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 most beautiful of bird of spring, the satin flycatcher, kept me waiting this year before I finally tracked it down. It’s the last of the summer migrants to arrive, usually from the middle of October but it eluded me at first. I searched and searched in the foothills of kunanyi/Mt Wellington … [Read More...]
Filed Under: On The Wing
By Don Knowler
A tiger snake got more than it bargained for when it eyed the chicks of a pair of Tasmanian native-hens on the Lower Pipeline track in South Hobart. The parents immediately swung into action, emitting an alarm call before rushing at the snake. It had emerged from the Sandy Bay Rivulet, which runs … [Read More...]
Filed Under: On The Wing
By Don Knowler
I’ve looked for the elusive Latham’s snipe in wild and unforgiving places. The tarns of kunanyi/Mt Wellington usually but I’ve now discovered I might be looking in the wrong place. Instead of climbing the mountain or going further afield to button-grass plains in the state’s west I should be … [Read More...]
Filed Under: On The Wing
By Don Knowler
Three gannets bobbing on a heaving ocean gave a hint of what was to come. The gannets - black and white, with a yellow sheen to the head and nape - gazed down at the surf with a look of anticipation. Their steel-blue eyes had settled on a patch of water about the size of a bowling green that … [Read More...]
Filed Under: On The Wing
By Don Knowler
Shy and secretive, our little penguins are usually out of sight and out of mind until tragedy befalls their colonies. They only come to notice, hitting the headlines, when they are the victim of dog attacks although one celebrated penguin hit the news last year by trying to gain access to a Hobart … [Read More...]
Filed Under: On The Wing
By Don Knowler
On the surface it’s a mere, dusty track climbing into the heart of my local reserve. I can never ignore it, though. It calls to me, lures me, seduces me, and I always feel compelled to explore the magical world beyond its leafy margins. The track leads from the far side of the lower lake at the … [Read More...]
Filed Under: On The Wing
© Donald Knowler . All rights reserved.