The young bird, fresh out of the nest, was like any fledgling of any species. A slightly comic air, ungainly, unbalanced, unwary at the feeding station. The gentle, warm rain had given its new and growing feathers a spiky appearance, and decorating its beak and head were dots of bird seed. A young bird in summer, the new breed of the season, but this orange-belled parrot carried a greater significance here at the end of the earth, in the southwest wilderness of Tasmania, … [Read more...] about Battle to save the last of the line
Archives for June 2018
Diplomats with wings
Moves to bring North Korea into the international fold might have dominated the headlines in recent weeks with President Donald Trump’s intervention but a feathered ambassador travelling from both Australia and New Zealand got there first. The bar-tailed godwit, whose epic round-trip migratory journey of at least 24,000 kilometres requires a stopover in North Korea, has for the past 10 years created a conduit for communication between the “hermit state” and a western nation, … [Read more...] about Diplomats with wings
A blaze of reflected light
The weather forecast predicted a dull and overcast day for the annual Tasmania gull count this year, an apt metaphor for birds that always seem to be under a cloud. Lots of people do not like gulls, particularly silver gulls which hang around the fish punts on the waterfront, always seizing a chance to steal a chip or two. The gulls are, in fact, called “rats with wings” in some quarters and I always think this is an unfair appellation for them. Amid the squawk and squeal, … [Read more...] about A blaze of reflected light
In the shadow of Scoop’s William Boot
William Boot, the bumbling war correspondent in the satirical novel about journalism, Scoop, and I have much in common. Or so I have been told by readers of the “On the wing” column. Although I’ve tried to develop the image of a cool, jet-setting journalist – at least during my younger days – I’ve never quite escaped the shadow of William Boot, the nature writer for the Daily Beast who found himself sent to Africa to cover human conflict by mistake. Notebook in hand, … [Read more...] about In the shadow of Scoop’s William Boot
The pecking order of protection
Birdwatchers often avoid hunting for the little brown birds, or “LBBs”, which are often hard to identify and offer little reward in terms of beauty and spectacle. It now appears the LLBs are being overlooked on a wider scale – in the pecking order of birds to be saved from extinction. This very issue has come to the fore in recent weeks with questions being asked in the Federal Senate about two unremarkable birds on King Island – the King Island thornbill and scrubtit – … [Read more...] about The pecking order of protection