a lot more to offer in that regard, and we hope next year’s success will top this one.”

Community Roots remains a group effort.  Without the aid of over 20 volunteers who regularly donate their evening or weekend, the program could not function successfully.  “This unique kind of ecological and social service has attracted good people,” comments Kreilkamp. “There are a lot of smiles and laughter that go into being a Roots Volunteer.”

Our latest email alert is out. You can read it here.

(Thanks Jeff for the great idea to post them here…)

For all your information, there is a change of venue for ‘Challenge Me’.  It will be held at Multi Purpose Hall, HEP Building, Universiti Brunei Darussalam.

if any enquires, just email me at @ asilah_309@hotmail.com or contact me @ +6738628492.

“Kea”

Acrylic

100mm x 100mm

For Sale

$45.00

This artwork along with a selection of other work of mine is now available to view and purchase at

 2nd Edition

22 Poplar lane,

Christchurch

PH: 03 379 3501

Here is a little info on this cheeky wee bird!

The call of ke-aa ringing through the air is deeply evocative of New Zealands Southern Alps. Kea are parrots that have adapted to life in the mountains. Kea are either loved for their elaborate antics or disliked for the damage they can do. Their intelligent curiosity equips them well for the harsh conditions in which they live.
Kea investigate anything and everything with their immensely strong beaks, tongues, and hand-like claws. They work out how to open all sorts of containers, particularly rubbish bins, in search of titbits. In mountain huts and villages it is a challenge to devise a kea-proof container. Residents who leave doors open may return to find upholstery and mats shredded.

The candidates who showed for the KEA forum this afternoon acquitted themselves quite nicely, with mostly thoughtful answers to mostly difficult questions. Only challenger Dan Gookin failed to show, claiming in a letter to Kootenai Environmental Alliance the he had a prior engagement. 

As moderator, I thought things went well, but perhaps too well.  On the core substance, there seemed to be a lot of agreement among the candidates, and therefore maybe not enough distinction between candidates on this particular set of issues.  I thought the incumbents tended to be more knowledgeable on some issues, but that is certainly to be expected. Stylistically, I thought a few candidates did very well in our forum, and a few didn’t. (No, I won’t say which.) Incumbent councilman Mike Kennedy mentioned his Conservation Voters for Idaho endorsement, but the rest of the candidates weren’t particularly shy about touting environmentalist leanings either, which was a bit of a pleasant surprise.

We asked prepared questions about: sustainable development, opportunities for re-development, the education corridor design, water quality permitting for the sewage treatment plant, the independence point parking lot, and Coeur d’Alene Lake. An audience member submitted a question about conflicts of interest. 

I thought there was an interesting, even surprising, consensus on a number of items.  Sure, we need to protect our neighborhoods, and Lake, and aquifer, and Tubbs Hill, et cetera.  But most of the candidates also spoke strongly about the hillside ordinance, and the need to protect our hillsides from development. And all the candidates tended to agree that the City will simply need to do what it needs to do to have the City’s sewage treatment plant comply with the tight new Clean Water Act requirements on the Spokane River likely to be promulgated soon. However, there were some subtle differences as to how candidates thought improvements to the plant would be financed.

In all, it was a good experience, I think — for the candidates to talk about difficult but highly relevant issues, and for the audience to hear directly what the candidates had to say.  We wish the candidates the best of luck, and may there be a strong turnout of environmental voters on November 3^rd.

We received a letter today from Dan Gookin, a candidate for City Council in Coeur d’Alene.  According to the letter, Mr. Gookin has a “prior speaking commitment” and will not be attending the candidate forum scheduled for tomorrow (Thursday) at noon at the Iron Horse. In the letter, Mr. Gookin said he “wants to share with you my opinions and ‘green thoughts’ for the future of Coeur d’Alene”  and listed a number of positions on a range of environmental issues in the City.

While we appreciate the advance notice of his non-participation, and appreciate his positions, the point of the forum is to share his “green thoughts” with our members and members of the public. We’re disappointed in his decision not to participate, and we believe he will miss a great opportunity.

Taking inspiration from “Are You Smarter Than a Fifth Grader”

5 UBD graduates from this year will be competing with each other and against students from primary 5!

For UBD student who want watch and attend the event, the registration starts tomorrow (17/10/09). To register, you guys can go to any noticeboard in UBD ( FBEPS, FASS, CLT, SHBIE, APB, PMUBD Shop, Cafeteria, FOS and IM) and write your name, registration no. & mobile no. Or you can register on the actual day which is 4th November 2009!

All are WELCOME..the MORE the MERRIER~~
All student who attended the event, will given certificate

The kiwi is New Zealand’s number one bird according to a Forest & Bird poll.

The top 10 birds in this year’s poll are:

1. Kiwi (1586 votes)
2. Rifleman (1230 votes)
3. Kea (1093 votes)
4. Kakapo (829 votes)
5. Tui (619 votes)
6. Takahe (571 votes)
7. Fernbird (462 votes)
8. Fantail ( 395 votes)
9. Karearea/native falcon (383 votes)
10. Pukeko (382 votes)

This is the fifth year the competition has been run. Last year the kakapo won and the kiwi didn’t make the top 10.

Previous winners were: the tui in 2005,  the fantail in 2006 and the grey warbler in 2007.

There probably ought to be a name for this new form of fundraising / philanthropy mixture. But an increasing number of corporate donors are running contests such as this one run by Tom’s of Maine. The idea is that the proposal getting the most votes on the website gets the grant. The corporation gets traffic driven to its website, and the organizations get a shot a significant grant opportunity. Win-win, right?

This past summer, we noticed that Idaho wasn’t represented in Tom’s “50 States for Good” campaign and sent in our application.  And now, Kootenai Environmental Alliance is a finalist for a $20,000 grant from Tom’s, a long-time funder of environmental causes!

We’re certainly promoting the effort, and hopeful for the grant (to replicate the enormously successful Community Roots – Shared Harvest garden partnership), but it’s a tough thing to do. We are competing with other deserving causes by trying to rally our electronic votes from our smallish city in North Idaho – where the wiring isn’t the best and where spam is king. Bigger organizations, in bigger cities, with bigger electronic mailing lists and more fans on facebook, have a distinct advantage in competitions like these.

Nevertheless, you have to play to win. So do us a favor and keep us in the running – take two seconds to vote for “Shared Harvest – North Idaho” at the Tom’s website. And bookmark it — you can vote for us once a day for the rest of the month of October.

This past summer, we got a nice note from freshly-retired Executive Director Barry Rosenberg mentioning that among other things, he was struggling mightily with a brand new retirement present from his son.  Barry, our rugged and iconoclastic leader for about 8 years, had returned to live on his beautiful “off the grid” homestead nestled in the forest between Priest River and Priest Lake. His son gave him a solar powered refrigerator. Barry, used to regularly hauling ice to the house, explained that he was uncertain about the whole thing, and was wondering what he would do with such a device.

 And so it is here at the office.  We’ve begun to modernize our communications efforts – so as to preach more and to preach beyond the usual smallish choir. First it was a new email system.  Then, Facebook.  Recently, Twitter. And now, this blog. We’ve tried it out quietly with a few posts and we’re now going to be rolling it out to the more general public.

 We hope to post here regularly, maybe a few times a week, about things of importance to our constituency of folks in the region interested in our mission – to conserve, protect, and restore the environment in North Idaho and particularly the Coeur d’Alene basin. We hope this is a useful tool in this new electronic age, and that we can maybe reach more people and do more good.  But we’ll see. It all seems kind of like Barry’s refrigerator.

The first and hopefully annual Junk2Funk show was a smashin’ fashion success!

Thanks to the artists, the models, the volunteers, sponsors, supporters, promoters, photographers, and KEA staff who put it all together. 

 Our friends at DOMA Coffee have some more pictures up on their excellent blog.

Name a health site after a bird approaching extinction? Sure, go for it.

Not everyone gets the opportunity to help name a new product, but thanks to the economic stimulus package we all have a chance. Fermilab has been given $53 million to build a new machine for accelerating protons and they’re asking New York Times readers to submit their ideas for the atom-smasher. Let’s hope the result is better received than Kraft’s recently crowd-sourced name iSnack2.0.

Outdoor product company The North Face is trying to put an end to parody brand The South Butt, run by an 18-year old college student. The North Face cites consumer confusion as the catalyst for legal action. The defendant appears unfazed. Perhaps the collegiate CEO lives by his company’s tagline, “never stop relaxing.”

After 68 years as the printed bastion of fine food and drink, Gourmet magazine will no longer be found at newsstands after November. Condé Nast will, however, keep the Gourmet brand in play, focusing on Gourmet’s book publishing and television programming as well as its internet presence.

In another corporate logo duel, Apple has challenged the intellectual property of Australian supermarket chain Woolworths, with the claim that the icon is too similar to its own.  An apple a day…keeps consumers away?

Amidst the current healthcare debate on Capital Hill, one start-up is offering a different take on the next step for better health. Led by the former head of Google Health, Keas, named after a species of alpine parrot (portrait above), aims to create a virtual marketplace for personalized health advice.

I wrote an article a little while ago about play behavior in wild parrots.  It focused a lot on the parrots of New Zealand, since the play behavior of three species from there (Kea, Kaka, and Kakapo) has been well studied.

The article has been published in the “Companion Parrot” magazine, which can be downloaded over here:

http://www.members.companionparrot.com/

The issue has a lot of other articles about play in parrots as well. Plus, by signing up, you can get access to various forums and can read a lot of other parrot-related articles.

I’ve also posted the whole article below as well.

Enjoy!

_____________________________________________________

Play Behaviour in Wild Parrots

Play is very common in young mammals, but it appears to be much less widespread in birds.  This could be for one of two reasons: either young birds simply do not play as often as young mammals, or play in birds is simply an understudied area.  Even if it isn’t common, play is definitely not unheard of in birds.  For example, young birds of many species, including song sparrows, will spar playfully with each other, and some raptors will fly while holding an object, only to release it and chase and catch it as it falls.  And of course, anyone who has interacted with young pet parrots has probably seen birds play.

What is Play?

Relatively few scientific studies have been done on play in birds in comparison to ones done on play in mammals (especially primates).  Play is a difficult area to study because clearly defining “play” in a way that differentiates it from other activities is quite challenging, even though most of us probably know it when we see it.  Defining it is tricky since there are no actions that birds only reserve for playing.  Play in both birds and mammals generally involves actions used in other contexts, such as foraging, courting, fighting or mating.  However, in play, the actions do not seem to serve any immediate function, and the actions may be incomplete or exaggerated when compared to their more “serious” counterparts.  The motivational basis also appears to be different.  Play tends to be self-rewarding, since food or mating opportunities are not obtained directly from play.  Animals basically seem to play for fun.

Role-reversal and self-handicapping are two common features of play.  Role-reversal occurs when one animal takes on a different social role during the play session.  For example, during play, an adult dog may place itself in a submissive posture towards a younger dog.  Self-handicapping occurs when one animal does not use all its strength during the play bout.  For example, an animal would not bite as hard as it physically could during a play session.  Often, an animal must learn how hard it can bite during play.  Most puppies learn that they lose play opportunities when they bite too hard.  Most young parrots need to be taught this as well.

Play must also be differentiated from vacuum activities and behaviors like pacing.  “Vacuum activity” is the name Konrad Lorenz gave to behaviors that appear in animals even though there is no stimulus present that normally induces them.  In other words, they appear in a vacuum.  Behaviors that an animal has a strong “drive” to display can appear in such a vacuum.  For example, chickens normally dust bathe, and may make motions as though they are dust bathing even if there is no dust.  The “false” dust bathing is not really play, although it is similar in that it serves no immediate function.  Pacing in caged animals is considered a vacuum activity by some. A pacing animal may not be moving around in response to any stimulus or for any obvious reason (such as to find food), but it is clearly not playing.

Even with all of the cautions one must take when evaluating whether a behavior is play or not, it is clear that play does occur in several wild bird species.  This play falls into three categories: object play, locomotive play, and social play.  Object play occurs when an animal manipulates or tosses an item that has no obvious use to it.  Ravens often engage in object play.  Young ravens will toss around and manipulate nearly any interesting object they find.  Raptor fledglings will also play with objects, such as chunks of moss.

Locomotive play involves a single animal.  During this type of play, the animal will hop, swing, summersault, and move in an apparently exuberant fashion, but not necessarily to get anywhere.  Some parrots like to sit on swings and flap their wings to make them move and this is an example of locomotory play.

Social play, where birds play interactively with a partner of their own species, is not widely documented in birds, but it has been studied in two species of hornbill, Eurasian babblers, several species of corvid (ravens, crows, magpies, jays, and relatives), and several species of parrot¹.  Among birds, it appears most important in the species that have very large brains relative to their body sizes.  The parrots and corvids certainly fall into this category.  Parrots and corvids are the two most playful of bird types in general, and both do play in the wild.

Play in Keas

Social play has been very well-studied in three of New Zealand’s parrot species: the kea (Nestor notabilis), the kaka (Nestor meridionalis), and the kakapo (Strigops habroptilus).  Of these three, the kea displays the most variety in types of play observed. The species is quite infamous for its playful nature, curiosity, and propensity to cause troubles for humans.

Keas are rather peculiar animals and in many ways are quite unlike most other parrots.  Firstly, most of their plumage is earth-toned, rather than being the more typical brilliant greens, reds, and blues of many other parrots.  They are mainly olive green, but do have some scarlet feathers on the underside of the wings and their flight feathers are a striking turquoise-blue.  The outer side of the tail is a dark shade of sea-green and has a dark band near the end of it.  The underside of the tail, like the underside of the flight feathers, is brown with yellow stripes.  The beak also contributes to the birds’ unique appearance: the upper mandible is long, thin and spear-like.  They need such a long beak to dig for tubers and roots to eat in the winter.  Unlike most other parrots, keas live in alpine regions which are covered in snow during winter.  They are also truly omnivorous and will eat other animals.

It’s the kea’s behavior, however, that has really made it quite famous.  The complexity of their social behavior rivals that of many primates, and they are insatiably curious, as anyone who has seen them in the wild can attest to.  Young keas will investigate any new and interesting thing they see in their environment, from a tasty-looking seed, to a hiker’s backpack, to a skier’s new SUV.  Keas can be rather attracted to human settlements, presumably because they provide plenty of interesting things to poke through and potential sources of new food.

Their curiosity gets keas into trouble with humans quite frequently.  Leave a backpack outside unattended in kea country and there’s a good chance that a kea will come along, chew it up, and scatter the contents everywhere.  Even vehicles are not safe from kea beaks.  Keas love to rip the antennae and wind shield wipers off of cars.  In one case² a group of keas tore the rubber around the windows off of a vehicle, which caused the window to cave in.  This gave the keas access to the vehicle’s interior.  They tore up everything they could and ultimately rendered the vehicle undriveable.

Needless to say, I was relieved that I had gotten extra insurance on my rental car when I saw a juvenile kea loitering around the parking lot of the motel I was staying at on a recent trip to New Zealand.  This was at Milford Sound, right at the south end of the South Island.  I had found a family of three keas there, which I presumed were a male, female, and their offspring.  The juveniles are quite easy to differentiate from the adults, as they have some orange shading around the eyes and on the beak that the adults lack.  The adults were busy digging in the dirt for roots to eat, but the juvenile spent much more time exploring the area around a restaurant.  He hung around on the roof and manipulated a piece of plastic sheet he dragged out of a pipe.  He squealed at his parents in a hunching posture as they foraged.  They didn’t mind him at all, until he flashed the red patch under his wings at them.  This, apparently, is a threat behavior, and he was charged at by one of his parents for that gesture.  The hunching behavior I saw is one displayed primarily by juveniles, and adult keas will generally act much more gently towards a hunching juvenile.

The play repertoire of keas has been very well-studied^{2, 3}.  Along with ravens, keas probably have the most diverse play repertoire of all birds.  However, unlike in most other birds, play persists in wild keas past the fledgling stage.  About 25% of all participants in play sessions among wild keas are subadults or adult females³.

Social play is very common in wild keas.  Often, one kea will initiate a play session with another by cocking its head to one side.  This gesture would indicate to the other kea that the next actions it takes are in play and are not to be taken as aggression.  The “head cock” seems to be similar to the play bow in dogs, where one dog will initiate a play session with another by bowing with its front feet and head lowered.

Two juvenile keas playing can be very rough with each other, and act much like puppies play wrestling with each other.  One kea may jump on another and “pin” its partner upside down on the ground.  A pair of playing keas may also shove each other around with their feet.  Some keas will “dive bomb” another kea in an attempt to knock it over.  Playing keas will also lock their bills together.  Bites are common in kea play sessions, and keas will even drag each other around on the ground.  Sometimes, a kea being bitten in play will squeal or jerk away, but serious injuries are not a component of play in keas.

Young keas also love to play with objects, either alone or with another kea.  Tug of war is a common kea game.  A lone kea may also pick up non-edible objects like rocks or trash and hold or manipulate them.  A kea may also toss an object in the air, and may exuberantly hop or flap as it releases the object.  A kea may also toss an object at a play partner and adult keas courting each other may also toss objects to each other.

Finally, keas often hop towards other birds during play.  Hopping and jumping are major components of their play repertoire in general.  Two keas will often jump and flap next to each other during play.  Pet individuals of many other species hop during play as well, especially lories, caiques, and small cockatoos (particularly the bare-eyed variety).

Play in Kakas

The kea’s closest evolutionary relative, the kaka, can also be very playful birds, and their play behaviour has also been examined in detail by biologists³.  Kakas occur in forests on both the North and South Islands of New Zealand.  They too are large parrots – about 45 cm tall – and look similar to keas but are mainly dark brown.  Their beaks are also broader and heavier.  A kaka’s chest is dark red, as are the undersides of its wings.  I saw several of these handsome birds in the forest surrounding the Mount Bruce Wildlife Centre on the North Island, about a two hour drive north of Wellington.  They are very social, noisy, and acrobatic birds.  Several birds I saw were quite capable of playing or foraging while hanging upside down in a tree by one foot.

Kakas spend more time up in trees than keas, and do much less of their foraging on the ground.  Juvenile kakas do play-wrestle as keas do and will jump on each other, or engage in mutual foot pushing.  However, play among juvenile kakas is a bit less rough than play among keas.  For instance, kakas do not bite each other during play sessions as often and they never bite their partners hard enough to make them jerk away or squeal.  This could be because kakas have bigger, stronger beaks than keas.  If a kaka were to put any pressure into a bite it gives a play partner, it could inadvertently cause a painful injury.

Being primarily arboreal, young kakas do spend a lot of time playing in trees.  Some of this is solitary locomotor play, as young kakas will flap their wings and swing while hanging upside down by one or both feet from a tree branch.  Sometimes, two kakas will hang in a tree next to each other and attempt to push each other out of the tree.  The two birds may even fall out of the tree together.  Overall, kakas spend much more time playing in trees than keas do.  When keas play in trees, they usually spar with their beaks or push each other with their feet.

Kakas also differ from keas in that they do not incorporate objects in play as often as keas do.  Young kakas will hang upside down in trees and rip branches or fern fronds off of the tree, or shred other types of vegetation, but that is the extent of their object play.  Keas, on the other hand, will play with nearly anything they find in their environment.

Play in Kakapos

The kakapo is a very unusual, unparrot-like parrot.  They are quite heavy (4.5 to 9 pounds) and are flightless.  A high proportion of New Zealand’s native birds are flightless because there are no native mammals there, aside from two bat species.  Since they do not need flight to escape from mammalian predators, many of New Zealand’s species have evolved to become flightless.  Unfortunately, when humans introduced cats, stoats and other predators to the country, populations of many flightless birds, including the kakapo, suffered greatly.  Many of them have no natural fear of mammals and so they were easy prey for predators.  Today, there are only 86 kakapos left, and all have been moved to small, predator-free offshore islands.

Play has been studied in captive kakapos who were being raised at a specialized facility at Nelson, on the South Island⁴.  These kakapos were later released into the wild, so contact with humans was kept to a minimum while they were being hand reared.  The behaviors seen in them should be similar to behavior displayed by wild kakapos.

Juvenile kakapos are quite gentle during play.  They will use their beaks to nuzzle another bird or grasp its feet, beak, or feathers.  However, they do not bite each other during play.  Overall, play fighting in kakapos is rather mild.  They also do not display the head-cocking behavior seen in keas or kakas.

Young kakapos will hop towards other birds and sometimes will push another bird with their feet.  Kakas hop towards other birds with their heads cocked to the side to initiate play sessions, but kakapos do not seem to hop as a way of initiating play.  However, excited kakapos will hop and flap their wings.  Both keas and kakas will roll onto their backs while waving their feet in the air during social play interactions.  Young kakapo will roll onto their backs like that as well, but it is often during solitary play.  Young kakapos will also sometimes place their chin over the neck or back of another kakapo.  Keas and kakas do not display this “chin over” behavior.

Unlike keas, kakapos do not incorporate objects into play, although some young kakapos will chew branches and will manipulate other objects they find.  Kakapos also do not hang in trees as kakas do, because kakapos spend most of their time on the ground.  Some will climb trees to find food, but they are primarily ground dwellers.

Why the Differences?

Keas, kakapos, and kakas are all closely related, but display different play behaviors.  For example, keas will play with objects, while kakas generally do not.  What could account for that difference?  In general, object play is found most often in generalist species like keas that do a lot of exploring.  Species that can live in a variety of habitats, or can eat a wide variety of foods, are considered generalists.  Crows and their relatives also fit this description, and like keas, are among the most behaviorally flexible of all birds.  Adult kakas, despite being large-brained, intelligent birds, are more afraid of new objects and situations than keas tend to be.  Kaka diets also include a smaller range of items than the typical kea diet.  For example, kakas do not eat other birds or mammals like keas do.  Perhaps its harsher environment means that the kea must accept a larger variety of food sources than the kaka.  In turn, keas have evolved to be bolder and more exploratory to locate a greater variety of foods.  Keas also stick around their parents for a longer time than kakas do, perhaps because it takes them longer to learn to find and eat the huge variety of foods they need.

Kakapos display fewer play behaviors than either keas or kakas.  This makes sense in light of one of the hypotheses that attempts to explain why play is so common in social mammals.  Social mammals likely learn a lot about the “ground rules” of social interactions by playing with their peers. They learn, for example, about how hard of a bite is acceptable.  This is likely true for social parrots as well.  Kakapos are largely solitary (with the exception of a female with young) and that may explain why their play repertoires are smaller compared to those of keas or kakas.

Of course, anyone who has had a kitten knows that non-social mammals play as well.  Kakapos do not play in as many ways as kakas or keas do, but they still do play.  Young animals probably develop better muscle coordination through play, and they get to practice hunting or foraging skills.

Another hypothesis attempting to explain why play has evolved in mammals is that it prepares animals to deal with novel situations.  Animals have to be flexible during play and often place themselves in situations they normally wouldn’t be in.  For example, a bigger, older animal may “self-handicap” when playing with a younger, weaker animal, and most animals alter their behavior during play fights to avoid harming their partner.  By practicing putting themselves in different social situations and playing roles they normally wouldn’t, play helps animals learn how to deal with a wide variety of new situations they normally wouldn’t find themselves in.

Conclusion

Avian play is a relatively new area of study for biologists, and as it stands, very little is known about how often birds play in the wild.  However, it is clear that many corvids and parrots do play, and a lot is known about play in ravens and the parrots of New Zealand.  The kea is a very playful creature, as is its relative, the kaka.  The solitary kakapo lacks the intensity and variety of play seen in these two species, but it too does show some play behavior.  Play in these species is usually limited to young animals, except for adult female keas. However, many adult pet parrots seem to enjoy play, presumably because they enjoy it and do not have to worry about finding food and caring for their young.  They can afford to spend time on other activities.  The immediate reason why parrots play is, presumably, because they enjoy it. However, it probably evolved and persists in wild populations because it helps juvenile parrots learn about their environment.

References

1. Diamond, J., and Bond, A. B.  2003.  A comparative analysis of social play in birds.  Behaviour 140: 1091-1115.

2. Diamond, J., and Bond, A. B.  1999.  Kea, Bird of Paradox: The Evolution and Behavior of a New Zealand Parrot. University of California Press, Berkeley, California.

3. Diamond, J., and Bond, A. B.  2004.   Social play in kaka (Nestor meridionalis) with comparisons to kea (Nestor notabilis).  Behaviour 141: 777-778.

4. Diamond, J., Eason, D., Reid, C., and Bond, A. 2006. Social play in kakapo (Strigops habroptilus) with comparisons to kea (Nestor notabilis) and kaka (Nestor meridionalis).  Behaviour 143: 1397-1423.

September 26th & October 3rd 2009

Louis Charles Gerard ( Labella)

Marshall George (Liam)

Jake Carter (Jordan, Lachlan)

Andrew George Tane

Matthew David (Ashlee & Mackenzie)

William Ross

Joel Thomas (Josh)

James Alexander Quinn (Emily, Grace & Isobel)

Charlie William

Oliver Luke

Samuel John

Joshua Murray (Cody, Isaac)

Tyler Joseph (Makayla)

Evie Marie Elizabeth

Elise Sophia

Libby Rose (Logan & Shania)

Sienna Rose (Kyan)

Amelia

Meisha Rose (Saul)

Kea Sora

Aneira Lainie Nica (Keaton & Coedy)

Este loro es el más vivo ejemplo de aquel dicho popular que dice: “Existen animales tan inteligentes que solo les falta hablar…”

Genial el animalito y su capacidad para resolver problemas:

Teachers in Kent, Washington, approved a deal which will end their strike as early as Tuesday:

Kent teachers reach tentative agreement to end strike

Kent teachers have reached a tentative agreement to end their two-week-old strike against the district, a union official says.

The accord came around 7 p.m. Sunday during weekend talks between the Kent School District and union negotiators, union spokesman Dale Folkerts said.

Folkerts said teachers will vote on the contract proposal Monday morning at 8:30 a.m.

Negotiators for teachers and the Kent School District negotiated all weekend in a last-ditch effort to end the nation’s only teachers strike.

“Our bargaining team has been working day and night trying to get a compromise agreement,” Folkerts said.

Folkerts said the two sides made progress on some issues, such as class size. Then the final breakthrough came as evening approached.

The agreement drew cheers from dozens of teachers who rallied in downtown Kent as Kent Education Association President Lisa Brackin Johnson formally announced the accord.

Folkerts refused to disclose any elements of the contract, saying details would be released only after the district’s 1,800 teachers were informed.

The district is the fourth-largest in Washington, and more than 26,000 students are out of their classrooms.

King County Superior Court Judge Andrea Darvas had previously ordered each teacher in the district to pay $200 per day in fines if they did not return to school by Monday.

If teachers vote to approve the contract, classes will resume on Tuesday, Folkerts said.

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Kea

Amboise

Amboise

Assisi

Barcellona

Barcellona

Tunisi

Budapest

Budapest

budapest

torna a “strade”

vai a “strade 3″

Yesterday some 37 students, staff and invited guests went on a field trip to Kampong Birau to have a hands-on experience with paddy harvesting. The locals taught us how to “menuai” or “mengatam”, “menyabit” and “membanting”. The weather was cloudy at first, then it started to rain but it did not stop the group from having the times of their lives.

(Yes I stole these pictures off Facebook. The ‘official’ PMUBD photographer hasn’t uploaded the pictures yet!)

Going down into the paddy fields on a pick-up truck - going down/up hills was scary/fun!

Group photo with Cat

'Menuai' or 'Mengatam' - can be done just by your hands or using a small penknife

Paddy Laila

Taking shelter from the rain

Just to show how strong the wind/heavy the rain was

The rain didn't stop these boys from working (menyabit)

The girls taking a break

Picking chilli

Membanting paddy using a 50-year old machine; it extracts the paddy from the stalk(?)

Another form of membanting

Result of 'membanting'

(I couldn’t find pictures on menyabit.. that’s on another person’s camera I guess)

After harvesting, we went to Ck Mutalib’s house to change and get dressed for the tahlil- we had our sungkai there (+1 minute!) and they served us with beras Laila! After sungkai we presented tokens of appreciation to Ck Mutalib:

YDP presenting certificate, hamper, umbrellas and voucher to Ck Mutalib

Some of the students "belurih" durian

Some of us who brought our own cars left early, and the last batch of students only left for UBD at around 8pm. Special thanks to Ck Mutalib and family for having us and sending us back!!

Definitely a day to remember

p/s: Thanks Miekal, Qeelz, Muti’ah, Billah and Hidayah for “letting me steal your FB photos” hahaha

UBD SRC and UBD SAS staff in group photo

29 August 2009 – In order to appreciate the Universiti Brunei Darussalam (UBD) Student Representative Council (SRC) for their job well done especially during the recent UBD Art Fest and also the UBD Fresher week. The UBD Student Affairs Section (SAS) organize a sungkai at the Tarindak d’Seni restaurant at the Brunei Handicraft Centre in the capital. Beside to appreciate the UBD SRC for their activities and also for their full commitment to support the UBD SAS staff in UBD scale events, the sungkai session also conducted to foster closer relationship between the UBD SAS staff and the UBD SRC members.

Present during the sungkai are the UBD Dean of Students Dk.Dr.Nurolaini bt Pg.Hj.Muhammad Kifli, UBD Deputy Dean of Students Dr.Ramlee bin Tinkong and two UBD SAS welfare section staff.

Enoying the Sungkai meal

Muhd.Nurfairuz Nazri thePresident of the UBD SRC said “This sungkai session is good to be done not only with us but also with the future UBD SRC members as through this we can foster relation with the UBD SAS officers”. He also added that the UBD SRC members also would like to say thanks to the UBD SAS for the sungkai session.

Spent a week in Lefkada. Great food (fish mostly) cheap prices good service.

Then I took of and spent 1 1/2 weeks in Pilion. Whilst on my way to the hotel I ran into a Centaur; the “gentlehorseman” invited me to join him in watching the Panathinaikos – Atletico soccer game, but I politely

girls playing backgammon (tavli)

declined stating that I already knew what the result would be; Atletico would kick Panathinaikos’ ass since Atletico played collectively like a team (even though it has a strong star lineup) while Panatinaikos has great players who leave much to be desired insofar as a team spirit goes. The Centaur took a fit and we proceeded to wrestle; I managed to jui jitsu (Belgarion : Shomenei…) his arm and before his hind legs could get me, I ran to the car and sped off. Needless to say I took another road on the way to return to Volos.

Pilio was excellent;I stayed at a very good place with excellent service (if you wanna know which place send a mail to edinpress as per above) and the service was generally very good with good prices. Parking was a definite problem though!

From Volos I spotted a couple of rides and ended up for a couple of days in KEA where Iwas gonna give some execs a rev up on LTE and what I see as coming after LTE (you’re gonna have to wait for that one Hecklesson Porgies since this is still considered confidential and not quite yet in the hands of industry;hint;ad hoc nw). Anyway the luncheon was cancelled and I ended up drinking late at night with an Italian, a Brit, a Frenchman and some dude from Aruba. They weren’t interested in LTE but they asked me if I could pull some strings so they can get a licence to dive and check some things out with the Britannic.

It will be remembered that HRMS Britannic (the sister ship of HRMS Titanic) acted in WW I as a hospital ship supporting Churchill’s disasterous campaign in the Dardanelles. Even though the government of Elefterios Venizelos who knew the area well (since he after all pushed the Ottoman’s back to Asia) warned Churhill not to engage in the campaign, Churchill went ahead anyway (sort of like the Norwegian Iron Coast)thus decimated his imperial forces.

Anyway,they wanted to see if the ship   had been torpedoed or whatever.

I told them torpedo my kazoo !

The Britannic like the Titanic  I stipulated sank because of man’s (ladies pardon the masculine;I fully include you in this) arrogance in the same way that Capaneus’ arrogance forced Almighty Zeus to thunderbolt him into a cloud of smoke (Capaneus climbs the Theban gates and screams that not even Zeus can stop him from taking the city;well Zeus stopped him. The Titanic it will be remember was labelled as “unsinkable”. Well, it sank and it sank hard !).

Anyway I left before the divers managed to get the licence but I am anxiously awaiting news from them and some fotos of the said ship which I will indeed, after permissions, post.

Here’s three things you need to do to live a happy and healthy life (as per the wise Centaur and the drunk divers) :

1. Eat properly (a mediterranean diet is a good start)

2. Work out (this includes both physical and mental ie. education, reading etc…)

3. Take everything with a grain of salt (don’t get to sad, don’t get to happy, moderation in everything) and think things out (with your head, not your heart).

Who knows, after a couple of healthy years you’ll end up looking like him:

26 August 2009 (Wednesday) – The Student Representative Council of Universiti Brunei Darussalam with the cooperation of the UBD Student Affairs Section yesterday held a dialogue session with their counterparts from Institut Teknologi Brunei (ITB) Student Council or also known as BKP (Badan Kebajikan Pelajar). This is first time the MPPs organized such dialogue.

From L to R: Muhd Nurfairuz Nazri bin Salleh, President of MPPUBD, Muhd Fikri bin Abdullah, Chairman of BKPITB, Dr Hj Ramlee bin Hj Tinkong, Deputy Dean of UBD and Dyg Voon Nyuk Hiong@Jennifer, Dean of Students of ITB

Present during the dialogue were the Deputy Dean of UBD, Dr. Hj. Ramlee Bin Hj Tinkong, Dean of Students of UBD, Dyg Voon Nyuk Hiong@Jennifer, UBD and ITB Student Affair Officers, and members from MPPUBD and BKPITB members.

The dialogue started with an opening speech from Dr. Hj. Ramlee Bin Hj. Tinkong. In his speech he welcomed the initiative to hold a dialogue between the two universities as by this way both can exchange and brainstorm ideas between them. He  added that as a student body members the student should become a role model to other fellow students. The student council are the eyes, ears and mouth of students and have a responsiblity to ensure that students’ needs are heard by relevent parties.

The speech was followed by a special speech from the ITB Dean of Students.  In her speech she welcomed the effort  to foster relationship between both student bodies. She also hoped that MPPUBD as well as UBD Student Affairs can exchange ideas with their ITB counterparts as ITB wishes to reconstruct its student body.

The session then continued with the president of PMUBD, Muhd Nurfairuz Nazri Bin Salleh’s briefing on the history of PMUBD, MPPUBD and the divisions under it. Then the session continued with explanations about the 12 executive committee (exco) members which was explained respectively by their exco heads. After the briefing a dialogue session ensues which was followed up by exchanging ideas between both student bodies. Among the issues raised by the ITB Student Body (BKPITB) to their UBD counterparts include as how to organise and manage the organisation, how to engage students in activities conducted by the student body, how to form clubs and also how to foster relationship with media partners.

PMUBD and BKPITB members in group photo

The dialogue concluded with the handing of memorabilia from MPPUBD to BKPITB president Muhd Fikri. Later a group photo session was held to commemorate the dialogue.

According to the Chairman of BKPITB, Mohd Fikri bin Abdullah, he gained alot from the discussion and hopes that this discussion will be a continuous project between PMUBD and BKPITB as a way for both parties to exchange ideas and hence strengthening the ”PMUBD-BKPITB” bond that has been established. Khairunnisa Ash’ari who will be leaving for the Study Abroad Programme to the University of Kent this September (we will miss you Kye)siapa tulis ni? capi!!!! lol inda professional) mentioned that insya-Allah there will be another discussion with the BKPITB and she added that the council will try to include the student council from other universities as well.

President of UBD Student Representative Council giving a token of appreciation to the Chairman of ITB Student Council

PMUBD also would like to say thanks to ITB for being the first higher learning institution to hold a dialogue with UBD and PMUBD/MPPUBD. PMUBD also hopes that more higher learning institution will follow such good steps in order to exchange ideas and build a network among student bodies.