I call it lazy birding, sitting on a seat in the woods watching the world of nature cruise by. Let wildlife come to you. No need to work up a sweat. It’s especially rewarding in winter when we have more time to study the resident birds without feeling the need to chase and identify the migrant species. So on the first day of the new season I chose to sit out my usual keep-fit walk in the Waterworks Reserve and perch myself on a seat fashioned from a fallen tree, a location … [Read more...] about Lazy birding reveals nature’s wonders
In tune with the dawn chorus
The music was still ringing in my ears after a night on the beers at The Whaler in Salamanca, listening to the trio playing there, Les Coqs Incroyables. I’d also been listening to the spring-time dawn chorus in Britain, relayed to me by a friend dangling with his mobile phone out of his bedroom window at six in the morning. I suspect he had also been on the beers. “All the birds go tweet-tweet-tweet when my sugar walks down the street” ran the lyrics of the song played by … [Read more...] about In tune with the dawn chorus
Feral bully boy mallards causing mayhem
A pair of Pacific black ducks seen wallowing in a puddle on the Parliament Lawns may well have been there on official business. Inside the sandstone building MPs were in debate about rowdy and aggressive ducks causing havoc. Not just any old ducks. The debate centred on mallards originally introduced from Britain, or at least their cross-bred feral descendants, throwing their weight around. To cries of “lame ducks”, the issue was raised by the representative of the … [Read more...] about Feral bully boy mallards causing mayhem
A conversation on birds
Time and place, birds are a living link with history. The Tasmanian birdsong that lifts our spirits each day is the very refrain heard by the first people to inhabit these lands 40,000 years ago, the first European explorers (Charles Darwin among them) and the others who have shaped our history. When I refer to time and place I mean that no two places in the world have the same birds. It’s always been that way. The birds of Hobart, Melbourne, Sydney, Adelaide or Brisbane are … [Read more...] about A conversation on birds
Supurb fairytale could end all too soon
Superb fairywrens have a special significance for the Knowler family because 25 years ago they skipped ahead of us as we were walking down the mudstone drive of what would ultimately become our new home. We had been house-hunting after arriving in Hobart from Queensland, and we like to think the fairywrens somehow influenced our decision to buy. As bird-lovers, what better bird to welcome us to a new neighbourhood? As a bonus, on that first inspection we also saw a scarlet … [Read more...] about Supurb fairytale could end all too soon