Dancing on the Edge of the World
Everyone has a story about birds. They are all about us and are our contact point with nature. The birds I see are usually in an urban environment and so I concentrate on these in my writing. I don’t pretend to be an expert but birds of the city and suburb are also the ones that most people identify with, the species you do not need a compass and binoculars to seek out. A scarlet robin singing in a garden is just as exciting as a swift parrot in an ancient forest and is worth just as many words in my On the Wing writings, which appear weekly in the Sunday Tasmanian.
By Don Knowler
A bright, early-morning sun dazzled the eyes as it bounced off a carpet of mud at Goulds Lagoon, Austins Ferry. I blinked and strained to focus my eyes. Against the reflected harsh light I could see tiny shapes moving, scurrying across the mud like crabs on a beach. Just silhouettes. All the same … [Read More...]
Filed Under: On The Wing
By Don Knowler
Under the trees, autumn arrives as a scent; the smell of damp decay, as the summer plants give way to fungi. The days shorten, the sun drops ever lower behind wattle and gum, and the hot dust of summer settles. It is time for the Cinderella of the natural world, fungi, to make an … [Read More...]
Filed Under: On The Wing
By Don Knowler
The fight to save the orange-bellied parrot has suffered a setback with a drop in the number of the migratory species returning to Tasmania this breeding season. Total figures released by Birdlife Australia at the end of summer show that only 86 parrots arrived at the Melaleuca breeding site in the … [Read More...]
Filed Under: On The Wing
By Don Knowler
The call of the striated pardalotes echoed from the most unlikely place. I was on a tour of the historic convict coalmines site on the Tasman Peninsula when I was stopped in my tracks by the familiar “pick-it-up” refrain that I usually hear in my regular stamping grounds in the foothills of … [Read More...]
Filed Under: On The Wing
By Don Knowler
Although summer is in full swing, the swamp harriers are already leading the way for the myriad Tasmanian nesting species that spent their winter on the mainland. My correspondents in country districts are reporting a steady movement of the elegant raptors towards Bass Strait. The harriers are the … [Read More...]
Filed Under: On The Wing
By Don Knowler
The World’s Ugliest Lawn competition has announced its winner for 2025 and I’ve put away the lawn-mower to enter this year’s contest, with the support of the turbo-chooks who have moved into my yard. My lawn and surrounding garden has all the qualities to put me in the running and join a previous … [Read More...]
Filed Under: On The Wing
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