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
Has it really been six months since I gazed over the tranquil waters of the Waterworks Reserve and made a prediction? Feeling a northerly breeze on my cheeks, I said to myself: “Today will I see the first swallow.” In a flash, there it was, flittering in from my right as if the snow clouds of … [Read More...]
Filed Under: On The Wing
By Don Knowler
Although humans and birds are separated by millions of years of evolution, we share remarkable similarities in some of our behaviours. That is why we love them so much. It is well known that birds like humans use song to communicate and educate their young. Now scientists studying superb … [Read More...]
Filed Under: On The Wing
By Don Knowler
Bird-watchers have been searching Tasmania’s wetlands for a little winter visitor from New Zealand which bucks the trend of north-south migration. The shorebird, the double-banded plover, chooses to travel east to west, leaving its breeding grounds in the southern New Zealand alps for the … [Read More...]
Filed Under: On The Wing
By Don Knowler
Amid all the frenzy and excitement over the Matildas campaign, Tasmania’s “Mr Football”, Walter Pless, found himself distracted by events off the pitch. On the eve of the Matilda’s game against France, Walter had been counting down the hours by reporting on a lesser game, the Glenorchy Knights … [Read More...]
Filed Under: On The Wing
By Don Knowler
It wasn’t the promise of lemonade scones and the chance to catch up with my birding mate, Denis Abbott, that lured me to the panoramic setting of the restaurant at the Mt Nelson Signal Station. It was the prospect of seeing the first arrival of spring – a striated pardalote. According to my … [Read More...]
Filed Under: On The Wing
By Don Knowler
It’s that time of the year when rats and mice are rampant in our homes, and the time of the year when our beautiful birds of prey are exposed to dangerous rodenticides. Some types of rat and mice poisons can be harmful to birds if they pick up dead and dying rodents and so we must be careful with … [Read More...]
Filed Under: On The Wing
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