“Old blue eyes” is the name an older generation still gives to a singing star of yesteryear, Frank Sinatra. But I knew an old mariner in England once – a fan of both Sinatra and sea shanties – who reserved the name for a spectacular seabird, the gannet. I couldn’t understand what he was talking about at first until sailing across the English Channel I saw a northern gannet close up, flying alongside the ferry. Yes, the bird had the most beautiful eyes imaginable. This was … [Read more...] about Eye colour the key to gannet health
On The Wing
Passport to birdland
Birdland is a magical place where it’s possible to escape all the pressures and stresses of the environment of the city created and inhabited by one species – humans – and immerse yourself in a less one-dimensional world. Birdland is nowhere in particular, and does not have to be special or noteworthy. It could be in the wildest of wild forest, or in suburbia. It could be a pristine beach, a few hectares of eucalypt woodland, or a neatly manicured city park. It could be a backyard. That’s the magic of birds; they bring beauty and wonder to every corner of the planet, wild or untamed, and my On the Wing writing is their celebration.
Tide turns on wonder of waterways
With a deadly strike, a heron speared a fish in a rockpool along the Sandy Bay Rivulet. I had been watching the white-faced heron from the bridge on Parliament St and was so close I could actually see the species of fish that had been swallowed whole by the hungry bird. It was a climbing galaxias (Galaxias brevipinnis). A hungry heron spearing a fish, nothing particularly unusual in that, a regular occurrence in the waterways of Hobart. But that morning I had read a report … [Read more...] about Tide turns on wonder of waterways
Hardhead headache for tixidermists
Out on the stippled waters of the one of the reservoirs at the Waterworks Reserve something a little different stirred. I could tell summer was making way for autumn because a seasonal traveller had arrived – a hardhead duck. The male was still in its breeding plumage and in the soft early-morning sunlight it looked a treat. Chocolate head on a textured brown body, blue-black beak with a silver tip and a distinctive white eye, which gives the species its second name, … [Read more...] about Hardhead headache for tixidermists
A splash and a dunk in cool waters
A splashing and dunking, a spray of water droplets sparkling golden in the late-afternoon sun. A passing parade of birds were taking a dip. In terms of a birding hotspot this bathing pool did not look much. The birds knew otherwise. A fallen wattle was spread across the shallow waters of the Sandy Bay Rivulet where the watercourse weaves its way through the foothills of kunanyi/Mt Wellington. The silver wattle’s twiggy, clustered upper branches trapped a pool of water and … [Read more...] about A splash and a dunk in cool waters
Woodswallows linger for a summer feast
Dusky woodswallows soared into the sky to snatch at the last of the summer’s flying insects. In the upper bare branches of a dead gum, they were joined by tree martins. The two unrelated species jockeyed for position, the martins coming off worst. When a woodswallow returned from a sortie, the smaller martins had to make way for it. Despite a late spell of summer weather, I sensed the two species were looking north, they certainly seemed to head that way after taking off, … [Read more...] about Woodswallows linger for a summer feast