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The golden, button leaves of the rare fargus beech brighten the sombre early days of winter when chilly winds laden with sleet and snow begin to bite in Tasmania. The changing foliage of the fagus, or tanglefoot as it is also known, spur both local nature lovers and tourists at this time of year to visit the highlands where Australia’s only deciduous tree is found. This year, however, the Coronavirus pandemic put a stop to such outings. Obeying the lockdown, I was … [Read more...] about Plants and birds reveal a link to China

For the first time in a decade more than 100 orange-bellied parrots have travelled from Tasmania’s south-west to their wintering grounds along the Victorian and South Australian coasts. But the joy of researchers and volunteers at seeing a dramatic rise in the population of the critically-endangered species has been tempered by the restrictions placed on the movement of mainland birders who are critical to monitoring the parrots during the winter months. All the same, such … [Read more...] about Hopes rise for orange-bellied parrots

The flight of the woodswallows passed me by this year, Coronavirus isolation cutting short my own flight to even near-distant places. The migrant dusky woodswallows come through on migration in spring and autumn but it is the movement prior to winter that attracts attention. This is the time when the woodswallows fly high in the sky, wheeling and turning in their rapid hunt for flying insects. In contrast, at the height of the breeding season in summer they tend to keep a … [Read more...] about Woodswallows on their way

The pandemic period of self-isolation has forced me to pay attention to birds I do not usually give a second glance – house sparrows. Peering out of the window, watching the cheeky sparrows squabbling on the garden lawn one autumnal afternoon, I suddenly realised I had never determined what sparrows actually eat, beyond their cadging crumbs inside and outside Banjo’s bakery in Salamanca Square. I have written in the past of the smart, crafty sparrows working out how the … [Read more...] about Crumb of comfort for sparrows

A group of bird nerds – popularly known as “twitchers” – were all a twitter last month when a species normally seen in the tropics and sub-tropics, the eastern koel, was heard calling from a tree in Hobart. An office worker who grew up in northern New South Wales heard the distinctive, far-carrying cry of a koel while eating a sandwich in the heart of the city, Franklin Square. There could be no mistake about the source of the loud, ascending call which usually rings out as … [Read more...] about Eastern koel in the ‘twitchersphere’