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The Tasmanian native-hens at the end of my garden had been displaying the amorous side to their nature all night. Their mating ritual had started sometime just after midnight and the strangely rhythmic grunts and squawks finished at around 7am, just as the sun flooded the Waterworks Valley with light.  I was still a little bleary-eyed when I opened the Sunday Tasmanian later that morning to discover the native-hens were making headlines beyond their goings-on in my … [Read more...] about Name game for native-hens

The loud and piercing call of the crescent honeyeater rang out from the small tree just above my head. I should have been looking closely at the often flighty and elusive crescent honeyeater. Instead I was drawn to the lantern flowers of a cheesewood providing the honeyeater with a meal of pollen and nectar. I could clearly see the feathered tongue of the bird thrusting into the yellow and maroon flowers. Because they hung from the end of thin stalks, the honeyeater had to … [Read more...] about Mountain glows with flower power

Bruny Island might only be 362 square kilometres in area but in recent times it has laid claim to being the “birdwatching capital of Australia”. Such a title might seem a little fanciful until it is realised north and south Bruny islands are home to all 12 of Tasmania’s endemic species. No other area of the same size in Australia can claim to have such a large number of birds found nowhere else on earth. To promote not just the birds but the other scenic and wildlife … [Read more...] about Bruny Island stands tall as its forests

The ascending, tinkling song of the grey fantail had been missing all winter.  And now I could hear it all around me, as though it was dripping from the wattles and eucalypts like an early-morning mist. Not one but a whole party of fantails had arrived overnight on favourable, north-westerly winds and in the foothills of kunanyi/Mt Wellington I revelled in their sublime beauty. The song of the fantail – which also incorporates whistles and squeaks – is one of the most … [Read more...] about A swish of a geisha fan

Dead on time, the swallows returned to Hobart in the first few days of spring. I always say to those anticipating the end of winter, swallows turn up during the first weekend of September; they arrived a little earlier this year, on Friday September 2 to be precise. I only saw one bird, swooping and soaring in the Waterworks Valley to the south of the city but my spies said more were about. They were still absent, though, from my favourite place to view them – the … [Read more...] about One swallows makes a spring