day three-hundred-and-sixty-four - superb parrot

simply superb

© jem barratt

ohmigosh! they are also known as barraband's parrot. they are MY parrot!

well at least they belong to my band. when i start one. in the future. and convince my bandmates to name the band after me...

ok so maybe not. but i could always steal one (that's ALWAYS an option).

xj

day three-hundred-and-sixty-two - lady amherst's pheasant

and what a lady she is

(even the male ladies)

© jem barratt

these guys/gals have so much more detail and beauty to them (to wit), i just decided to falsely depict them is all. either that or i'm sleepy/didn't want to

i'll never tell

xj

day three-hundred-and-nineteen - pink katydid

oh no she katydidn't

© jem barratt

yep. i sure did.

xj

day three-hundred-and-eighteen - red-crested turaco

this is one heck of a cute bird

© jem barratt

and a drawing that looks like it could be a logo for some kind of turaco society (...ahem).

these birds are african, despite their looks and name making them seem south american. they should definitely be hanging out with toucans and toucanets somewhere - they have no idea what they're missing!

other than knowing they are angolan and they eat fruit not much is known about these turacos. so i'd better finish my degree quick smart and start studying them.

xj

day three-hundred-and-thirteen - happy face spider

another example of an animal with two cool names. their scientific name, theridion grallator (with 'grallator' being latin for stiltwalker) makes them sound like a prehistoric monster or maybe a gladiator from that most excellent of obstacle-course game shows...

© jem barratt

now that i've distracted you, please excuse my drawing.

and now i'm off to womad to see a guy play a can and stick (trust me, it's amazing)

xj

day three-hundred-and-ten - flying fox

 not the fun kind

© jem barratt

actually were they fun?

might have to retry it as an adult.

in any case this guy is a pteropus something-something, or wing-foot. or flying fox. or furry batman.

xj

day three-hundred-and-eight - spiny devil katydid

katydids are kind of like crickets, and are apparently known as bush-crickets in british english. sucks to be them (even though i realise that would pretty much incorporate so-called 'australian english'), because katydid is a much better name.

and even better, you're meant to pronounce it exactly how you think you should. though it would be understandable for any katys to find it grating and confusing.

maybe this will cheer the katys of the world up:

© jem barratt

spiny devil may not be the correct name (i must stop trusting the telegraph), but boy are they crazy. and spiny. theit devilishness is a little more subtle. but maybe their goofy looks allow them to be truly evil, and thus like the devil?

hopefully all my conjecture and postulation has distratced you from the fact that there were little to no actual facts in this post...

egads! what have i done!?

xj

p.s. just found a hot pink katydid. i promise to include actual facts in the future torrent of katydid posts i plan to make