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The truth has been revealed about Donald Duck. The familiar, lovable “quack” does not belong to Donald at all. It belongs to the female of the species. It appears that in the haste to describe and record birdsong in the past, virtually all songs and calls have been ascribed to males. A new book is setting the world straight however and, in an ultimate victory for women’s rights, is pointing an accusing finger at a male-dominated birding world. When we hear the beautiful … [Read more...] about Donalds not what they are quacked up to be

“All the world’s a stage” said Shakespeare and he might well have been talking about the daily drama that takes place on my garden lawn. Among the players are Scruffy the pademelon, a wallaby known as Billy and a forest raven who goes by the name of Gloria. There’s also a turbo-chook I call Speedy. And this winter the cast of characters was joined by a troupe of grey and black currawongs down from the mountain who dodged being given stage names. Although some … [Read more...] about A wildlife show worthy of Shakespeare

Trimming a small deciduous tree in my garden, the tangled branches of a maple looking a little worse for wear without its leaves, I came across a grey fantail’s nest, one of nature’s marvels of engineering. It was a now discarded home which could win a master builder’s award for construction. The nest was built of strands of dry grass and moss and was anchored to a forking branch, low down in a dense part of the tree. The nest dangled downwards and had the appearance of an … [Read more...] about Fantails display skills of a master builder

The “murmuration” of starlings swirling about Hobart’s skies vanished with the arrival of spring. The starlings flock in their hundreds, sometimes thousands, during the winter months as they travel to and from communal roosting sites. The biggest roost in the Hobart area is on the concrete slabs and girders supporting the Tasman Bridge. There, clouds of starlings can be seen in the early morning or late afternoon, flying in tight formation to avoid the attention of the … [Read more...] about Starlings can get away with murmur

Two juvenile black cockatoos sparred with open beaks in the tangled branches of a hakea. The cockatoos – teenagers in the human measure of age – struggled to maintain their balance on a low branch. As the tree swayed under the weight of a large party of black cockatoos, it was difficult to determine if the young cockies were play-fighting or in competition for the tastiest nuts dangling in gnarly pods on the tree. Over the years the arrival of yellow-tailed black cockatoos … [Read more...] about You’d be nuts not to enjoy black cockies