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
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.
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
Bearer of bad tidings
A pair of grey shrike-thrushes have been captivating a reader with their sweet singing. My email and telephone runs hot in the spring with readers reporting bird sightings, and the email from Kingston certainly struck a chord. I, too, revel in the rich, far-carrying song of the shrike-thrush, in which the birds seem to be calling out the name “Joe Whitty’’. For this reason, the grey shrike-thrush is also known as the Joe Whitty in Tasmania, even by people who know the song … [Read more...] about Bearer of bad tidings
Raptor restaurant in the frame
The anguished twittering of the New Holland honeyeater’s alarm call rang out over the Inala private reserve on Bruny Island as a goshawk swept in and landed on a tree stump The goshawk, a female mixing russet and grey in its plumage, looked about it menacingly but at this time there would be slim pickings. The roadkill put out for birds of prey had already been snapped up earlier in the day by the other visitors to the reserve, which included wedge-tailed and sea … [Read more...] about Raptor restaurant in the frame