We all have our harbingers of spring. To the farmers it’s the welcome swallow that tells them when to sow, and then when to reap at the end of summer. To the orchardists it is the arrival of the black-faced cuckoo-shrike that signals not only blossom on apple and pear trees in spring, but picking time when the summer birds – as they are known in country districts – retreat to the mainland during the autumn. To me it’s not the actual arrival of spring that is heralded by the … [Read more...] about A song for every season
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.
Free-for-all in the oceans
The ocean teems with life, above and below the surface. Under the waves in Tasmanian waters at this time of the year are some of the biggest creatures known to nature – southern right and humpback whales – and sailing the winds above them, the biggest of birds, the wandering and royal albatrosses. The Mercury has reported in recent weeks big numbers of whales on the move from sub-Antarctic seas to calving grounds along the eastern Australian coastline. At the same time … [Read more...] about Free-for-all in the oceans
Tide turns for Macquarie Island
Every cloud has a silver lining, and so it was with a shock report earlier this year that revealed birds were vanishing faster in Australia than anywhere else in the world. The international survey might have drawn attention to the growing number of species slipping towards extinction but it also revealed one place on the planet – MacquarieIsland – where the situation had been dramatically turned around. The island has been the subject of a $24.7 million program … [Read more...] about Tide turns for Macquarie Island
Curlews lost to the wind
A SENSE of doom and gloom takes flight each winter as bird-watchers in Tasmania contemplate the fate of the shorebirds they waved off on migration at the end of the Tasmanian summer. Fewer and fewer of the shorebirds that travel all the way from Tasmania’s wetlands to breed within the Arctic Circle are returning each year to spend the summer here, as they have done for millennia. A staggering decrease in some numbers of shorebirds has been known to members of BirdLife … [Read more...] about Curlews lost to the wind
White goshawk having a whale of a time
The white goshawk flew in wide spirals, catching the thermals rising from the sun-drenched lowlands between sea and mountain. The goshawk had come into view as I scanned the far-flung ocean looking for, of all things, whales. The Mercury had reported in recent days that the whale season was underway with about 60 humpback and southern right whale sightings. It might have seemed a little fanciful to climb up to Sphinx Rock on the south-east side of Mt Wellington looking to … [Read more...] about White goshawk having a whale of a time