My favourite pair of boots have been out of commission all spring and summer – after a family of striated pardalotes chose them as their home. Sounds bizarre I know, but I had an inclination it would be a summer of discontent when I saw the pardalotes inspecting my worn and trusty Blundstones at the start of their nesting season in early September. The boots had been left out on the car port of my home, the footwear not going on its usual birding adventures in the winter … [Read more...] about Nesting pardalotes put best foot forward
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.
Australia Day ruffles cormorant feathers
The cormorants had to move over from their prized pontoon at Long Beach, Lower Sandy Bay. It was Australia Day and the pontoon anchored just offshore was in great demand from revellers taking a dip during and after the festivities on the lawns of the adjacent Long Beach Park. The three species of cormorant – great, black-faced and little pied – are used to giving up their roosting and preening site from late morning during the summer months, but on January 26th the … [Read more...] about Australia Day ruffles cormorant feathers
Poetry in flight and motion
Birds are our contact point with nature, our window on the natural world. There are mammals about, and reptiles and amphibians, but we never see or hear them. It’s not obvious they share the planet with us. Birds are all around us, each and every day. If we can’t see them, we hear them, even in the heart of our cities. They inspire us to flight, to soar in hope and spirit. I’m quick to celebrate the idea of birds’ lives meshing with ours and I was given the opportunity to … [Read more...] about Poetry in flight and motion
Ghosts of Christmas past
Evoking Charles Dicken’s A Christmas Carol, the ghosts of Christmas past paid a visit over the holiday period. Not that I saw myself as Scrooge, with ghosts out to haunt me in a malign way as they do to the central character in Dickens’ story. The “ghosts” were friendly and benign, bringing a sackful of pleasant memories. Christmas is a time for reflection and in my case recounting festive birding experiences shared with friends over more than 40 years or so. Across the … [Read more...] about Ghosts of Christmas past
A little help from a friend
Seagulls gliding and soaring over AAMI Park in Melbourne, their outstretched wings in a rainbow of colours, pulsating in the night sky: pinks, yellows, greens and blues. The shimmering silver gulls were having a psychedelic moment and so was I. Far down below them, and far below my seat in the top tier of the stadium, Paul McCarty was into the second of about 40 numbers on the latest leg of his Australian tour, the strobe lights illuminating the stage escaping into the air … [Read more...] about A little help from a friend