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
The soothing song of a grey butcher bird serenaded the Hobart bushcare community as members gathered last month for their annual year-end barbeque. Even in celebration with beers and wood-fired pizzas, a couple of hundred bushcare volunteers could not escape the call of the bush which sees them … [Read More...]
Filed Under: On The Wing
By Don Knowler
Reports of birds being on the brink of extinction are so common that they are like bereavement notices in newspapers – they tend not to be noticed unless you know the people involved. The shock news recently that the secretary bird of Africa was facing extinction certainly felt like an impending … [Read More...]
Filed Under: On The Wing
By Don Knowler
All the world’s a stage in the avian world and when it comes to a global performer the starling tops the bill. Although originating in Europe, starlings introduced by European colonisers have spread across the world, where in a never-ending drama between good and evil it has certainly become the … [Read More...]
Filed Under: On The Wing
By Don Knowler
The cry of the cuckoo has been ringing out across my street in recent weeks. The “freeloaders” are finally back in town, if a little late. Although I have never been a fan of cuckoos and the upheaval they sow in the bird world, I found myself – possibly against my better judgment - seeking them … [Read More...]
Filed Under: On The Wing
By Don Knowler
Somewhere out there on the mudflats of Tasmania is an avian super-star – a shorebird capable of flying non-stop for 13,560 kilometres. A bar-tailed godwit, merely named 23464, has beaten the world record for non-stop flight on an epic journey from Alaska to Tasmania. The flight of the godwit was … [Read More...]
Filed Under: On The Wing
By Don Knowler
A group of children were invited to spread their wings and shake their tail feathers earlier this month – to gain an appreciation of birds. I unwittingly found myself a part of the action when I stumbled on the nature program on my daily ramble through the Waterworks Reserve. But I was soon in … [Read More...]
Filed Under: On The Wing
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