Latest articles by Howard Birnstihl
Damsels of the deep
Getting up close and personal is something you can easily do with dragonflies, and with their slightly more elegant counterparts, damselflies.
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Do not read this … it’s disgusting!
All I can say about the grub in the accompanying pic is he’s a real show-off. And definitely not anal retentive.
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A fly on the wall
Okay, so summer’s over and you’re sick of the sight and sound of flies buzzing around, following your every move, landing on your food, crawling around your eyes; getting in your hair. And here’s some bloke expecting you to read about them. Huh, some chance.
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A small inconvenience
The two suspicious characters hanging about at the top of the pic are mosquito larvae, commonly known as wrigglers, and their companion at the bottom is a red mite.
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Flights of fancy
As a photographer, one of the most helpful gadgets I ever designed for my local welding man to bring to fruition was a pipe with a clamp at one end and lateral hole at the other.
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Coming soon to North Melbourne
You probably haven’t been able to tell with all this rain lately, but spring has well and truly sprung, and I for one am thrilled.
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Delicate monster
The delicate looking creature in the accompanying pic is aptly named a lacewing. But don’t be fooled by her demure feminine charm, this lady is a cold calculating killer. And she was, even as a child.
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The gall of North Melbournites
If you’re a gardener, or just wandering North Melbourne’s parks, you’ll have seen many galls in your time, although you may not know a lot about them. Non-gardeners can mistake these often colourful and attractive little baubles for a natural part of the plant, which of course they are not.
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Busy little biter
The bull ant in the pic, photographed in the Flagstaff Gardens, is like any you might find in your back yard. He looks ferocious and dangerous, and he’s rather pleased you think so.
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Guggenheim Gumleaf
Either the owner-builder of this gum leaf structure has seen the Guggenheim Museum or influential American architect Frank Lloyd Wright paid a visit to North Melbourne before designing his famous art gallery - or so one would imagine.
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A suspicious death
There has been a murder in the garden. The whole of North Melbourne is buzzing and the renowned Italian Detective Ento Mologist, more lately of the yard [the backyard], has been brought in to investigate.
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Life on eight legs
Clearing out the back garden I came across this hairy orange monster with the most delightful yellow eyebrows. Assuming I’d discovered a new species I checked the reference books only to find I’d been beaten to it many times.
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Yes, the eyes have it
Checking out the gardens of North Melbourne at night can be fun, but of course a little patience is required.
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Every child’s delight
It’s hard to believe, but something good came out of our recent travel restrictions due to COVID … people suddenly rediscovered our local parks.
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Morphing in the old-fashioned way
If you’re like me you’ll have difficulty remembering the term for the way insects change from their young larval stage into adulthood.
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This bird is a lady
Everybody knows and loves ladybirds. In fact, they are probably the most universally accepted insect species, bringing more smiles to more faces than any other.
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Summer drummer
Later this month when you hear the thunderous roar of cicadas in the Flagstaff or Parkville Gardens remember they have probably been working up to it for seven years.
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Hello possums
It’s not as common as it once was to be woken in the night by the thumping of possums running across the roof, the raucous guttural sounds of their territorial squabbles destroying our dreams and shaping our nights.
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