Dancing on the Edge of the World
Everyone has a story about birds. They are all about us and are our contact point with nature. The birds I see are usually in an urban environment and so I concentrate on these in my writing. I don’t pretend to be an expert but birds of the city and suburb are also the ones that most people identify with, the species you do not need a compass and binoculars to seek out. A scarlet robin singing in a garden is just as exciting as a swift parrot in an ancient forest and is worth just as many words in my On the Wing writings, which appear weekly in the Sunday Tasmanian.
By Don Knowler
An eastern rosella sang from a high perch atop a rope ladder in Legacy Park on the Queens Domain. The children’s park was established a few years back as a nature-based play space and the singing rosella was a powerful affirmation of what the Hobart Council had achieved with its design. Children … [Read More...]
Filed Under: On The Wing
By Don Knowler
The tide is turning for endangered albatrosses in their fight for survival on the high seas. Birdlife International reports that the loss of millions of these magnificent seabirds in longline fishing grounds is being checked by the increasing use of bird-friendly fishing techniques. It is a … [Read More...]
Filed Under: On The Wing
By Don Knowler
I travelled north on a birding excursion last month and was immediately confronted by the great north-south divide. This had nothing to do with prejudice real or imagined against southerners or where a proposed Tassie footy team should be based, in Hobart or Launceston. Instead of a divide, this … [Read More...]
Filed Under: On The Wing
By Don Knowler
In the far distancer across the mudflats and saltmarsh of Orielton Lagoon the distinctive shapes of 12 eastern curlew emerged through the heat haze. The birds were resting at high tide. A few years back it would have been no big deal to see curlew in the lagoon and the wider Sorell coastal area. … [Read More...]
Filed Under: On The Wing
By Don Knowler
Somewhere waiting to be found is a painting of a swift parrot which could provide the final piece of a puzzle, a mystery that has left bird-watchers and the art world guessing for three decades. The story of the painting could read like an Agatha Christie mystery. It started the day Susan Lester … [Read More...]
Filed Under: On The Wing
By Don Knowler
The “devil bird” is on the march from the tropics and it is only a matter of time before it reaches Tasmania. The common koel has satanic associations principally because of its eerie call which can be heard throughout the night. Another name for it is the “rainbird” because the song can also be … [Read More...]
Filed Under: On The Wing
© Donald Knowler . All rights reserved.