Clean-up Australia Day loomed large on my calendar this year. I should say it was high on the agenda because I was joining volunteers from the Hobart City Council’s bushcare program on a mission to gather rubbish at the summit of kunanyi/Mt Wellington in the first week of March. I had an ulterior motive, though, for being on the mountain which I didn’t reveal to my crew of rubbish-gatherers as we collected our rubber gloves and tongs from the council staff on … [Read more...] about Clean sweep but no flame robins
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.
Orange-bellied parrot on centre stage
I’m sitting in a shack at the end of the earth, sipping a steaming cup of tea and viewing one of the rarest birds in the world. I never thought it would come to this, achieving a life-long ambition to see the orange-bellied parrot in relative comfort. For years the only place to observe the parrot with certainty has been the button-grass plains of Melaleuca at the far south-western tip of Tasmania and here I am now. In the past I had resisted the temptation to board a … [Read more...] about Orange-bellied parrot on centre stage
Swift parrots bought a little time
The office for Dejan Stojanovic is perched about 20 metres up a blue gum. It’s not an office at all really, more a clamp attached to a strong rope. All the same, it’s where he goes about his daily, nine-to-five business. Sometimes, he can even be heard on his mobile phone up there in the canopy. Discussing this and that, the everyday detail of a unique occupation, that of saving the swift parrot from extinction. Dr Stojanovic, and researchers like him, are the unsung heroes … [Read more...] about Swift parrots bought a little time
Seabirds make way for boats
Constitution Dock, at the very heart of the Hobart waterfront, might seem an unlikely location to watch birds but over the years it has provided me with some magical birding moments. It seems fitting, therefore, that BirdLife Tasmania volunteers seize the opportunity when the biennial Wooden Boat Festival comes around to take exhibition space to promote the conservation work they do. The emphasis at the information stand this festival earlier in the month was threatened … [Read more...] about Seabirds make way for boats
A raucous urban future
Out on Lygon Street in the oppressive summer-heat of Melbourne I saw what could be the shape of things to come when it comes to urban wildlife. A raven, panting with beak open, tip-toed across a hot tin roof to drink putrid water trapped in a gutter above a restaurant and in the only park within sight, a magpie-lark stabbed at souvlaki wrapping. I forsake the woods around my home In Dynnyrne once a year for the urban environment of inner Melbourne, usually to spend a few … [Read more...] about A raucous urban future