In the great gull hunt all roads lead to McDonald’s and the other fast-food outlets dotted around the Derwent. I had signed up for the annual count of gulls that BirdLife Tasmania organises each winter and had been assigned good gull country between the Tasman and Bridgewater bridges. Tasmania has three gull species and I knew where to look for the smallest, and most common of these, the silver gull. Any place where humans gathered to eat fast food would do. For the other, … [Read more...] about Super-sized hunt for gulls
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Looking for the past
He could be found on Elizabeth Mall in the centre of Hobart any weekday afternoon, lost and lonely looking for the past. David Mooney had retired from his position as horse racing writer on the Chronicle a year previously and didn’t know what to do with himself during the afternoons and evenings when the horses were not running at Hobart’s track. Horse racing, in fact, held little interest for him, something he had discovered the day he walked down the stairs of the … [Read more...] about Looking for the past
Felled by swallows
There is was, stubbie in hand, gazing over the water towards BrunyIsland with high hopes of seeing a sea eagle. It’s the kind of bird-watching I enjoy most: comfortable surroundings with alcohol on tap, great company and the expectation of seeing something if not rare, at least unusual. Perhaps the music blaring out over the extensive gardens of the Oyster Cove Inn at Kettering south of Hobart might not have been totally conducive to the task at hand but the green rosellas … [Read more...] about Felled by swallows
Fungi gives birds wings
I’m familiar with twitchers dashing around the world looking for rare bird species but I’ve learned that the esoteric world of fungi has its own globe-trotting fanatics. Fungi fans across the world will go weak at the knees at the mention of anemone stinkhorn and flame fungus, to say nothing of a species of fungi known as dead man’s finger. Tasmania, it seems, is a paradise for fungus freaks, or mycologists as they are officially known. I learned some fascinating facts … [Read more...] about Fungi gives birds wings
Tawnies to order
The tawny frogmouth stared at me intently, cocking its head to one side as I moved closer to it at the Bonorong Wildlife Sanctuary. How many hours had I spent searching for “tawnies” on summer nights under the summit of Mount Wellington without success, only to find one now right in front of me, perched metres above my head, flying free in a wildlife sanctuary and floodlit at that? Birds are like that, as I often write. They turn up in the most unlikely of places. On … [Read more...] about Tawnies to order