Archives for June 2020

Birds can teach us a lot about ourselves and the world we live in. I am reminded of this fact each year when I set off on the annual count of seagulls conducted by Birdlife Tasmania. It is important to keep an eye on our silver, Pacific and kelp gulls because – along with all species of birds – they are a vital barometer of environmental health. In Tasmania’s urban areas it has been found that the silver gulls who cadge and steal food at fast-food outlets and feed on food … [Read more...] about Gulls the canary in the coalmine

The golden, button leaves of the rare fargus beech brighten the sombre early days of winter when chilly winds laden with sleet and snow begin to bite in Tasmania. The changing foliage of the fagus, or tanglefoot as it is also known, spur both local nature lovers and tourists at this time of year to visit the highlands where Australia’s only deciduous tree is found. This year, however, the Coronavirus pandemic put a stop to such outings. Obeying the lockdown, I was … [Read more...] about Plants and birds reveal a link to China

For the first time in a decade more than 100 orange-bellied parrots have travelled from Tasmania’s south-west to their wintering grounds along the Victorian and South Australian coasts. But the joy of researchers and volunteers at seeing a dramatic rise in the population of the critically-endangered species has been tempered by the restrictions placed on the movement of mainland birders who are critical to monitoring the parrots during the winter months. All the same, such … [Read more...] about Hopes rise for orange-bellied parrots

The flight of the woodswallows passed me by this year, Coronavirus isolation cutting short my own flight to even near-distant places. The migrant dusky woodswallows come through on migration in spring and autumn but it is the movement prior to winter that attracts attention. This is the time when the woodswallows fly high in the sky, wheeling and turning in their rapid hunt for flying insects. In contrast, at the height of the breeding season in summer they tend to keep a … [Read more...] about Woodswallows on their way