As the Olympics wound down into the second week of August I had my attention on a statistic and record of another kind. I was keen to improve on my first sighting of a cuckoo at the end of winter. Although welcome swallows might be the official bird of spring – and I take note of the dates of their arrival, too – the fan-tailed cuckoo is always the first of the migrants to arrive in my neighbourhood. As soon as I hear the cuckoo’s persistent trilling coming from the forest … [Read more...] about Forget the Olympics, cuckoo has record of its own
Forget the Olympics, cuckoo has record of its own
As the Olympics wound down into the second week of August I had my attention on a statistic and record of another kind. I was keen to improve on my first sighting of a cuckoo at the end of winter. Although welcome swallows might be the official bird of spring – and I take note of the dates of their arrival, too – the fan-tailed cuckoo is always the first of the migrants to arrive in my neighbourhood. As soon as I hear the cuckoo’s persistent trilling coming from the forest … [Read more...] about Forget the Olympics, cuckoo has record of its own
Netherworld beneath the rushing traffic
Beneath the rushing traffic on the Sorell causeway at Midway Point exists a netherworld that most drivers and cyclists will never see. It’s a world inhabited by some of the most remarkable wild creatures on the planet, birds capable of ultra-marathon journeys, sometimes straining the limits of endurance in 8000 km non-stop flights. The hidden world of migratory shorebirds has been revealed in recent years by satellite tracking devices which record not only the length of … [Read more...] about Netherworld beneath the rushing traffic
Nature awakes from its slumber
The “Joe Witty” call of the grey shrike-thrush rang through the woods but it was not as strident, resonant and far-carrying as usual. It was the same with the musical chortle of the yellowthroat and the “egypt” territorial call of the crescent honeyeater. A thick carpet of snow on the Pipeline Track below Fern Tree was cushioning all sounds except the steady soft thump of my hiking boots. It was beautiful, surreal, a cliché of a winter’s day, the proverbial picture postcard … [Read more...] about Nature awakes from its slumber
City dwellers cast into the urban wild
My “sit spot” in the foothills of kunanyi/Mt Wellington allows me to be immersed in the world of nature, a haven and sanctuary from the pressures of life. Once I would have described this window on nature as merely a seat fashioned from a fallen blue gum. The term “sit spot”, however, now stems from a book I have been reading, Rewilding the Urban Soul by Claire Dunn. The Melbourne-based author sets out to discover the “untamed heart of the urban jungle” and succeeds in … [Read more...] about City dwellers cast into the urban wild