I’m a light sleeper, an affliction that puts me at odds with both the human and natural worlds. Strangely, I can handle man-made sounds in the night – even hoons doing donuts on my suburban street – but it is natural sounds that tend to break my sleep patterns and eventually result in a restless night. When you suffer “nature-related insomnia syndrome”, to give it my own medical term, a trip to the country, supposedly to search of some peace and quiet, can be a traumatic … [Read more...] about Lapwings on the lookout
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Nest boxes hit the spot
A bird of the beach, the white-fronted chat, scurried through the long grass surrounding the house that is home to the Bruny Island Men’s Shed. A chilly wind was blowing in off the D’Entrecasteaux Channel, whipping white horses on the grey seas. A wisp of smoke rising from the shed’s chimney, and a steaming kettle on a bench misting the windows of the house’s kitchen told me it was the place to be on a rainy autumnal day. I ignored the chats, and a gannet bobbing up and … [Read more...] about Nest boxes hit the spot
A life lived in full colour
The green rosella gently picking at the seeds of a yellow bottlebrush in my garden carried a stature and grace about it that told of a long life well lived. I had learned during the summer months that the brighter the colours of a rosella, the older the bird and the bright colour of this old fella – especially the bright yellow on the breast and underbelly and iridescent blue in the wings – certainly suggested he had reached an age that in humans is marked by … [Read more...] about A life lived in full colour
The green rosella gently picking at the seeds of a yellow bottlebrush in my garden carried a stature and grace about it that told of a long life well lived. I had learned during the summer months that the brighter the colours of a rosella, the older the bird and the bright colour of this old fella – especially the bright yellow on the breast and underbelly and iridescent blue in the wings – certainly suggested he had reached an age that in humans is marked by … [Read more...] about
Goshawks get cocky
LOOK again when a flock of sulphur-crested cockatoos passes overhead because there might be a crafty white goshawk travelling with them. My amateur research into the behaviour of white goshawks in my valley has taught me that they can sometimes be found in association with cockies – if not at the heart of the flock, at its fringe. And what is surprising is the white cockies appear to tolerate these usurpers even though all my bird books suggest that the fearsome predator … [Read more...] about Goshawks get cocky