Don Knowler

The Bruny Island Bird Festival took place of the weekend of October 19-22 , showcasing what Bruny Islanders describe as the “birdwatching capital of Tasmania”. This might sound like a bit of an exaggeration but the four festivals so far since the event’s inception in 2010 have certainly attracted large numbers of both mainland and international birdwatchers. And in the past two years Bruny birding “hotspot” status has been further enhanced by the twin Bruny islands also … [Read more...] about Bruny flies high

The pastel-yellow flowers of bottlebrushes swaying in the breeze, and clinging to them, silvereyes. The silvereyes perform like tiny acrobatics on the trapeze, hanging upside down at times, before letting go, righting themselves in mid-flight and then reaching out with their claws to grab another cluster of flowers. I watch the silvereyes performing their manoeuvres for hours, I should be working at the computer terminal in my study – writing bird columns and other articles … [Read more...] about Wildlife haven close to home

It’s magpie attack time and the birds with a beautiful flute-like song join plovers as public enemy number one in spring, if only for a short time. The menace of plovers – also called masked lapwings – were the subject of the column last week and now I turn my attention to a far more dangerous threat, magpies. As I reported, plovers are all bluster when they dive-bomb people near their nesting sites and rarely come into contact with the unsuspecting target. Magpies, on … [Read more...] about Magpies on the attack

It’s that time of the year when our feathered friends, or at least some of them, show an aggressive streak. The main culprits in our public open spaces are plovers but magpies are just as likely to join in the mayhem that is spring. The ABC earlier this month invited me in to explain why birds act the way they do at this time of year and I was happy to share my knowledge with Sarah Gillman on her Mornings radio show. It just so happened that just before I arrived a male … [Read more...] about ‘Plovers’ bring menace in spring

“To feed or not to feed?” It sounds like a quote from Shakespeare but it is a question often raised by the gardener trying to attract birds to his or her garden. It was addressed during a spring workshop on creating a bird-friendly gardens run by the owners of the Inverawe Native Gardens at Margate, Bill and Margaret Chestnut. The consensus among bird experts is that we should not feed birds, because it makes them dependent on humans – especially in winter – and can create … [Read more...] about A year-round larder for birds