“Phew, what a scorcher” is a headline that came to mind, the sort of thing I would have written during my days as a wordsmith on a tabloid daily newspaper in London. It was the hottest day on record in Hobart – a staggering 41.8 degrees Celsius – and I headed to Mt Wellington in search of cool air, and birds. I was disappointed to find that the Pinnacle Road up the mountain was closed because of the extreme fire risk and settled instead for a sheltered and moist gully … [Read more...] about Feeling the heat
Archives for January 2013
A myna inconvenience
A sulphur-crested cockatoo in a pet shop across the road from the newspaper where I started out as a young reporter gave me my first “scoop” when it was banished to a back office for using insulting language to customers. Neither the shocked owner of the pet shop nor my editor was to know it but I and my young colleagues had been responsible for teaching the “cocky” the bad language in the first place. We were merely introducing the bird to some of the interesting … [Read more...] about A myna inconvenience
Woodswallows complete the summer picture
The final piece of the summer jigsaw was put in place over the Christmas period when a party of dusky woodswallows came into view in the Tamar Valley. It proved to be a magical day, sealing what had been a magical year in a setting that only Tasmania could offer. The round of family visits had taken us first to the Eastern Shore in Hobart and then north to Launceston. As usual, I had kept an eye open for birds on my family’s travels: musk lorikeets in Howrah and sooty … [Read more...] about Woodswallows complete the summer picture
Cuckoos only doing what comes naturally
The strident, piercing one-note call came from within the vines sweeping away from the Frogmore Creek winery to the Coal River estuary in the distance. It was a song I had not heard for a number of years and I went in search of its source, standing at the edge of the lawns surrounding the winery’s restaurant to gaze deep into the rows of vines, lush and green after good spring rains. “Horsfield’s bronze-cuckoo” I said to myself, and then cursed the fact that I had not … [Read more...] about Cuckoos only doing what comes naturally