Archives for September 2013

Fishermen for eons have used seabirds to identify fish hotspots. Although trawlermen are these days armed with hi-tech equipment to identify shoals below the ocean’s  surface, out on the high seas they still look to the horizon to see how gannets and short-tailed shearwaters are performing.  In shallower, more sheltered waters the recreational fishermen do the same. They usually watch for crested terns which are adept at spotting fish, before gathering to plunge into the … [Read more...] about Plastic a drastic issue

With the arrival of spring it’s always time for members of the unofficial Plover Appreciation Society to stand-up and be counted.  You either love plovers or hate them, the hate part coming into play when particularly aggressive and belligerent members of the species choose to dive-bomb members of the public enjoying the first warm days of the season on public open spaces.  The plovers – or masked lapwings to give them their proper  name – are only doing what comes … [Read more...] about Plover lovers and haters

THE grey fantail perched atop a silver birch was singing a joyful song to welcome the coming of spring. The rain clouds had just lifted over Hobart and now rays of late-winter sunshine rained down on the Royal Tasmanian Botanical Gardens on the Domain.  The fantail was a beautiful male in the crisp, new spring plumage. He sang a song of mellow descending notes, the song carrying further than usual. The male was putting an extra effort into the tune, no doubt to attract a … [Read more...] about Tuned into the song of spring

The man in the bottlestore in Werribee on the outskirts of Melbourne had a shock when I told him what I was doing in town. Making small talk on a sunny Sunday afternoon, he assumed I was a tourist visiting the Werribee Open Plains Zoo or a former stately home in the town which now operates as an upmarket resort hotel. “No, just visiting the local sewage farm,” I replied matter-of-factly. The hobby of bird-watching can take the birder to all sorts of off-the-beaten-track … [Read more...] about Rich pickings at the sewage farm