Here's a link to a very interesting article from Reuters news service, published March 17th.
http://asia.reuters.com/newsArticle.jhtml?type=scienceNews&storyID=2392191 And Now for the Weather, Aboriginal Style Mon March 17, 2003 09:52 AM ET By Michael Perry SYDNEY, Australia (Reuters) - When the bearded dragon lizard sits upright and points its head to the sky, it is going to rain the next day. If a flock of currawongs flies overhead, you have four hours to get the washing off the line. If the queen wattle blooms heavily, bull ants abandon their tree nests for mounds of dirt, or meat ants cover nests with tiny, heat-reflecting quartz stones, then bushfires are coming. etc.... Excerpts: Australia's Bureau of Meteorology draws upon Aboriginal weather knowledge... launches "Indigenous Weather Knowledge"... http://www.bom.gov.au/iwk/ Sydney's six-season Aboriginal calendar is based on the flowering of various native plants.... [details provided] Insightful observations on drought cycles.... +++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++ When you go to the "Indigenous Weather Knowledge" website and look around, you come across the Yanyuwa's five season calendar. I like these circular calendars showing "when" things occur at different times of the year, accompanied by related phenological events. http://sres.anu.edu.au/people/richard_baker/research/yanyuwa/trop_climate.html http://sres.anu.edu.au/people/richard_baker/research/yanyuwa/images/figure_02.gif Regards, Steve Diver
