On The Wing

You got to get them young, a wildlife educator told me one day when I assisted a presentation at Campbell St School in North Hobart. The point was once children were introduced to the wonder and magic of birds the interest would stay with them for the rest of their lives. Our presentation consisted of displaying stuffed and mounted birds but now I have discovered a new item for the birdlife promoters’ toolkit. It is a superb children’s book, The Bird Lover’s Ball. A … [Read more...] about Roll up for the bird lover’s ball

My family was on track to kiss the legendary Blarney Stone during a recent holiday in Ireland. I had a different agenda – tracking down some equally legendary Irish sparrows. Our holidays tend to go that way, whether to view tourist attractions like the ancient and symbolic Blarney Stone or the sublime beauty of birds. There was no conflict however when it came to Blarney Castle – the home of the stone – just outside the historic city of Cork. My son’s girlfriend was … [Read more...] about House sparrow dialect falls on deaf ears

I missed out on seeing the arrival of the endangered swift parrots this spring because I was away on holiday in Britain. Instead I looked for them in the stuffed and mounted bird collection at the Natural History Museum in London. Thankfully, the world’s fastest parrot was not there, an indication it is not quite at the stage of being classed beyond saving. Each year when the parrots turn up in a favoured clump of blue gums on Mt Nelson I am filled with dread that this could … [Read more...] about Speedy swifties speeding to extinction

Since the start of spring I’ve been searching for a pair of tawny frogmouths that throughout the rest of the year I see on my daily keep-fit walk. The frogmouths roost in a white peppermint gum in the Waterworks Reserve but come early September they vanish, only to return at summer’s end. Presumably they are off to breed somewhere close by but, even though I have searched high and low over the years, I have never discovered where. When I set out to search, I know that it … [Read more...] about Vain search for master of disguise

I arrived back in Hobart from a holiday in Europe at the start of the month feeling the cold. The striated pardalotes were feeling it, too, because they had delayed nesting. The migratory pardalotes are the first migrants to arrive at the end of winter and the first to scout nest sites. On cue in mid-August I began to hear their song and then saw these cavity nesters entering favourite nesting sites, gaps in the sandstone walls built to channel the Sandy Bay Rivulet … [Read more...] about Feathered barometers track wobbly seasons