Don Knowler

Each year birdwatchers in Tasmania set out to monitor populations of migratory shorebirds – and each year they record staggering declines in numbers of these remarkable birds. BirdLife Tasmania has in fact the longest data sets of shorebird numbers stretching back more than 40 years. These figures make sobering reading. One species of the group of birds commonly called waders, the curlew sandpiper, is hardly ever recorded in Tasmania these days, after being counted in the … [Read more...] about Wader counts make sobering reading

Standing at the summit of the Glenorchy tip to the north of Hobart with grey clouds over the mountain threatening snow, it occurred to me there was a downside to birding. Once upon a time it was enough to just watch birds, and revel in the beauty of their plumage and sweet melodies. Now it’s incumbent on the birder to also engage in citizen science to record bird numbers, especially of the many species decreasing in population across the country. So on a winter’s day here I … [Read more...] about Numbers holding but gulls not in good shape

A few years ago a bird of prey feared by my neighbourhood songsters stopped visiting my garden and I had my suspicions as to the reason why. At the time wildlife biologist Nick Mooney was warning that a new range of anticoagulant rodenticides were taking a toll on birds of prey. Mooney said that a more powerful second generation of the rodenticides which hit with a single dose had replaced a slow-acting earlier version. Both the rodenticides were still on the market, and … [Read more...] about Raptors face rat-poison peril

Right on cue, like an actor strutting the stage, a striking male yellow-throated honeyeater made his presence felt in the Waterworks Reserve. With the first snows of winter settling on kunanyi/Mt Wellington , the honeyeater always lays claim to a patch of exotic winter-flowering vegetation and he takes on all comers. The flowers of the “Ned Kelly” grevillea are a vital food source in the winter months and they are eyed enviously by other members of the honeyeater family … [Read more...] about Yellowthroat struts the stage

The duel of the decibels – the chorus at dusk when birds try to outdo each other to dominate the air waves as light fades – was particularly vocal one mid-winter evening. The clinking of currawong, the caw of raven and the trilling of new Holland honeyeater was in competition with another, alien sound. As I walked the streets of South Hobart, I had forgotten that the Dark Mofo winter festival was about to start, even though the night before I had seen city buildings and the … [Read more...] about Dark Mofo enters the soundscape