A thud at the window of my study as I was typing away at my latest bird column. I didn’t need to go to the panes, and look outside to see what had made the noise. I was pretty sure it was a bird strike. Although I try to shield my windows - to reduce reflection of green leaf and sky which might lead birds to believe they are flying into open space - my home is prone to occasional bird strike. The house sits on the edge of the bush and birds in the frenzy and delirium of the … [Read more...] about Windows spell menace for birds
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.
The language of birds
My first close encounter with birds came when a flock of blue tits flew through a classroom window of the primary school I attended in Britain in the 1950s. The arrival of the birds was opportune because that very morning the class had had nature study, a core syllabus at the time. Nature study took its place firmly alongside the Three Rs, reading, writing and ’rithmatic, Nature study meshed nicely with the first two because when it came to learning to read many of the … [Read more...] about The language of birds
Bushcare volunteers to the fore
The noisy miners were being particularly raucous one Sunday afternoon this month when Hobart’s Bushcare volunteers gathered for their annual year-end BBQ. A lone magpie and a flock of eastern rosellas put in an appearance, too, although they graced the event with sweet song and not the miner’s harsh, look-at-me, look-at-me cry. Perhaps the birds were there to say thanks to the Bushcare volunteers for all the hard work they had put in over the past year to help conserve the … [Read more...] about Bushcare volunteers to the fore
Still hope for orange-bellied parrot
The orange-bellied parrot continues to survive on a wing and a prayer as the summer breeding season progresses at its only know nesting site, at Melaleuca in the far south-west. This season only 16 birds have returned to the breeding grounds from the mainland, 13 males and three females. Of these, all the females and 10 males were born in the wild and not captive-bred and the other three males are captive-bred birds that survived the winter after being released at … [Read more...] about Still hope for orange-bellied parrot
Sparrowhawk causes a flap
Panic in the air on late-spring afternoon on the Derwent, a pastel-yellow sun about to set behind kunanyi/Mt Wellington. A marauding collared sparrowhawk has got among a flock of galahs and they are fleeing in all directions. Their screams shatter the peace of a gentle stroll along the waterfront at Long Beach in Lower Sandy Bay. It gets worse when a pair of sulphur-crested cockatoos join in. I had been receiving treatment from a physiotherapist for a knee injury and a … [Read more...] about Sparrowhawk causes a flap