I set out in the first week of November to tick the last box in my checklist of spring migrants – finding the satin flycatcher at the Waterworks Reserve. The flycatcher is always the final migrant to arrive from the mainland, in late October. The delayed arrival is not just the vast distance it must travel, from north-eastern Queensland and Papua New Guinea. As an aerial insect hunter and foliage gleaner, it waits for the insects to be on the wing and in good number. The … [Read more...] about Satin flycatcher plays hard to get
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Caw blimey, I just navigate as the crow flies
My late mother-in-law always said that after her foreign travels she knew she was back in Australia when she heard the call of the magpie. At dusk at Brisbane airport recently it was the echoing call of another Australian bird species, a Torresian crow, that told me I was on home soil after arriving on a flight from Taiwan. The Torresian crow not only told me I had arrived in Australia but l was actually in Brisbane. Australia has five members of the Corvidae family – … [Read more...] about Caw blimey, I just navigate as the crow flies
Frogmouth comes calling for bird count
Around midnight, preparing to go to bed after a night of sport on the television, a weird and wonderful sound drifted through the open windows from the garden. A soft, deep, continuous, ooo-ooo-ooo rhythm. I knew what it was immediately. A tawny frogmouth, although it was the first time I had heard it in my garden. A new species for my garden checklist, bringing the total to 57 species. It’s taken 25 years to clock this number but all the same it demonstrates how rich … [Read more...] about Frogmouth comes calling for bird count
Street-tree campaign has branches everywhere
Mercury, Hobart, October 29 2026 A line of newly planted street trees off Salamanca Place were in fleshy new leaf when I arrived back from a trip to Britain this month. It was not just a sign that spring had finally sprung while I had been away - a global street-tree campaign had firmly taken root in Hobart. The sight of the large palmate leaves of the young tulip trees (Liriodendron tulipitera) was in sharp contrast to the streets of London where I had been 24 hours … [Read more...] about Street-tree campaign has branches everywhere
First Nations team up to track muttonbirds
Aboriginal peoples at opposite ends of the globe have teamed up to plot the epic journey of a feathered adventurer, the short-tailed shearwater or muttonbird. First nations rangers in Western Australia are joining with their native-title counterparts in Alaska on a ground-breaking project after expressing alarm at falling numbers of shearwaters at both ends of their global range. The knowledge-sharing research aims to ensure the survival of the migratory … [Read more...] about First Nations team up to track muttonbirds