You got to get them young, a wildlife educator told me one day when I assisted a presentation at Campbell St School in North Hobart. The point was once children were introduced to the wonder and magic of birds the interest would stay with them for the rest of their lives.
Our presentation consisted of displaying stuffed and mounted birds but now I have discovered a new item for the birdlife promoters’ toolkit. It is a superb children’s book, The Bird Lover’s Ball. A Tasmanian Masquerade illustrated by leading wildlife artist Lois Bury, with words by poet and author Anne Morgan.
Normally books by such noted local nature lovers would have been on my radar – especially as children had been invited to come to the launch at Fullers bookshop in October dressed as birds – but I was away at the time, on holiday in Britain.
I’ve now come to the book a little late, but just in time to recommend it as an important educational gift for Christmas.
The book is a quirky blend of fantasy and non-fiction that features – as at Fullers – children dressing up as native Tasmanian birds and going to a ball. Anne Morgan’s rhyming text is balanced by Lois Bury’s artwork, both her whimsical illustrations of children in costume plus detailed ornithological art.
The short poems are fun too, with final lines directing the reader to a picture of the subject bird on the facing page – its size, where it lives, its nest and eggs. Each of Tasmania’s unique birds is covered plus two migratory parrots – the swift and orange-bellied parrots – which breed exclusively in Tasmania before flying to the mainland in winter.
Many people do not realise that Tasmania is home to 12 endemic species, making it one of the most bird-rich states in the country in terms of land mass. In comparison, Victoria has no endemic species and New South Wales only one, the rare rockwarbler found near Sydney. Among our unique birds are the biggest of the honeyeaters, the yellow wattlebird, and one of the most beautiful of the Australian parrots, the green rosella. The turbo-chook, or native-hen, gets a mention, too – “so sturdy and fast … she’s off with a blast”.
The book is aimed at children aged five and over and over and is also a useful classroom resource that should inspire students of all ages to learn about, identify, and appreciate, the wild birds of their local gardens and bushland. It may also open up the world of our endemic species to adults.
As another wildlife educator told me once: the world is a jigsaw of understanding. You need the first pieces put there to start seeing a pattern. This book certainly provides those first pieces of nature’s complex picture.
The Bird Lover’s Ball, Forty South Publishing. Price $29.99
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