I looked a little out of place on the mountain – black street shoes, neatly-pressed grey trousers, light blue button-down shirt, no hat or drink bottle. I had intended to go Christmas shopping but on my way to town I met a birdwatcher who said that the showy shrub, Christmas bush, was in bloom on Mt Wellington. The sun was shining after a day of rain and I couldn’t resist driving to the Springs to have a look at these tall, leafy shrubs that always flower towards the end of … [Read more...] about A Christmas present on the mountain
Coots find a new home
The downy, black chick looked lost and alone, stranded in the middle of one of the reservoirs at the Waterworks Reserve. At first I tried to determine what species it was because I could not see any parents near by. Then I became concerned about its vulnerability. I’m sure it had caught the attention of a goshawk, or even a raven or currawong, who would wait to see of it eventually struggled closer to the bank, where it could be speared and eaten. I was pleased, … [Read more...] about Coots find a new home
Roll up for the “flying gymnasium”
One man’s dream of bringing Tasmania’s eagles up close and personal to the state’s schoolchildren is about to be realised with the opening of an educational centre at the Raptor and Wildlife Refuge in Kettering. Eagle expert Craig Webb has spent more than a decade developing the refuge on his 10-hectare property and at the same time has released into the wild countless wedge-tailed and sea eagles brought to him for care. Although saving eagles and other birds of prey has … [Read more...] about Roll up for the “flying gymnasium”
Return from a perilous journey
The shearwaters swirled around me in the half-light. I could hear the flutter their wings, feel the whoosh of their feathers as they swept past. I had gone to The Neck on BrunyIsland to watch penguins come ashore and had overlooked the fact that short-tailed shearwaters – or muttonbirds as they are called in Tasmania– use the same stretch of Bruny coast as their summer home. Silly of me not to be thinking shearwaters that are so common in Tasmanian waters during spring … [Read more...] about Return from a perilous journey
The quiet achiever defies extinction
The population of the forty-spotted pardalote might be in freefall, seemingly headed to extinction, but the people of Bruny Island are not going to let the little bird die. On a sunny afternoon in the Jetty Café at Dennes Point, Bruny Islanders were talking up the bird they describe as the “quiet achiever”, saying that it was too precious to their community to be allowed to go the way of the dodo. Dennes Point is famous in forty-spot folklore as having the largest … [Read more...] about The quiet achiever defies extinction