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BIRDWATCHERS gathered on wetlands across Australia earlier this month for a “farewell to shorebirds” celebration to send the migratory waders on their way to breeding grounds on the other side of the world. But in truth there was not much to celebrate. Shorebird numbers are in freefall because of the draining and degradation of the wetlands in which they live over their whole migratory range, which stretches from the far south of Tasmania to breeding grounds within the … [Read more...] about If wetlands go, birds will follow

The Inverawe Native Gardens were looking for their 100th bird species and I thought I’d get a feather in my cap by spotting it.  My mission had started earlier in the year when I noted from the gardens’ newsletter that species 98 and 99 had turned up at the gardens at Margate and the owners, Bill  and Margaret Chestnut, were excitedly anticipating what in cricket parlance would be a ton. I thought that with a little research, and hard work on the spot, I might record the … [Read more...] about A quest for birding fame

I had my Local Hero moment in the lonely, sea-washed phone box at AdventureBay on BrunyIsland one morning, a phone call to the metropolis that became a communication with nature.  For those who don’t know of the film Local Hero, it tells of a young American oil company executive who is sent to Scotland to persuade the residents of a remote, picturesque fishing village to sell up so a giant oil refinery can be built on their ancestral land. To take orders in secret from head … [Read more...] about When nature calls

There’s some new kids on the block in our neighbourhood and they’re causing a stir in the treetops.  The new arrivals are a mob of young magpies who seem determined to throw their weight around in the Waterworks Valley where I live. I discovered one of the magpies early in the summer when I heard the unfamiliar flute-like magpie song. I say unfamiliar because the magpie is rarely seen in the largely wet forest of the Waterworks Valley, preferring the dry woodlands nearer … [Read more...] about New magpie kids on the block

The tawny frogmouth may not have featured on Tasmanian’s list of favourite birds when I published it during the summer but my phone and email ran hot when I wrote later that I had spent 13 years searching for this elusive and mysterious species at my local reserve. There were sightings aplenty in other areas of Hobart and one proved too irresistible to ignore. I was told by a reader of a family in easy view close to a viewing platform at the Knocklofty Reserve high above … [Read more...] about Birdwatching days never wasted