LAKE BURLEY GRIFFIN on a sparkling July morning, as seen
from the commuting path by the jogging, walking or cycling Canberran. The
abundant Australasian Darter is insufficiently recognised as a true Canberra
species, although often vying with the frogmouth in featuring in the proud
early snaps of the ornithogical digi-snapper. ‘Australasian’
is perhaps a bit misleading as it does not occur in NZ (unlike the lovable
Brush-tailed Possum), but, as presently assessed, does extend to (or from)
‘New Guinea, the Lesser Sundas and the southern Moluccas’, there
being as yet no word to describe satisfactorily just that section of the
Earth’s surface covered by A novaehollandiae.
