Don Knowler

The birdbaths which decorate gardens up and down suburbia have emerged as an area of conflict for our birds, especially during a summer of drought like the one we have just experienced in Tasmania. The “battle of the birdbath” has been the focus of a nation-wide survey over the past two years to determine which species are able to dominate these unnatural sources of water, and which species are shut out. The results of the survey so far have thrown up some surprising … [Read more...] about The battle of the birdbath

MY biggest bird-watching moment during the summer months just past came with the sight of no less than 12 of the most dramatic of shorebirds, eastern curlew, feeding in mudflats near Midway Point. My delight at seeing the biggest of the waders, however, was tempered by the realisation that I might never again see curlews in Tasmanian waters. Numbers of eastern curlews reaching Tasmania – and indeed many other species of wader – are in freefall and the curlew was last year … [Read more...] about Curlews lost to the wind

The Sandy Bay Rivulet winds its way secretly through one of the most beautiful corners of Hobart. Its hidden beauty and wonder are known to only the very few people whose properties access the brook, at least where it courses through its most dramatic section in a deep gully running parallel to the Waterworks Rd. The rivulet might have been in the past the local residents’ closely guarded secret but there are many in the community who are now seeking to have it opened up to … [Read more...] about A walk back in history

I know my superb fairy-wrens and they know me. Their antics, fossicking and ferreting on my lawn, bring me great joy, whether it be on a grey autumnal day threatening winter, or a bright sunny one in spring full of the promise of summer. To say I have a spiritual connection with not just the fairy-wrens, but to all bird species, would be an understatement. From the dawn of my consciousness, my cognitive being, they have been with me, always there, always around. My … [Read more...] about A spiritual connection

Looking splendid in magenta and charcoal plumage, the pink robin flashed through the grevilleas, chasing an eastern spinebill. It looked as though the male robin had moved off kunanyi/Mt Wellington to establish a winter territory, along with the spinebill which was clearly invading its space. Nothing unusual about this in autumn, although this was not the usual place I see the sparring and jostling for territories off the mountain, usually in the Waterworks Reserve. No, … [Read more...] about My pink robin moment