I’VE been an unabashed promoter of Bruny Island in the years I have been writing the “On the wing” column and now I’m delighted to learn that it has been named in a top-10 list of Australia’s most “revered” birdwatching sites. The list was compiled by Australian Birdlife magazine after it asked its 8000 readers to name their favourite birding locations. Bruny Island ranked among Kakadu in the Northern Territory and Lamington National Park in Queensland as bird hotspots. … [Read more...] about Bruny Island a bird mecca
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.
A bird of the farmland shadows
The banded lapwing keeps to the shadows, or should I say to the furrows of ploughed field and rough pasture. It’s the shy cousin to the more notorious of the lapwing and plover family, the masked lapwing which each spring makes the headlines when it dive-bombs unsuspecting people invading its space in suburbia’s open spaces. The masked lapwing, of course, is more commonly referred to as the “plover” in Tasmania and many people do not realise that it has a similarly-sized … [Read more...] about A bird of the farmland shadows
Lucky cockie flies free
The sulphur-crested cockatoos had returned to Hobart earlier than usual, a big flock of them frolicking at the Waterworks Reserve towards the end of summer. There was drama in the air, however, when I discovered that one of the young cockies had been caught in a tree. The early return looked set to turn to tragedy. The cockies that we see in Hobart during the winter months tend to spend the summer feeding in the upper reaches of the Derwent Valley, and only return to the … [Read more...] about Lucky cockie flies free
Muttonbirds hit stormy seas
MUTTONBIRDS once flew in such large flocks that they blotted out the sun and turned the ocean black when vast carpets of the seabirds settled on the waves. In 1798, English navigator and cartographer Matthew Flinders estimated that there were at least 100 million birds within a single flock sighted in Bass Strait. The abundance of the short-tailed shearwater – to give the species its common name used beyond Tasmanian shores – was compared at the time with the vast numbers … [Read more...] about Muttonbirds hit stormy seas
The exotic and mysterious comes to town
The strange, mysterious and exotic came to the Derwent this autumn and I’m not talking about the latest exhibition or event at the Museum of Old and New Art. A pair of nankeen hight herons took up residence on the banks of New Town Bay and much to my delight I managed to see the beautiful birds after being alerted to their presence by local residents. The night heron is not usually seen south of KingIsland – where there is a long-established breeding colony – and so it was … [Read more...] about The exotic and mysterious comes to town