Migrating birds and migrating people have something in common. They know no boundaries. The thought occurred to me during the night of the winter solstice when I joined a wildlife walk in the Waterworks Reserve which had been organised for new arrivals to Tasmania.
Environmental group Wildcare Tasmania organises wildlife experiences for people new to Tasmania under its “get outside’’ banner and I joined the first they had organised to study nocturnal birds and animals.
The event proved one to remember.
With support from the Hobart Council, the after-dark safari was led by Rob Armstrong, the council’s Bushland Recreational Officer and he pointed out some of the more common mammals of the reserve, pademelons and Bennett’s wallabies among them.
The 30 or so new Tasmanians also made the acquittance of a friendly brush-tailed possum which climbed the rafters of the BBQ hut where the group had gathered before the walk, and took refreshments at the end of it.
The get-outside program for new Tasmanians has been co-ordinated by Wildcare’s Jodie Epper for the past seven years.
Under a clear star-lit sky, she said that the program was designed to introduce new Tasmanians to the state’s wildlife wonders, including and national parks.
She said that just to see a forest was important for some migrants who had come from overcrowded cities. On a trip to Mt Field National Park one time, some of the participants viewing the Russell Falls revealed they had never seen a waterfall.
One of the participants taking part in the solstice event looked up at the Milky Way and marvelled at its beauty. She said she had spent her life before coming to Tasmania living in a metropolis where the stars could not be seen because of the obstruction of high-rise buildings and light pollution.
I did not get to discuss with the participants how they came to be in Tasmania and whether they were political refugees, or just people looking to settle in a country that offered more opportunity than their own.
But a bird metaphor for migration was irresistible. Birds, whether they are inter-continental or inter-state migrants, move to new territories when resources and opportunities dry up, usually when the seasons change. And birds do not adhere to human boundaries drawn on maps. So the evening proved not only an interesting mix of peoples and cultures, but a philosophical lesson drawing humans closer to the natural world.
I joined the walk in the hope of drawing attention to some of the nocturnal birds found in the reserve but on this chilly night they were not to be seen or heard. The masked and boobook owls were keeping a low profile as were the tawny frogmouths inhabiting the reserve.
But no one was complaining. The animals bouncing around the reserve, caught in Rob Armstrong’s torch beam provided more than enough wildlife interest.
And there was something else, although not quite of the wildlife world. To the north the, Spectre light beam piercing the dark sky as part of the Dark Mofo festival brought some wonder of its own.