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“The young one’s left the nest,” the proprietors of my local garage announced excitedly when I went to fill the tank of my Jeep Wrangler. I often receive progress reports on birds nesting in gardens or local parks – it comes with the turf when you write the On the Wing column – but this bird story was a little different. These nesting birds were not in Hobart, or even this state or country. They were a pair of American bald eagles happily raising a family in western Florida … [Read more...] about The eagle has landed

When it comes to birding in nature’s hotspots forget Kakadu in the Northern Territory or the wader-rich shores of Broome in Western Australia. South-east Tasmania and especially Bruny Island is the place to be. BirdLife Australia has recently joined forces with top international wildlife groups and agencies – including the International Union for the Conservation of Nature (IUCN) – to map key areas where nature abounds and it was a shock when I looked at the outcome to … [Read more...] about Hotspots on the doorstep

Many years ago when I was a member of the bird-watching fraternity in New York’s Central Park the prospect of a “wave day” - which saw the arrival of unusually high numbers of migrating birds – got the telephone wires buzzing in pre-mobile days. Central Park is on the Eastern American Flyway and when winds blew from the south during the spring migration birders grew excited. Millions of birds travelling from as far south as Brazil would be on the move, making their way along … [Read more...] about Joys of a ‘wave day’

The birding bush telegraph rang hot late last month. A Japanese snipe – a bird I had never seen – had been spotted over several days at the Goulds Lagoon reserve along the upper Derwent. I received the word while attending a BirdLIfe Tasmania meeting and at first light next morning I jumped into my car to speed along the Brooker Highway to Austins Ferry, where the reserve is situated. It was a glorious autumnal day, the early-morning sun burning off a crispness in the air, … [Read more...] about Japanese snipe calls in on suburbia

A reader contacted me recently asking if I could identify the “Figaro bird’ that was driving him to distraction on the course of the New Town Bay Golf Club. It was so named because it sounded as if the mystery bird was singing “Figaro, Figaro, Figaro,” as in Amadeus Mozart’s opera, The Marriage of Figaro. “The call is shrill and I hear it every time I play golf at New Town Bay,” wrote the reader, who also identified two streets bordering the hole of the course where it was … [Read more...] about ‘Figaro bird’ in full voice