On The Wing

Spring fever had taken hold.  After hearing the first of the summer migrants in mid-August, I was out and about on kunanyi/Mt Wellington and its foothills seeing what other early arrivals I could add to the fan-tailed cuckoo I had seen on a sunny day previously. My target was another bird which experience has taught me also arrives on warm northern winds in August - the striated pardalote. With its sharp, staccato “pick-it-up” song, the pardalote competes with the … [Read more...] about Pardalotes arrive on time

The mournful, descending trill of a fan-tailed cuckoo rang out across the Waterworks Valley signalling that winter was finally in its death throes. The cuckoo was a little early – August 15 to be precise – but northerly warm winds had clearly carried the first of the migrants from the mainland. Although the swallow is the traditional harbinger of spring, I always time my seasons by the arrival or departure of two other species, more often heard than seen. These are the … [Read more...] about Cuckoo call spells pain and chaos

Far away, the Summer Olympics in Rio were in progress but a little closer to home I reveled in my own version of the green and gold. The silver wattles – closely related to the golden wattle, the Australian floral emblem which inspires our sporting colours – had burst into flower somewhere between the exploits of our swimmers and the start of the athletics program which followed. And like an Aussie athlete striking gold, I had my own triumphant moment when I caught sight of … [Read more...] about A triumph in green and gold

I entered the not-so-glamorous world of the seagull on a chilly winter’s afternoon recently as part of a survey of birds many people call “rats with wings”. I’d never describe Tasmania’s three species of gull – the silver, kelp and Pacific - as such but I must say to study them does make demands on the observer to get down and dirty. As part of BirdLIfe Tasmania’s annual survey, gulls are counted across the state to determine if their number is increasing or decreasing, and … [Read more...] about Getting down and dirty with gulls

A great white egret glides across the still waters of Goulds Lagoon on the upper Derwent, a ballerina framed not by curtains on a stage, but by reeds. The egret has been standing motionless in the lagoon and now moves as if in slow motion. The long, spindly legs are lost in the reflections of the reed stalks, so only the bird’s crisp, white plumage and long, snaking neck forms a mirror image in the blue waters. Surreal, ephemeral, transient. I’m transfixed on a winter’s … [Read more...] about A ballerina in the reeds