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Donald Knowler

Dancing on the Edge of the World

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On The Wing

A column for all seasons

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.

Lovely honeyeater flies beneath the radar

May 4, 2025 By Don Knowler

A pair of flittering, fluttering yellow-throated honeyeaters caught the golden rays of a late-afternoon sun. They resembled fireflies flying in zig-zag flight at tropical dusk, on wings that appeared translucent in the mellow, autumnal light. The flight of the yellowthroats, though, was not a … [Read More...]

Filed Under: On The Wing

Ancient beacon of hope for urban wildlife

April 27, 2025 By Don Knowler

The restoration of Notre-Dame Cathedral in Paris has revealed the ancient cathedral as not only a cultural symbol but an urban wildlife refuge that can serve as an example of conservation across the world including Australia. More than just a cathedral, Notre-Dame is an urban ecosystem. Its … [Read More...]

Filed Under: On The Wing

Solitary grebe rides the waves

April 20, 2025 By Don Knowler

On the choppy waters of the bigger of the two reservoirs of the Waterworks Reserve I could see a tiny, rounded shape bobbing among the waves. Although I didn’t have my binoculars with me, I knew immediately what the bird was. An Australasian grebe had arrived on southerly winds overnight. The … [Read More...]

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Heron makes a meal of science

April 13, 2025 By Don Knowler

It’s a battle of wits between a heron and a school of whitebait in the shallow waters of Cornelian Bay. A contest in which two lifeforms compete using their mental abilities and quick thinking to gain an advantage, to win, or lose. For the fish, it’s just being wary, a matter of life or death. With … [Read More...]

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Crescent honeyeaters emerge from the shadows

April 6, 2025 By Don Knowler

There’s hidden beauty in the bottlebrushes. The crescent honeyeaters have arrived from their breeding grounds in the high country and the only evidence of their presence in my garden is the familiar “e-gypt, e-gypt” call I start to hear from early autumn. The “crescents” usually tend to be eclipsed … [Read More...]

Filed Under: On The Wing

The seasons are a-changing

March 30, 2025 By Don Knowler

“There’s something going on, I could just feel it in the air.” A Bob Dylan song was playing on the car radio as I drove into the foothills of kunanyi/Mt Wellington for a day’s birding. I could certainly feel something in the air, not the impending drama in the song Lily. Rosemary and the Jack of … [Read More...]

Filed Under: On The Wing

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PUBLISHED BOOKS

The Shy Mountain

shy mountain

Silent and brooding, the Shy Mountain does not have to speak her name. We know she’s there, watching … [Read More...]

The Falconer of Central Park

Although written more than 30 years ago, The Falconer of Central Park has remained popular ever … [Read More...]

Riding the Devil’s Highway

Tasmania might be known internationally as the home of the Hollywood cartoon character, Taz, based … [Read More...]

Dancing on the Edge of the World

Dancing on the edge of the World by Donald Knowler

Dancing on the Edge of the World is a collection of essays that had their genesis in the “On the … [Read More...]

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Recent Posts

  • Lovely honeyeater flies beneath the radar
  • Ancient beacon of hope for urban wildlife
  • Solitary grebe rides the waves
  • Heron makes a meal of science
  • Crescent honeyeaters emerge from the shadows
  • The seasons are a-changing
  • Magpies separate friend from foe
  • Life’s a beach for ‘odd couple’
  • Musk lorikeets a fun-run distraction
  • Explosion of gold on a summer’s evening

© Donald Knowler . All rights reserved.