Word: birding
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...team is patient with neophytes fascinated by Riversleigh's extinct megafauna (though many of these creatures were known already from deposits elsewhere in Australia), among them the rhinoceros-sized Diprotodon optatum, distantly related to the wombat; and the 3-m tall, 400-kg flightless bird Dromornis stirtoni, which had a beak large and sharp enough to tear the flesh off a kangaroo, if not as a predator then as a scavenger. Extracting the fossils of such creatures is harder than finding them. These palaeontologists aren't eggheads: they spend seven hours each day under a scorching sun levering boulders...
...Bird Race, a 10,000-kilometer competition for seabirds flying from New Zealand to South Africa; by APHRODITE, an albatross sponsored by Jerry Hall, former model and ex-wife of rock star Mick Jagger; at the Cape of Good Hope. The race follows the migratory route of the Tasmanian Shy albatross. Second place went to Xanadu, sponsored by Nicholas Coleridge, a descendent of poet Samuel Taylor Coleridge...
...fifth volume, "Resurrection," is due in November. (Sadly, the remaining seven have not yet been contracted for publication.) While doing other projects, Tezuka worked on the series from 1967 until his death. Though each story stands independent of the rest, they remain interconnected by the appearance of the titular bird and other recurring characters, as well sharing Tezuka's humane and philosophical themes. The latest, "Karma," has a reputation as the best of the lot, and it is indeed a masterpiece...
...first devastated by his loss, Akanemaru finds the inner strength to continue his work while convalescing at a Buddhist monastery. Soon a powerful prefect "commissions" him, under the threat of death, to sculpt the legendary Phoenix. Given three years to accomplish this, Akanemaru begins a quest to find the bird. Meanwhile Gao falls in love with a Baya, a woman who appears from nowhere and becomes his captive. When Gao gets an infection of the nose (it balloons to resemble a hideous eggplant in a typical bit of Tezuka humor) he mistakenly believes Baya to be the cause...
...learning of the wheel of karma, wherein the things we do in this life affect our reincarnated form in the next, Gao travels Japan as a wandering monk's acolyte. Along the way he discovers his own talent for sculpting. Meanwhile Akanemaru has a vision of the Phoenix, a bird who represents the eternal reborning of all life. His carving of the bird earns him a commission from the emperor to oversee the construction of a giant Buddha. Eventually, after many more twists, Gao and Akanemaru meet for the last time in a contest to see who can better carve...