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As I watched black swans shrouded in the mists of a Bridgewater Jerry on the upper Derwent, I could see why the beautiful and graceful birds have always formed a powerful, almost spiritual image through the haze of human history. Swans are symbols of love, devotion and fidelity. There are plenty of fairy tales about swans mating for life, and even grieving for years if their beloved partner dies. Scientists in Melbourne have now confirmed it's one myth that has some truth … [Read more...] about Love and devotion – a human story

The children had long departed after the sun began to fade on a glorious autumnal afternoon but a youngster was still at play on the soft, wet sands of Long Beach, Lower Sandy Bay. A juvenile silver gull played “boats” with a leaf, which it dropped and then retrieved from ripples of waves sweeping the shore. I was intrigue by the bird’s behaviour at the tideline. The leaf had been blown into the sea and it was being washed ashore by the waters of the incoming tide. The … [Read more...] about Bird of play in the spotlight

The call of the bunyip echoes from Tasmania’s ancient past. A low-pitched boom resonates on balmy, summer nights from wetlands fringed with reeds. Unsettling and unnerving, it’s no wonder that Aboriginal peoples across the country feared the sound, believing it evoked malign and sinister spirits. But these days the bunyip has been unmasked. It’s now accepted the bunyip of Aboriginal folklore is the bittern, a nocturnal member of the heron family that skulks in … [Read more...] about The mysterious bunyip unmasked

A penny for your thoughts, I’m saying to a Pacific gull. I’m intrigued. I’ve watched this lone gull for months. I can’t make him out. Where he comes from, where he goes? All I know is that every time I go to the Waterworks Reserve, I see him basking in the sun on an embankment overlooking one of the twin reservoirs. At first, in the early days, I thought the Pacific gull might be sick or injured. But he always looked in great shape, crisp-white plumage which he obviously … [Read more...] about A cool Pacific gull takes life in its stride

Although Mauritius and Tasmania are thousands of kilometres apart, they share a connection that can only be described as ironic. The islands have extinct species as unofficial symbols of identity – Mauritius the most famous bird to vanish, the dodo, and Tasmania, the most famous extinct mammal, the fabled Tasmanian tiger or thylacine. The tiger may be long gone but it still appears as a logo for government business, and is featured on our car number plates. In Mauritius, … [Read more...] about Extinction lessons from the past