As a fiery sun vanished behind the palm trees bordering Luna Park in Melbourne, rainbow lorikeets were putting on an equally spectacular show, as they always do at sunset. Noisy and pushy; they jostled for position in prime roosting sites among the fronds, oblivious to mayhem on a slightly different scale taking place just below them as the lively and eccentric St Kilda residents positioned themselves for the evening that lie ahead. I love Acland St with its cake shops by … [Read more...] about Lorikeets on the wrong side of the tracks
Albatrocity on the high seas
The Wooden Boat Festival has come around again, an event I always associate with the legendary bird of the southern oceans, the albatross. It’s easy to see why – during the 2013 festival I actually saw the lanky shape of a shy albatross not 40 metres off-shore of the Hobart docks.. I thought at the time the albatross would make an apt symbol for the festival, particularly the shy albatross which breeds exclusively on just a few Tasmanian islands. I had been told … [Read more...] about Albatrocity on the high seas
Optimism for the year ahead
A young shining bronze-cuckoo ushered in a new year of birdwatching when I went on a birding excursion to the Waterworks Reserve on the first day of 2019. The cuckoo was not what I had expected because I had in mind the birds that I usually associate with summer, the satin flycatcher, the black-faced cuckoo shrike and the dusky woodswallow among them. The four species of cuckoos visiting Tasmania are also summer visitors but I’m not a fan of the cuckoo family. At this time … [Read more...] about Optimism for the year ahead
Molly the raven brings a ‘gift’
Christmas day brought a present I had not expected, not from Santa but a female raven I have befriended over the years. The raven I call Molly introduced me to her offspring as my Yule-tide surprise. Birds had been off the radar during the Christmas build-up as I rushed about town doing the last of the holiday shopping. And on Christmas morning I did not pay much attention to an unusual raven call I heard coming from my garden’s exotic wattles. It was an insistent, … [Read more...] about Molly the raven brings a ‘gift’
Windows spell menace for birds
A thud at the window of my study as I was typing away at my latest bird column. I didn’t need to go to the panes, and look outside to see what had made the noise. I was pretty sure it was a bird strike. Although I try to shield my windows - to reduce reflection of green leaf and sky which might lead birds to believe they are flying into open space - my home is prone to occasional bird strike. The house sits on the edge of the bush and birds in the frenzy and delirium of the … [Read more...] about Windows spell menace for birds