Don Knowler

Although Mauritius and Tasmania are thousands of kilometres apart, they share a connection that can only be described as ironic. The islands have extinct species as unofficial symbols of identity – Mauritius the most famous bird to vanish, the dodo, and Tasmania, the most famous extinct mammal, the fabled Tasmanian tiger or thylacine. The tiger may be long gone but it still appears as a logo for government business, and is featured on our car number plates. In Mauritius, … [Read more...] about Extinction lessons from the past

Two little heads poked out above the sand dunes on Bruny Island. Rounded shapes, with sooty black heads, two little birds watching the beach-goers passing by, between undulating sand and a shoreline washed with waves. The hooded plovers had made an appearance just as I knew they would. Unlike many other beaches in south-east Australia, the tiny, largely white waders can always been seen among the dunes at the back of the beach, or hidden among wrack on the sands. By … [Read more...] about Tasmania a vital refuge for at-risk waders

The unsung beauty of the grey teal – a species often overlooked and neglected – shone from the mudflats. A cluster of teals was grouped above the tideline at Cornelian Bay, sleeping with heads buried in the feathers of their backs, awaiting the tide to turn and feeding grounds to be flooded. As the name suggests, grey teals lack the spectacular, often iridescent plumage of many of the ducks. In shallow waters they are overshadowed by a more common and popular small duck, … [Read more...] about Beauty on the mudflats

Watching the elegant oystercatchers probing an expanse of mudflats at Cornelian Bay I found it hard to imagine that anyone would want to do them harm. I always head to the shores of the Derwent when I need a pied oystercatcher “fix” but my latest shorebird excursion to Cornelian Bay coincided with a disturbing report from New Zealand. A closely related species, the South Island oystercatcher, had raised the ire of commercial clam collectors there who called for its cull. In … [Read more...] about Oystercatchers off the hook in clam mystery

“Old blue eyes” is the name an older generation still gives to a singing star of yesteryear, Frank Sinatra. But I knew an old mariner in England once – a fan of both Sinatra and sea shanties – who reserved the name for a spectacular seabird, the gannet. I couldn’t understand what he was talking about at first until sailing across the English Channel I saw a northern gannet close up, flying alongside the ferry. Yes, the bird had the most beautiful eyes imaginable. This was … [Read more...] about The eyes have it for gannet flu resistance