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A green rosella let out an anguished squawk and the birds of the neighbourhood knew there was danger in the air. Not just any threat, the menace of the collared sparrowhawk, the most feared predator of the treetops. A dreamy, sultry spring morning on the deck of a friend’s home at Dodges Ferry had been rudely interrupted by the arrival of the sleek, elegant sparrowhawk. Although it had arrived silently, in stealth, on darting fight, it had not escaped the sharp eye of the … [Read more...] about Terror in the treetops – hawk on the hunt

There’s no hiding place from the thugs and standover men of the Melbourne underworld. Not thugs as such, but bogans. And for underworld, read understorey, the “hood” of the bullying noisy miners. The anti-social activities of the miners are known in Hobart, too, but according to the Age newspaper in Melbourne these muggers have taken over the whole metropolitan area of the city. Where you get miners, there is an absence of smaller more colourful bird species. In Melbourne … [Read more...] about Noisy ‘bogans’ in the neighbourhood

“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