Robin Sinclair

@robinssci.bsky.social

2452 Followers 736 Following

Field Ecologist. Bird nerd. Living in Garramilla/Darwin on Larrakia Country. He/they.

A rainbow pitta standing upright on a patch of forest floor. It has moss green wings with a neon blue patch at the shoulder, a small cap of red on its head and a velvet black head and front.
A northern rosella perches on a bare branch with a grey sky in the background. It is looking at the camera with a glint in its eye. It has blue wings, with yellow and black feathers on its front giving a scalloped appearance, red on its rump and a black and white head.
A buff-sided Robin perched on a twig. It is a black, white and grey bird with a buff patch under its wings. It is holding its wings down and its tail is cocked.
A pile of colourful feathers plucked from a rainbow bee-eater and discarded by a ghost bat.
About 8 Gouldian Finches perched in a tree. There is a mix of adult and juvenile bird with both red and black faces.
Six Gouldian Finches, five sat on a lawn with a sixth coming in to land, it's wings outstretched behind it. There is one dull grey-green juvenile bird and five colourful adults. The adults have a yellow belly, purple chests, green back and bright blue on their tail and ringing their faces, which are either red or black.
A little friarbird perched atop a picnic table with a tree, some mulch and the ocean in the background. The friarbird is pale grey, with darker grey fings and tail feathers. It's face is masked with bare, black skin and it has a slightly downcurved, pointy black beak.
A large bird sites in a chain link fence. The bird has a dark head, large somewhat menacing bill, speckled dark brown wings and a long dark tail feathers with light brown barring.
For their sake and yours, please don't handle wildlife unnecessarily.
When handling animals we: - Keep handling to the minimum required to collect the data we need - Follow strict protocols to ensure a high standard of animal welfare is maintained - Have plans in place for if something goes wrong (e.g. injured wildlife)
Importantly, all animals are handled: - For population monitoring and/or research purposes - By or under the supervision of trained professionals - With the required permits and approvals
I'm very lucky to have a job where I get to do hands on work with wildlife, including endangered species. Occasionally, I will share pictures and videos of me or my colleagues handling wild animals as part of our work.
A note on animal handling.
A small Bilby bounces out of a cloth bag, stops for a second to get its bearing and then bounces off into the night. It is small, grey and fluffy with a black and white tail
Acacia shrubland with a sandy track running through it, off towards a gorgeous orange sunrise.
A segment of rainbow in a warm coloured sunset sky.
A copy of the Badimaya Dictionary with the subtitle "An Aboriginal language of Western Australia". The cover depicts a pencil drawing of a red dirt and rocky landscape with a large blue-green snake moving through it.
A hand holds out a mug of frozen peas and a red-brown hen pecks at them.
A gecko on a rammed earch brick wall. The gecko has rough skin, with orange on the tip of its tail and on the top of its head and transverse, dotted striped down its back of cream and brown on black. It's underside is pale.
A projector screen with a slide reading "Badimia Guwaga Language Workshop, Mount Magnet, 26 Feb - 2 March 2025"
A small cliff of red orange stone with blue skies and eucalyptus woodland in the background.
Two red-brown hens peck at frozen peas in a terracotta dish.
A large yellow-spotted monitor (Varanus panoptes), partly obscured by a branch is in the process of moulting, so some parts of its skin are fresh looking with a strong contrast between its yellow spots and the black background, whereas the old skin is faded, red and dusty looking.
A Bilby - a pale grey marsupial with large rabbit-like ears and a black and white tufted tail - is released from a cloth bag, pauses for a second to take in its surroundings and then bounces off into the night.
The bronze, rippled and shiny bark of a Gimlet Gum.
A Woylie (a pint-sized kangaroo like critter) sniffs and peers in the general direction of the person holding the camera. It is nighttime and the Woylie is lit by the light from a torch.
A small grey-brown dragon with red-brown patterning on its back sits among sparse, dry grass on red dirt, with a log in the foreground.
A silver-white spider with black and red-brown accents hangs in a web, it's eight legs held out like a saltire cross. It has a long, pointy abdomen.
A yellow-spotted monitor (Varanus panoptes) is using its front and back legs to hang from a small camping table outside a house. It is perched precariously and has obviously knocked some items off the table. The goanna is about 2 metres long.
A small brown and grey dragon sits among some leaf litter
A hand holds a white cloth bag. Poking out of the top of a bag is the tail of Red-tailed Phascogale. The tail is black and fluffy towards the tip, but a beautiful burnt orange-red colour further down.
A Red-tailed Phascogale pauses and looks over its shoulder in the middle of climbing a branch. It is a small mammal, a bit bigger than a mouse with big ears, grey fur, little pink feet and a long tail which has orange-red fur on the first half and a black, brushy tip.
There are plans to make the Quoin financially sustainable through ecotourism as well as biodiversity and carbon credits - offsetting programs which reward landowners who improve biodiversity or manage vegetation to remove carbon dioxide from the atmosphere
A cockatiel perched on a leafless branch, against a backdrop of clear blue sky. It is a small grey parrot with a flash of white on its wing, a pale yellow head with an orange splotch on its cheek and an elegant grey crest.
A screenshot of eBird showing a Rare Bird Alert for a bird that is "exceptionally rare in this location" as I try to enter a record for a rock dove.
Me standing in the field with a beautiful eucalypt behind me, holding a radiotracking antenna above my head, but wearing a Santa hat, a linen shirt, slightly dressy trouser and shiny black shoes.
A sand goanna standing by a door at the end of a hallway.
A Numbat - a small orange brown marsupial with a brushy tail and cream-coloured stripes on its rear - is walking near the bottom of a tall, mesh fence by the edge of a dirt track. The photo is blurry, having been taken through a pair of binoculars.
A picture of me standing with my back to the camera on a sandy track wearing a backpack with three metal cage traps strapped to it. I have another trap held in my left hand and my right hand is helping to balance a fifth trap on my head.