The chatter of birds, optimistic and cheerful at the end of winter, carried across the saltmarsh but all the same there was a sense of melancholy and loss in the spring air. Amid the cacophony of birdsong, of melody in the marshes, piping from the rockpools, a once-familiar sound was missing - the buzzing of the orange-bellied parrot. The Borrow Pit amid the Werribee wetlands in Victoria is noted for sightings of orange-bellied parrots but this September the … [Read more...] about Parrot melancholy in the air
Archives for September 2012
Parrots battle for a prime location
In the fastest growing area of Tasmania, a battle for vital real estate was talking place right before my eyes. A green rosella was struggling desperately to ward off a pair of rainbow lorikeets trying to lay claim to its home. The tussle took place in the Peter Murrell Nature Reserve on the outskirts of Kingston, in a Kingborough municipality identified as the fastest developing in the state. Land for homes in the area is at a premium. The same goes for nesting sites for … [Read more...] about Parrots battle for a prime location
The man on the mountain
I was the man on the mountain, standing on a rocky outcrop as the snows of a blizzard swirled around me. Seduced as I often am by the mountain’s beauty, I had driven to the Springs for a walk to Sphinx Rock. The sun had shone strong and hard on the Organ Pipes when I set out and, as so often happens, the weather changed during the 20-minute drive from Hobart to the Springs. First cloud, then freezing rain and within minutes a raging blizzard. By this time I had reached … [Read more...] about The man on the mountain
The flame that never dies
As fleeting and fragile as a snowflake, the tiny flame robin flitted across the summit of Mr Wellington, singing a sweet melody as it went. In an instant it was gone, vanishing as fast as it had first been carried on the wind, its song lost to a snow drift piled high against the rocks, the soft snow swallowing the merry twitter. The rugged, unforgiving mountain peak is not home to sweet birdsong during the winter months, ringing instead with the harsh sound of the raven’s … [Read more...] about The flame that never dies
Harriers herald spring
MY phone rang hot towards the end of winter, with readers reporting the first arrival of swamp harriers from the mainland. There was a call from Lauderdale in the first week of August and then another from Ouse in the DerwentValley. I am usually the last to see these things but on the day of the Ouse call I had the shock of my life, witnessing a harrier sweep across the Tasman Highway as I drove to Sorell. The harriers are Tasmania’s only migratory birds of prey and they … [Read more...] about Harriers herald spring