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 “murmuration” of starlings swirling about Hobart’s skies vanished with the arrival of spring. The starlings flock in their hundreds, sometimes thousands, during the winter months as they travel to and from communal roosting sites. The biggest roost in the Hobart area is on the concrete slabs … [Read More...]
Filed Under: On The Wing
By Don Knowler
Two juvenile black cockatoos sparred with open beaks in the tangled branches of a hakea. The cockatoos – teenagers in the human measure of age – struggled to maintain their balance on a low branch. As the tree swayed under the weight of a large party of black cockatoos, it was difficult to determine … [Read More...]
Filed Under: On The Wing
By Don Knowler
Right on time, the migrant birds are returning to Tasmania for the breeding season. It’s as though their lives run like clockwork. The metaphor of the clock is not so far-fetched when you think time and timing is so vital to avian lives. As sure as the neighbourhood clockmaker in Sandy Bay puts … [Read More...]
Filed Under: On The Wing
By Don Knowler
A shimmering azure sky pierced by darting white shapes, far out to sea and coming closer. Greater crested terns on the wing, hunting fish in the calm, silky waters of the Derwent off Long Beach, Lower Sandy Bay. It was a delight to see them bowing their heads to spot fish just below the surface of … [Read More...]
Filed Under: On The Wing
By Don Knowler
The magnificent world of Tasmania’s birds is portrayed in a new book by noted birdwatcher and photographer Els Wakefield but this is not just a work featuring exotic and rare species. Els with her photography and insights give equal weight to those species that are familiar and common. The silver … [Read More...]
Filed Under: On The Wing
By Don Knowler
A seven-year-old boy singing the praises of his favourite bird, the eastern rosella, has become an internet sensation. When Miles Phillips decided to write a song about the beautiful bird that had landed on the deck of a holiday resort he had no idea that a video of him performing the catchy tune … [Read More...]
Filed Under: On The Wing
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