Archives for February 2014

A FAMILY of kelp gulls has solved the problem of finding the ideal home for themselves and their offspring. Forget the first-home buyer’s grant, they have merely taken to the life of stowaways aboard a small boat plying the d'Entrecasteaux Channel off Margate. The fishing boat owners had got used to the kelp gulls roosting on their craft for a number of years, but were staggered one day last year to find that the gulls had built a nest on the upper deck, a large structure … [Read more...] about Boat owners all at sea over gulls

“We all have a story to tell about birds”. That’s the mantra of this column but I was determined to return from a week spent at the Australian Open Tennis Championships without one. A wedge-tailed eagle called Zorro changed all that. For once, I left my binoculars behind and was determined to concentrate on tennis. What’s more, I was among non-birding tennis-tragic friends and was well aware they found my talk of birds a little tiresome at times, especially at a sporting … [Read more...] about Zorro the eagle plays ball at the tennis

IT’S not a pretty sight for the emotional or faint-hearted, an outsized pallid cuckoo chick being fed by a pair of tiny black-headed honeyeaters. When I saw the spectacle close-up for the first time, it was worst than I had imagined. The cuckoo actually lunged at one of the honeyeaters after it had received a big juicy insect, and the quick-retreating “parent”  had obviously learned to be  wary of the cuckoo’s ferocious beak. In a half a century of bird-watching I had never … [Read more...] about Duped by the cruel hand of nature

There is a quiet and tranquil corner of Hobart I call Cranky Fan Alley simply because every time I wander there I’m escorted by a party of grey fantails. What makes the bird-watching spot special is that it is situated in the heart of suburbia and the Cranky Fans – as they are known in southern Tasmania - are just one of many bird species to be found in this leafy corner of the urban jungle. On my latest visit on a summer’s afternoon just after Christmas two endemic … [Read more...] about A fan of green oases