Every time I find a bird feather I can’t resist picking it up and putting it in the band of my bush hat. But next time I tramp one of my favourite habitats – that of the wetland – I’m going to have a different purpose for the iridescent bottle-green flight feathers of the chestnut teal or the stunning blue ones of the purple swamp-hen I find there. A new citizen science program – the Feather Map of Australia – is asking people of all ages to collect and post in feathers they … [Read more...] about Birds of a feather…
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.
Plovers 1, Eagle 0
I thought I knew all the best bird-watching spots around the city but recently I stumbled, literally, on a new one. The combined Long and Nutgrove Beaches in lower Sandy Bay have made it an autumn to remember, a season when bird-watching tends to take a back seat because of a paucity of birds, with migrants returning to the mainland. I’d never bothered to walk this section of the Derwent coastline before but it proved a convenient spot for rehabilitation walks after total … [Read more...] about Plovers 1, Eagle 0
The battle of the birdbath
The birdbaths which decorate gardens up and down suburbia have emerged as an area of conflict for our birds, especially during a summer of drought like the one we have just experienced in Tasmania. The “battle of the birdbath” has been the focus of a nation-wide survey over the past two years to determine which species are able to dominate these unnatural sources of water, and which species are shut out. The results of the survey so far have thrown up some surprising … [Read more...] about The battle of the birdbath
Curlews lost to the wind
MY biggest bird-watching moment during the summer months just past came with the sight of no less than 12 of the most dramatic of shorebirds, eastern curlew, feeding in mudflats near Midway Point. My delight at seeing the biggest of the waders, however, was tempered by the realisation that I might never again see curlews in Tasmanian waters. Numbers of eastern curlews reaching Tasmania – and indeed many other species of wader – are in freefall and the curlew was last year … [Read more...] about Curlews lost to the wind
A walk back in history
The Sandy Bay Rivulet winds its way secretly through one of the most beautiful corners of Hobart. Its hidden beauty and wonder are known to only the very few people whose properties access the brook, at least where it courses through its most dramatic section in a deep gully running parallel to the Waterworks Rd. The rivulet might have been in the past the local residents’ closely guarded secret but there are many in the community who are now seeking to have it opened up to … [Read more...] about A walk back in history