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A waif of a bird we will call “tawny” was lying bedraggled on the cold surface of a suburban street. A waif being attacked by ravens. A bird bereft, a pathetic bundle of feather and bone. Awaiting the cruel fate of raven beak. Or the wheels of a car. A baby tawny frogmouth had somehow become separated from its mother; lost, alone and in peril. A jogger discovered the bird on Waterworks Road in Dynnyrne and delivered it to a local wildlife carer. The carer in turn … [Read more...] about Rescued ‘Tawny’ flies into the night

Tasmanian birdwatchers who traditionally gather on the state’s mudflats at this time of year to await the return of migratory shorebirds have been staggered to discover that one of the long-distance travellers has just broken the world record for avian non-stop flight. A bar-tailed godwit making the southward journey along the East Asian-Australasian migratory flyway has been clocked flying non-stop from Alaska to New Zealand. The bird covered around 12,000 kilometres in 11 … [Read more...] about Flying feat by some distance

“Donny, there’s twitching within,” said Richard Flanagan when he signed a copy of his novel The Narrow Road to the Deep North during its launch a few years back. Sure enough, when I read the Booker Prize-winning work, I found the central character Dorrigo Evans doing a spot of birdwatching in the Midlands where the early part of the novel is set. As Flanagan wrote, Dorrigo “would smell damp bark and drying leaves and watch the clans of green and red musk lorikeets … [Read more...] about The sounds of silence

A giant stack of sticks on display in the Freycinet National Park demonstrates the time and energy that white-bellied sea eagles put into building the structure that forms their nests. The pile has another function – to encourage walkers not to fashion walking sticks from woody debris they find under trees. An information panel with the title “not just a stick” explains the debris not only forms the building blocks of eagle nests but is a vital ingredient for the health of … [Read more...] about Nest sticks in short supply

A key birding initiative has been given a boost by the sighting of one of Australia’s rarest birds, the swift parrot, in Melbourne. The arrival of the swift parrot - travelling through Victoria on its return to breeding grounds in Tasmania - has helped spur the Aussie Backyard Bird Count, which starts on October 19. The count takes place during National Bird Week and is designed to encourage home-owners to pay attention to the birds that might be visiting their gardens, and … [Read more...] about Swift parrot centre stage