• Skip to primary navigation
  • Skip to main content
  • Skip to primary sidebar

Donald Knowler

Dancing on the Edge of the World

  • Home
  • About
  • On The Wing
  • Tasmania’s Endemic Birds
  • New Nature Writing
  • Blog
  • Contact

Blog

Magpies separate friend from foe

March 23, 2025 Don Knowler

The magpie wasn’t slow in coming forward, as the expression goes. It tapped on the window of a friend’s home, demanding to be fed. I was in magpie mode on a trip to Launceston. The species might be common across both farm and suburb in Tasmania but they are absent from my neighbourhood in Hobart. Magpies like open, drier country and the wet forests towering over my home in the Waterworks Valley are clearly not to their liking. Not so the bucolic Tamar Valley north of … [Read more...] about Magpies separate friend from foe

On The Wing

Life’s a beach for ‘odd couple’

March 16, 2025 Don Knowler

The “odd couple” intrigued me all summer. The oystercatcher pair flew to roost each evening on the tin roof of the boatsheds jutting into the Derwent off Sandy Bay Rd close to the casino. They’d vanish each morning but sometimes on my keep-fit walk through Lower Sandy Bay I’d seen them again resting on the roof, even if on high summer days the metal under their feet must have been scorching. One morning, I decided to scan the whole coast going south to see what they got up … [Read more...] about Life’s a beach for ‘odd couple’

On The Wing

Musk lorikeets a fun-run distraction

March 7, 2025 Don Knowler

The musk lorikeets hustled and bustled at the heart of a bottlebrush, hanging upside down to get at the pollen in the bush’s crimson flowers. During a power walk along the shore of Montrose Bay I had been stopped in my tracks by the cheerful antics and beauty of the lorikeets. When they balanced on thin twigs on the outside of the bush – like tight-rope walkers at the circus - their iridescent plumage shimmered bright green in the late afternoon sun. Power walks are not … [Read more...] about Musk lorikeets a fun-run distraction

On The Wing

Explosion of gold on a summer’s evening

March 1, 2025 Don Knowler

Tree martins on a late summer evening dived and dunked into the stippled waters of the twin reservoirs at the Waterworks Reserve, sending up golden splashes that reflected the last rays of a dying sun. The sunset provided a backdrop to the martin manoeuvres and, strangely, I recalled an exploding volcano in Iceland I had just seen on television, throwing droplets of molten lava into the air. Tree martins were hitting the water in what is termed “splash bathing” and as they … [Read more...] about Explosion of gold on a summer’s evening

On The Wing

Boobooks wing it over Bass Strait

February 22, 2025 Don Knowler

Listening to a boobook owl calling from the forest above my home in the Waterworks Valley during the spring I didn’t realise at the time this very bird could have just arrived from the mainland. What’s more, it could have flown a remarkable 250 kilometres non-stop across Bass Strait. Although members of the owl family have never been known for regular migratory journeys, the boobook of Tasmania is shedding new light on owl flight paths. A recent research involving … [Read more...] about Boobooks wing it over Bass Strait

On The Wing

  • « Go to Previous Page
  • Page 1
  • Page 2
  • Page 3
  • Page 4
  • Page 5
  • Interim pages omitted …
  • Page 165
  • Go to Next Page »

Primary Sidebar

PUBLISHED BOOKS

The Shy Mountain

shy mountain

Silent and brooding, the Shy Mountain does not have to speak her name. We know she’s there, watching … [Read More...]

The Falconer of Central Park

Although written more than 30 years ago, The Falconer of Central Park has remained popular ever … [Read More...]

Riding the Devil’s Highway

Tasmania might be known internationally as the home of the Hollywood cartoon character, Taz, based … [Read More...]

Dancing on the Edge of the World

Dancing on the edge of the World by Donald Knowler

Dancing on the Edge of the World is a collection of essays that had their genesis in the “On the … [Read More...]

Search the archives

Recent Posts

  • Ink and feathers in the frame
  • Farm takes scarecrow idea to new heights
  • A soaring skylark hits musical high note
  • Song of Smelter Robins echoes from the past
  • Lovely honeyeater flies beneath the radar
  • Ancient beacon of hope for urban wildlife
  • Solitary grebe rides the waves
  • Heron makes a meal of science
  • Crescent honeyeaters emerge from the shadows
  • The seasons are a-changing

© Donald Knowler . All rights reserved.