This relates largely to the simple but probably wrong decision to show the birds (swifts) from the top, rather than from below. Not practical. Other
than that, the drawing is OK, although it looks a bit like he was drawing the shape of boat with wings, rather than a bird.
The idea that birds are dinosaurs (of the theropod group) is often repeated. It is a bit silly and not useful. Yes, birds were dinosaurs a long time
ago. Or their ancestors were. Just like we (and all mammals) were mammal-like reptiles at about the same time. And all were fish even earlier. Both lineages have changed over time sufficient for us to give updated names, which is what makes the dinosaur reference
unhelpful.
Philip
From: Canberrabirds
On Behalf Of Kim Farley via Canberrabirds
Sent: Saturday, 24 January, 2026 2:08 PM
To: Geoffrey Dabb <>
Cc: Canberrabirds <>
Subject: Re: [Canberrabirds] Theropod-watching, the MCG and Neville Cayley
Ha! I well remember that illustration of Needletails in Neville Cayley's What Bird is That and which you have reproduced in your cute cartoon. Many of the illustrations in What Bird is That were pretty bad - particularly for 'little brown
birds'. Cayley's Needletails look more like the 'swallows' on willow pattern blue and white china than actual Needletails.
Having said that, I am comparing Cayley's work unfavourably with what came later: notably Slater, Pizzey, Menkhorst
On Sat, Jan 24, 2026 at 1:32 PM Geoffrey Dabb via Canberrabirds <> wrote:
Everywhere I look there are people wanting to talk about birds. Can you believe birds are in the ‘Culture’ column of today’s
Saturday Paper ? They are referred to as ‘theropods’ to add a slightly jarring literary flourish. The item begins with the mistaken ID of a Yellow-rumped Thornbill for a Willie Wagtail by the celebrity who is the main topic. The theropod-watching takes
place at the reclaimed Merri Creek, many years ago known only as the source of the clay for the famous (now infamous) MCG cricket pitch. The same issue has a piece by Bob Brown in his usual grim style. It is about a wind farm. Like the Culture column, this
manages to compress a lot of information into a small space, presumably a preference of today’s younger readers.
‘The fastest bird for horizontal flight on Earth, the white-throated needletail swift, which migrates each year from Central Asia to Australia, including Tasmania, is listed. Watt’s
department says this speedster is vulnerable to extinction because of a 30 to 50 per cent decline in its numbers over recent decades.’
This has reminded me of the old Neville Cayley pictures of them, probably the earliest images that many people had in those days, of this particular theropod.
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