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“What’s this bird, this falcon, that everybody’s steamed up about?” asks Humphrey Bogart as private eye Sam Spade. I could say the same thing about the breeding peregrine falcons that for 30 years have been captivating people on the busy streets of Melbourne. By coincidence after visiting the peregrine nesting site high on a building in Colins St recently, I joined a friend who is a movie buff at a screening of the film noir classic, The Maltese Falcon in which Humphrey … [Read more...] about Peregrines nature’s work of art

Birdwatchers each spring trudge out to mudflat and saltmarsh in search of the “Cinderellas” of the bird world - the migratory shorebirds that usually hide from view in inaccessible and sometimes remote wetlands. The shorebirds, also termed waders, turn up on Australian shores in late August and early September after flying from breeding grounds at the top of the world. The waders are eagerly awaited but each year fewer and fewer of these remarkable long-distance flyers … [Read more...] about Anxious wait for long-distance travellers

A flock of hooded plovers scurried across a deserted beach like clockwork toys, their tiny bodies reflected in the glistening sand washed by an outgoing tide. They had the crescent-shaped beach all to themselves, save for a couple of silver gulls. The way it should be. No people in sight, no dogs, no four-wheel-drives or horses. No plastic being washed ashore by the waves. As beach-nesters, the hooded plovers are among the most threatened birds in Australia. They have … [Read more...] about Helping hand for hooded plovers

I have a love-hate relationship with the kookaburras that hang about my garden, a little like the antipathy I have for the new housing development that arose a couple of years back beyond my garden fence. In their own way, they make me feel a little uncomfortable at times, but I have learned to live with them. By some quirk of fate, both are strangely drawn together. The new development of 10 units caused great ire in the neighbourhood and led to objections before the … [Read more...] about Kookaburras unsettle the new neighbours

A cassowary in the rear-view mirror of my car. It’s one of my most bizarre bird experiences, almost as incredible an encounter with the bird itself. The southern cassowary sighting occurred while I was leaving Mission Beach in far-north Queensland after abandoning a search for the elusive species. After hours of hunting, I had drawn a blank in areas known for cassowary sightings and decided to head back to Townsville, where I lived at the time. No sooner had I hit the … [Read more...] about Cassowaries dodge traffic – with help of AI