Dr Eva Plaganyi
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drevaplaganyi.bsky.social
Dr Eva Plaganyi
@drevaplaganyi.bsky.social
910 followers 450 following 190 posts
Research scientist, Marine Fisheries and Ecology, Climate Change, Biomathematics, Modelling, Marine Mammals. CSIRO | Ocean, Bird watching, bush walking | #SuperstarsOfSTEM | Opinions my own
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drevaplaganyi.bsky.social
A big dark shape in the ocean causing a bit of panic at first but fortunately was only a beautiful gentle manta ray, world’s largest rays, at #NorthStradbrokeIsland #qld a hotspot for these filter feeders.
November 16, 2025 at 1:17 AM
drevaplaganyi.bsky.social
Can you spot the lifer (new bird seen in one’s life) I saw in my neighbourhood this morning tiptoeing through the reeds? It’s a pale-vented bush-hen enjoying the post-storm puddles everywhere .. fortunately my partner recognised its loud call #BirdWatching #wildoz #qld
Tall green reeds in most of image but in the centre is the dark brown head with dark eye and yellow-olive bill with vermillion patch on top. Body just visible of a secretive pale-vented bush-hen with pale yellowish legs barely visible among the reeds. Bird has a loud piping call but is not often seen in the open.
November 1, 2025 at 9:56 PM
drevaplaganyi.bsky.social
A sky full of #termites this morning post-storm.. alates (flying termites looking to mate and settle) emerging in their thousands from just one underground nest. A protein-rich feast for birds but termite guards essential for #qld homes.
Image of blue sky full of small black specks with the wings of some alates visible.. massive swarm of them leaving a nearby underground nest at base of a tree and being predated on by a range of bird species
October 26, 2025 at 10:39 PM
drevaplaganyi.bsky.social
It’s Aussie Bird Count week and this juvenile eastern yellow robin has definitely been counted! She’s part of a long term study and just been banded to help with monitoring and understanding the complex life history of these beautiful birds. #MistNetting #Science #BirdCount #SunshineCoastHinterland
Front view of a juvenile ca. 1.5 month old eastern yellow robin being held by a certified bird bander after being banded with metal and colour band. Yellow breast with greyish mottled head and upper body juvenile plumage. Measurements suggest female bird. Pinkish beak is open as she was squawking right before being released back in her territory near the adults.
October 24, 2025 at 10:21 PM
drevaplaganyi.bsky.social
Snakes enjoying the hot weather in Brisbane too.. this yellow-faced whipsnake was out exploring this morning, and showing off some striking eye liner! Venomous but mainly if you’re the size of a mouse or smaller
Brown and green leaves with a yellow- green snake head and short part of body in the middle of the picture, facing left with black eye with yellow on face and dark black eyeliner pointing down and away from eye.
October 22, 2025 at 11:38 PM
drevaplaganyi.bsky.social
Agreed.. here’s a follow up pic from my garden where the tawny frogmouth chick managed to mimic the parents cool pose, apart from fluffy belly feathers and only for a short while before relaxing again into a round puffball!
Two grey-speckled frogmouth birds perched on a eucalyptus branch and partially obscured by green leaves.. the adult is on the right, facing left with eye closed and imitating a tree branch with erect body, while chick is copying the pose on the left but is smaller and more rounded and fluffy
October 16, 2025 at 9:11 PM
drevaplaganyi.bsky.social
Tawny #frogmouth voted Australian 2025 bird of the year - and it’s about time! Here’s one of my favourite photos of a curious chick and parent (male) desperately trying to get the fluffball to imitate how to look like a branch 😊 #Camoflauge #AwesomeBirds #wildoz
Horizontal tree branch with chick and adult grey speckled frogmouths sitting next to each other. Chick is small and puffy with bright orange eyes. Adult in characteristic camouflaged mode with straightened body and colouration that looks like a branch.. male adult is facing to the right with closed eye and side view of large beak
October 16, 2025 at 4:40 AM
drevaplaganyi.bsky.social
Another idyllic day on Brisbane/Meanjin’s north Stradbroke Island (Minjerribah) watching dolphin pods and humpback whales as they start their long journey towards Antarctic feeding grounds #WhaleWatching #BottlenoseDolphin
Blue Pacific Ocean with 2 humpback whales showing their dark blue backs and small dorsal fins above the water, most likely a mother and her calf moving close inshore in a southerly direction Blue- green ocean water close to shore where a pod of grey bottlenose dolphins were feeding and playing. My photo shows an adult with a small calf towards centre of pic, with their large dorsal fins showing and to the right is a tip of a dolphin snout peeping above the water
October 5, 2025 at 2:59 AM
drevaplaganyi.bsky.social
Singing with gusto, I had a laugh photographing this New Holland honeyeater! #BirdWatching #wildoz #Nectarivore #SunshineCoastHinterland
A bird perched on a pale diagonal stem with green background from a bush.. honeyeater bird has black and white streaks on chest, yellow on wing and top of tail, white eye with black head and open bill with long tongue showing during his very loud tweeting and singing! I snapped this photo with my canon as he opened his bill.
September 21, 2025 at 8:45 AM
drevaplaganyi.bsky.social
A super cute red-necked wallaby trying to remain unseen in the long grass .. such big ears 😊 #wallaby #marsupial #macropod #wildoz #qld
Head and neck of a wallaby facing the camera with a green grass background. Red-necked wallaby has a black nose, white strip on chin, tan colour on face with black eyes with lovely long lashes and the grey-brown fur including on large upright ears
September 19, 2025 at 8:27 PM
drevaplaganyi.bsky.social
Beautiful whale-filled morning on North Stradbroke Island / Minjerribah #HumpbackWhale #WhaleWatching #MarineLife
2 Humpback whale flippers sticking out the water showing white underside Sunrise over the Pacific Ocean
September 15, 2025 at 9:58 PM
drevaplaganyi.bsky.social
Congratulations to my colleague @marialvozzo.bsky.social and the entire #LivingSeawalls team for winning the prestigious NSW Department of Climate Change, Energy, the Environment and Water Eureka Prize for Environmental Research. #MarineRestoration #eureka

media.australian.museum/media/dd/thu...
Winning Eureka team standing on rocky shore with ocean backdrop and green hill in distance L-R: Dr Aria Lee, Associate Professor Melanie Bishop, Dr Katherine Dafforn, Dr Mariana Mayer Pinto & Dr Maria Vozzo. Image: The Earthshot Prize © Living Seawalls
September 8, 2025 at 10:51 PM
drevaplaganyi.bsky.social
A sleepy snug #koala in a large #eucalyptus tree along our local wildlife corridor where yet more development proposals continue to threaten the future of these unique marsupials in SE qld #conservation #HabitatDestruction #WildlifeCorridors #wildOz
A V-shaped grey eucalyptus tree trunk with a round grey furry ball in the middle, which is a curled up koala with whitish speckles on lower back, left claws visible on branch plus rounded fuzzy ear, which has a radio transmitter to allow tracking of these threatened animals. Green leaves in foreground
September 5, 2025 at 11:03 PM
drevaplaganyi.bsky.social
Coastal art #GeorgeBassCoastalWalk #vic
Brown Kelp and algae washed up on the beach and naturally artistically arranged Geometric patterns in sandstone rock ledge with small pools of water and the ocean in the background Beautiful rainbow over the ocean looking out across Bass Strait from the George Bass coastal walk trail, and with coastal vegetation in foreground. Dark grey sky to the left and white clouds with patches of of blue sky to the right.
August 31, 2025 at 5:03 AM
drevaplaganyi.bsky.social
Inspiring start #ASFB2025 with novel storytelling plenary by @drjessmt.bsky.social @csiro.bsky.social highlighting use of co-design, transdisciplinary research approaches and 2-way knowledge exchange to build climate-resilient pathways for healthy aquatic systems and associated sectors.
#ASFB2025
Speaker Jess Melbourne-Thomas at podium in Darwin Convention Centre talking about social networks
August 18, 2025 at 12:12 AM
drevaplaganyi.bsky.social
For National Science Week I wanted to share my favourite office is out on a boat at sea, as even if I spend most of my time in front of a laptop, I know why I’m doing it 🐠🐋🐙🦑 #MarineScience #fisheries #WhaleWatching #Diving
#SuperStarsofSTEM #CSIROSuperStarsofSTEM #ScienceWeek @csiro.bsky.social
Me in yellow shirt sitting on the deck of a diving boat headed to Ribbon Reefs, Great Barrier Reef on holiday to enjoy the ocean I research- my binoculars with harness are my constant companion
August 12, 2025 at 11:03 PM
drevaplaganyi.bsky.social
Starting National #ScienceWeek Brisbane with a dozen of us stepping onto a soapbox to share our science, Queen Street Mall - #SoapboxScience aims to inspire new gens of women scientists, challenge perceptions & encourages the public to engage with novel science. @csiro.bsky.social
#SuperStarsofSTEM
CSIRO scientist Chie Ishitake in a lab coat on a soapbox drawing a crowd interested in robotics Taskeen Janjua explaining nano ninjas Dr Sugandha Bhatia with a display to explain how bioengineering is helping find solutions for bone cancer Shelley Gage talking about bugs and macadamias
August 9, 2025 at 4:51 AM
drevaplaganyi.bsky.social
I work with the best people! Relaxing after a CSIRO workshop discussing our Northern Prawn Fishery (NPF) research. With Denham Parker, Laura Blamey, Rob Kenyon, Andre Punt, Marg Miller and Roy Deng (not in pic) #fisheries
Photo of 6 of us ( names above from left to right, with self next to Marg) seated at dinner table at University of Queensland St Lucy’s restaurant, lights in background
August 4, 2025 at 11:24 PM
drevaplaganyi.bsky.social
Happy International Owl Awareness Day – stunning Powerful owl is aptly named given the large prey they hunt - pic is one of a pair that live in our neighbourhood but need large tree hollows. For #InternationalOwlDay, can commit to avoid rodent poisons or choose owl-friendly products as last resort
An adult white and brownish-grey powerful owl sitting upright on a branch, showing powerful orange talons used to clasp prey such as possums, flying foxes, water dragons. Orange-rimmed eyes seem to be glaring at us on the ground given we spotted a pair roosting in an unusually open spot during the day in Redlands area, qld
August 3, 2025 at 11:11 PM
drevaplaganyi.bsky.social
Sharing parental duties.. a stunning male spotted pardalote bringing nesting material to the pair’s burrow nest. Made my Sunday 😊. #wildoz #WeekendBirding
A small yellow and black bird with white spots on the top of the head and wings, perched on a branch with nesting material in beak, above a partially concealed burrow below. Bright yellow throat distinguishes male from female. Snapped Sunshine Coast hinterland, qld
July 27, 2025 at 6:33 AM
drevaplaganyi.bsky.social
A stunning scarlet myzomela ( honeyeater) that finally paused long enough for me to snap a pic and share his splendour #WeekendBirding #wildoz
A small bird perched on a red blossom ( feeding off its nectar) with green leaves in background. Bird has bright scarlet colours with black wings, black bill and some white colouring on belly
July 26, 2025 at 9:30 PM
drevaplaganyi.bsky.social
Evolution in action! Willie wagtails (Australia’s answer to oxpeckers) hitch a ride on cows 🐄 and feed on insects 🦗🪲🪰 disturbed during grazing!

Must have waited a while for a large flat-backed mammal with ticks to team up with 😊
A small Willie wagtail bird with black upper colouring and white belly perched on the back of a brown cow in between hopping down to the ground and catching disturbed insects.. not as many ticks in the cow as would be the case re wild herbivores in Africa A lovely sight of a tiny black and white wagtail ( facing to the right) partially hidden I. Grass next to a brown cow’s head. Cow is grazing and disturbing insects, the prey of wagtails
July 25, 2025 at 10:11 PM
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Well hello! A rather cute koala waking for his evening eucalyptus leaf feast 😊 #qld
A healthy looking koala perched high on a branch of a eucalyptus tree, facing my lens with dark eyes, large black nose and light grey fur, with lower bits speckled with white. Outstretched right arm shows large claws used for climbing. Seen today on Sunshine Coast hinterland in patch of eucalyptus trees.
July 25, 2025 at 8:09 AM
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Daydreaming dragon? An eastern water dragon lounging on a perch above a creek - seemingly also in weekend mode! #wildoz
A tangle of small branches over a creek, with a grey-black camouflaged eastern water dragon stretched on a small branch, with eye peeking backwards and back limbs hanging down showing impressive claws (5) for gripping on back feet. Long tail hanging down. Along Hilliards Creek, qld
July 19, 2025 at 1:50 AM
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A laughing kookaburra showing off her impressively large beak #WildOz #BackyardBirds #qld #eucalyptus
A zoomed in photo of a kookaburra bird’s head and upper body against a eucalyptus tree trunk. Shows massive bill used to capture prey, often in a pounce style, and black stripe or face mask over eye on white head, with white chest and dark wing with bright blue patch. They are big birds around 45cm in height
July 16, 2025 at 9:54 PM