Oh, I forgot to mention that I also went to a Coles supermarket that day and I witnessed this outrageous sign at checkout! Shocking!
Why is that shocking? It reduces congestion and speeds things up, and if you only have a few items you don't have to stand behind the mums with their trolleys full of food for the small army they have at home. Hix
maybe he's talking about the wheelchair symbol, because why should wheelchair people have a special aisle all to themselves? That's discrimination against people not in wheelchairs!
I assume you're both joking? Surely a major supermarket can produce a grammatically correct sign. '12 items or fewer'.
LaughingDove, I knew what you meant straight away and recognised a fellow pedant. Those signs are everywhere in Australia and they give me a little frisson of anger every time I see them. Mind you, I only know it's wrong because of my own reading - I'm sure it never came up in school. I have been loving hearing about this trip and seeing all the photos of lots of places I've never had a chance to get to (you're very thorough!). I look forward to reading the rest of the writeups!
Mundaring Weir Area, Beelu National Park – 8th June 2016 The next day I got up over an hour earlier at around nine o’clock for a bit of a longer trip for birding. We headed to a slightly further away area to visit some parts around Beelu National Park. We parked in a place called Fred Jacoby Park which is an area planted with some introduced plants however despite this some slightly more unusual birds were around including Grey Currawong and Splendid Fairy-wren. We then continued further away, passing a few extremely noisy Red-tailed Black Cockatoos, and into some more natural woodland where some very cool birds started to turn up. These included several lifers such as Varied Sitella, Western Spinebill, Western Yellow Robin, and some unusual birds that I had seen in the past such as Rufous Treecreeper, Golden Whistler, and Red-capped Parrot and I was able to get a reasonably good picture of a Spotted Paradlote which I had been trying to do for years as they’re such a tricky thing to get good pictures of. We were walking through gum forest with many grass trees and other cool Australian plants on a bit of a ridge so we could look down through the trees and see the large lake created by the Mundaring Weir. I was told that this is a store of water that is not actually used in the local area at all but is piped to Kalgoorlie inland which is a town that exists for mining, mainly gold, and doesn’t have any water in the area. And we actually went over a little bridge that crossed the large pipe taking water to Kalgoorlie. After a bit of a walk we went down to the Weir itself to have a light lunch in the Mundaring Weir Hotel that also has a café/restaurant. As we were waiting for the food however, the birds were hovering in the trees around us menacingly. Mainly Ringneck Parrots, and a few Magpie-larks and several Grey Currawongs. And as soon as the food arrived the parrots started to descend. Taking in terns to fly from an overhanging tree down onto the table and perching on the backs of chairs to try and grab a chip before flying off. You will notice in the pictures that some of the birds have varying amounts of yellow on the breast which indicates that they are hybrids of the two western subspecies which is a very broad hybrid zone encompassing all of the area around Perth and I believe a fair bit north and south too. Although a few other bird species were hanging around, the parrots were boldest and the only ones that would come down onto the table however, the currawongs were clearly eyeing up the leftovers from surrounding trees. After lunch we went down to the area around the Weir itself. I knew I was going to get lots of waterbirds with the plans for the next couple of days around Perth, but it was nice to see some common species to add to the year list like Australian Wood-ducks and Pacific Black Ducks as well as some slightly more unusual ones such as Hardheads and Musk Ducks and a few different cormorants and darter. Around the weir there was a little picnic area that we walked through and there we saw quite a few Western Grey Kangaroos and several little birds around them that I couldn’t identify. That evening though, upon uploading a picture to ZooChat, I discovered that they were Yellow-rumped Thornbills, another lifer. Though now that I have recognised it I now see them quite regularly. The kangaroos were also my first Australian mammal addition which was nice, though in the self-catering cottage that I am now staying at with my parents, we get lots of kangaroos coming into the garden. Also around this picnic area were lots of wattlebirds, both the red and western species. We then headed back, however on the way stopped for another look at the Weir from the other side and got a view of an amazing full-colour male Splendid Fairy-wren. I had seen lots of females and drab males however this beautiful male was showing very well and glinting in the afternoon sunshine. New birds seen: Red Wattlebird Common Bronzewing Willie Wagtail Grey Currawong Splendid Fairy Wren Golden Whistler Western Yellow Robin Rufous Treecreeper Red-capped Parrot Western Spinebill Scarlet Robin Varied Sittella Grey Shrike-thrush Australian Wood Duck Western Wattlebird Australasian Grebe Hardhead Australasian Darter Musk Duck Pied Cormorant (not little) Little Black Cormorant Yellow-rumped Thornbill
"Less" applies to things that cannot be counted (there is less unemployment, less smoke, less unhappiness). "Fewer" applies to things that can be counted (there are fewer kangaroos, fewer Liberal politicians, fewer flies). Items can be counted, so it should be "12 items or fewer". You wouldn't say you had less items in your shopping trolley, after all! Of course, people say they have "less than 12 items", but that's technically wrong too; they should say they have "fewer than 12 items".
You use 'less' for something that is uncountable, less water. However you use 'fewer' for something that is countable, fewer drops of water. Since it is referring to a number of items, which can be counted, it should be 'fewer'. Edit: cross-posted
No, but there is a second thing that I am shocked by in Australian supermarkets - the number of plastic bags they give you! And they don't charge for them either. Oh, and a third thing, (this has turned into a rant about Australian shops ) is that they con you out of one cent whenever anything is priced at something .99! Since there is no one cent coin, they actually just round it to the nearest whole which is ridiculous. They should absolutely not be allowed to do that. I wouldn't be allowed to price something at $50.01 and say at checkout that it rounds to the nearest hundred!
Actually, I would. Especially if I was comparing it to someone else's shopping trolley. Yeah, but there's a strong push to get people to bring their own bags, however, no real incentives. There are a few things you should be aware of here: If your goods cost $1.99, they will round up to $2.00. If it costs $1.96 they will round down to $1.95. Rounding up or down applies to the total only, they don't round up your individual goods. If you buy 4 items priced at $1.99 you will pay $7.95 at the register. Rounding up and down happens for cash transactions only. If you pay by Eftpos or creditcard you pay the exact price. If the retailers were not permitted to round up at the register, they would simply set the prices 1 cent higher. In the example at #2 above, the goods would be priced at $2.00 and you would pay $8.00 for the four items. Hix
They've only started doing it fairly recently but in Poland and the UK and I think all of the EU they have to charge for bags. I had got used to it so it was a bit of a shock when the supermarkets were giving bags for free and not even filling them full. It was also surprising to me that the checkout person fills the bag for you. It's not about the one cent, it's just the fact that they are misleading.
You might say "I have less in my trolley than you do" or even "I have less stuff in my trolley than you do" (because "stuff" isn't countable - you can't have three stuffs), but you wouldn't say "I have less things in my trolley than you" or "I have less items in my trolley than you" - at least, I hope not!! Anyway, grammatical diversion aside ...
Don't worry, that's the end of the posts about Coles. Lots of birding and some zoos to come! I've also just seen a really showy Golden Whistler outside my window!
it depends on the supermarket chain. In New Zealand and Australia, some supermarkets charge for the plastic bags and some don't. Most supermarkets no longer put your items in the bags for you but some still do. Even the ones which charge for plastic bags also have cheap jute carry-bags for sale, the idea being that people pay a one-off price for the permanent carry-bag rather than always paying for plastic ones, and that cuts down on the amount of plastic going into landfill. it isn't misleading as such, because there are no one and two cent coins and everyone knows that. And you generally save money overall because, as Hix said, multiple items at $1.99 work out cheaper than the same number of items at $2.00.
Day Three - Tomato Lake, King’s Park, and Other Stuff – 9th June Now having more or less adjusted to Western Australia time I was able to get up for an early morning walk in the bushland and rural housing in the local area where I was staying in Kalamunda. This started with a pair of White-cheeked Honeyeaters signing prominently in a plant with spikey leaves and yellow flowers that I have been told is called parrot brush. This plant is very popular with honeyeaters and I was able to find all four of the species that are commonly found in Perth in the clumps of these plants which are New Holland, Singing, Brown, and White-cheeked Honeyeaters. There were also quite a few Common Bronzewing Pigeons sitting on the paths as we went past. We soon left the bushland area and walked along a suburban road where, much to my surprise, I saw large numbers of Red-capped Parrots in many gardens. Also around were other interesting species like Grey Butcherbirds and loads of New Holland Honeyeaters and many other common species like Laughing Kookaburras and wattlebirds as well as both Carnaby’s and Red-tailed Black Cockatoos. I was also very pleased with the picture that I got of a New Holland Honeyeater with the yellow on the wing matching the yellow of the wattle flowers. We then had breakfast and went to a location called Tomato Lake which is surprisingly good for birds despite how urban it is and how much human activity there is around the lake. Although not as well known as other, better, birding sites in Perth for waterfowl such as Herdsman lake, this allows very good views of lots of waterfowl that is very used to human activity including things like the South Western Australian Purple Swamphen, Australasian Grebe, Blue-billed Duck, Pink-eared Duck and others that are very numerous, with smaller numbers of species such as Australian Shoveler, Grey Teal, and Yellow-billed Spoonbill. There is also a massive and very noisy breeding colony of White Ibis which often has some Nankeen Night Herons hidden amongst them, though I didn’t see any that time. I also saw one bird that I wasn’t expecting, a female Mistletoebird. From Tomato Lake I was then picked up by a different aunt who lives in Perth to stay with her for the next two nights to do some birding around her part of Perth. So we went to King’s Park which is quite central in the city but has quite a large area of natural bush. There were lots of Striated Paradlotes around as well as kookaburras and galahs. Also along the sides of the paths were diggings in the ground made by Southern Brown Bandicoots which I was really hoping to see however apparently they are very rarely seen. We then walked along a path by the swan river but at a fair height above it and looking down I could see Crested Terns, Silver Gulls and various cormorants and darter. Also along the path were lots of Silvereyes and various honeyeaters too as well as large numbers of wattlebirds (Western and Red) and loads of bandicoot diggings. Suddenly as we were walking along I noticed something rustling in the bushes next to the path, on closer inspection it proved to be a bandicoot! It just sat fairly calmly by the side of the path digging in the ground for about 30 seconds before going off into the undergrowth. Although the vegetation was very dense I was able to get a few pictures. After a bit more birding and walking around we headed back and went to a small lake very near to my aunt’s house. The waterbirds here were all common species and for many years in the past there was a resident Australian Hobby that lived around there however apparently it disappeared a couple of months ago which was a bit sad. However there were lots of Little Corellas around and at a viewing deck there were two very large mossy Oblong Turtles in the water below. Before sunset we went to one final birding site which is a large cemetery where a huge colony of over 100 Carnaby's Cockatoos comes in every evening to roost in the surrounding trees. It doesn't seem like ideal habitat for cockatoos with trees that overhang the road but it was pretty cool to see all of the cockatoos come in and sit on graves and drinking water that had collected in the urns before flying up into the trees. A researcher/scientist was there too counting the size of the colony and monitoring changes in the number of birds. Although it soon got too dark to take pictures, I was able to take some pictures of the earlier birds. After dinner I went back to that same small lake that I had been to earlier after dark where there were two Nankeen Night-herons that were very active which was quite a cool thing to see. New Birds seen: White-cheeked Honeyeater Brown Honeyeater Grey Butcherbird Dusky Moorhen Pacific Black Duck Purple Swamphen Tree Martin Pink-eared Duck Brown Falcon Welcome Swallow Blue-bill Duck Australian Shoveler Grey Teal Yellow-billed Spoonbill Mistletoebird Crested Tern Little Pied Cormorant Silver Gull Silvereye Black Swan Australian Shelduck Little Corella Nankeen Night Heron Mammal: Southern Brown Bandicoot Reptile: Oblong Turtle
I'm thoroughly enjoying this thread as a whole - but, as an English teacher, I found this excellent discussion of the finer points of grammar to be the highlight, thus far!
Day Four – Herdsman Lake, etc. – 10th June After breakfast, we headed out for a day of birding to possibly central Perth’s best and most famous birding site, Herdsman Lake. This promised to be a very good day of birding… but the weather disagreed. It was raining in the morning and continued raining as we drove to Herdsman lake. When we got there it was still raining so we parked near the visitor centre and ran in to look around. There were several live animal exhibits here and various displays about wildlife, introduced species, etc. The live animals held were King’s Skink, Motorbike Frog, Splendid Tree Frog, Oblong Turtle, Western Bluetongue, and a tank with introduced fish species. Now the thing I’m wondering about – is this a zoo? Also in the visitor centre on an upstairs floor was a bird hide looking out over part of the lake and over the extensive reed beds behind. There were a few waterfowl here that I had seen at Tomato Lake yesterday including Australian Shoveler and Pink-eared Duck however the highlight from here were two Marsh Harriers flying above and occasionally diving down into the reeds. After not too long the rain reduced to a drizzle which then stopped and we decided to brave the weather and go around the lake. There was lots of waterfowl, most of which was quite common stuff, though there were a few Glossy Ibis poking in the mud banks as well as Great White Egrets, and, surprisingly, the first Australian Pelican of the trip. Yes, pelican, there was only one! Usually there are loads around! There were, however, ridiculous numbers of coots! Other stuff seen included a variety of birds of prey and both Australasian Reed Warbler and Little Grassbird, neither showing particularly well, but were nice to see. The other bird that I saw a lot of that is worthy of note were the introduced Laughing Doves which are quite common in central Perth along with the also introduced Rainbow Lorikeet. Neither of those seem to have made it much out away from Perth though, unlike the also introduced Laughing Kookaburra, which is everywhere in the bush. As we continued to walk, dark clouds began to gather overhead and soon it started to rain. The rain got heavier, and heavier, and even in a large raincoat I was getting wet. We were quite far from the Visitor Centre by now on the track around the lake, so we had to find some shelter somewhere in the rather open environment of a lake surrounded by reed beds. We got a bit of shelter under some low trees – paperbarks if I remember correctly – which was a bit of relief though it seemed like the rain was just being blown at us sideways with the wind while big droplets fell onto us from above. The heavy rain couldn’t last though, and it didn’t, and after a little while and a lot of wet the rain died down and stopped and the sun came out. We were around a third of the way around the lake so we had to decide whether to go back the way we came or hope that was the end of the rain and do the rest of the route around. The sky seemed to be getting blue so we decided to risk it and do the whole loop which turned out to be the right decision – that was the end of the rain for the day but definitely not the end of the birding because it seemed that all the birds started to come out and we had the lake completely to ourselves. We continued going around the lake and as I was walking along I saw something dart into the reed beds along the ground. After a few seconds though it started to come back out – a Buff-banded Rail! We stayed quiet and it showed very nicely even coming out into the open just on the edge of the reed beds before disappearing again a couple of minutes later. Lots more views of the same birds continued, however two more new birds were seen, first was a Spotted Harrier flying overhead and then back towards the visitor centre again was a large group of Straw-necked Ibis. We then left Herdsman Lake and had lunch and because there was still time in the day, we went for a walk along a bit of parklands by the Swan River. There wasn’t a huge amount of unusual stuff at first, a brief bit of excitement at a mammal in the bushes turned out to just be a brown rat. I also rather funnily saw another Buff-banded Rail, though this wasn't showing nearly as well. I hoped to see a Black-faced Cuckooshrike which in past experience is very common but I just didn’t find one. Also around were lots of darters, which are pretty cool, and I could hear loads of frogs including motorbike frogs and I did manage to see one, but it was a tiny, all brown frog hopping into the water so I couldn’t identify it. After a little while we turned around to head back, and on the way back had three notable sightings, the first was a male Musk Duck with throat sack out, and the second was a family of variegated wrens, though quite hidden in the undergrowth. I also saw a few introduced Long-billed Corellas flying over which I was able to definitely identify, though it can often be quite difficult IDing them in Perth where Long-billed, Little, and Western occur and I have seen all three around in the same areas. After dinner that evening and after dark, we went for one final area to look for wildlife that day, King’s Park, which is very near to where I stayed. According to the book ‘Finding the Mammals of Australia’ Honey, Ringtail, and Brushtail Possums occur in King’s Park and I particularly wanted to find the former. We walked around for a while and didn’t see anything apart from spiders, we also went to a native flower garden in the hope that that would entice a Honey Possum out, and the finding mammals book suggested staking out a flowering plant but that was also unsuccessful. I did see two Honey Possums, but unfortunately these were both in mosaics in a seating area! A little while later I heard some rustling in the undergrowth and saw something unidentifiable. I suspect this was another bandicoot like I had seen yesterday in the day, but I couldn’t be sure. Back in the car, we started to head back, and while we were driving along a road still within King’s Park my aunt who was sitting in the front seat called out that there was a barn owl on one of the reflectors on the side of the road. So I jumped out of the car (after waiting for it to stop) and ran back to see if I could find the owl. I saw it in silhouette in a tree by the road and I saw it on one branch then fly down to a nearby branch, and the disappear off. From its size, shape, and posture I was able to determine that it had to be a Masked Owl. So the spotlighting was a success after all. New birds seen: Swamp Harrier Australasian Reed Warbler White-backed Swallow Little Grassbird Glossy Ibis Eastern Great Egret Brown Goshawk Australian Pelican Buff-banded Spotted Harrier Straw-necked Ibis Variegated Wren Long-billed Corella Masked Owl Post from the day: http://www.zoochat.com/24/trip-australia-june-july-2016-a-449389/index2.html#post964987
