THERE REALLY is no end to the fascination that can grip you once you start to examine the lives of birds. Of course not one single organism lives in a vacuum, everything is pressured in so many ways by the behaviour and activities of other species and all must find ways to respond to threats [...]
Reports of increased diversity and abundance of shorebirds in northern Australia in recent weeks has prompted me to be on the lookout for shorebirds at all the key locations which I frequent from week to week. A few days ago, my regular shorebird survey at Boat Harbour revealed a rise in numbers and diversity at [...]
For many of us, little brown birds can be exasperating fellows. They’re small, they never stand still, they either all look the same or look like nothing you’ve ever seen. The generally don’t look like anything in the field guide too. Then there’s the Brown Thornbill/Striated Thornbill thing if you live around Sydney. The “thing” is [...]
I LOVE Crested Terns. Their sleek, clean black, white and silver plumage, teamed up with bright yellow bills makes for a beautiful sight, especially when they’re in a tight roost. Their courtship antics are fascinating and highly engaging, including: wing drooping and circumambulation; offering captured fish and; aerial duetting. These are unforgettable sights for anyone [...]
LONG REEF is the best place on Sydney’s Northern Beaches for a migratory shorebird encounter. It’s a brilliantly fascinating and vibrant intertidal, ecological hotspot: a real nature lover magnet! So it’s not unusual to find me stalking about the reef with scope and bins and magnifying glass, as I was yesterday, during a brief break [...]
RIGHT NOW most of the world’s population of Red-necked Stints are in the middle of raising their young high in the arctic circle (at least I hope that they are, given that they’ve experienced total breeding crashes the last 2 out of 3 years). The adults will return with their young sometime in September. Meanwhile [...]
I really love the small plovers. They’ve a delightful, compact structure, possess gorgeous plumage and are endlessly engaging as they dash about fossicking for delicacies practically anywhere water and land interface. Being a person whose engrossed in Avian Biogeography, small plovers have a particular fascination for me. They tell a remarkable tale in Australia, as [...]
Since returning from Broome I’ve had the opportunity to bird a number of locations on the Northern Beaches, including Deep Creek, Warriewood Wetlands, Billarong Reserve and some of the Narrabeen Lakes Catchment. On the south side, I’ve been restricted to the scrub around Quibray Bay and on the road to Boat Harbour. On each occasion [...]
I’ve birded some sites which are pretty iconic in terms of bush birding in Australia. These include: Chiltern Forest (Vic), Larapinta Trail (NT), Nourlangie Rock (NT), Lawn Hill (Qld), Bladensburg NP (Qld), the Piliga (NSW), Washpool NP (NSW), Dorrigo NP (NSW), Mornington Sanctuary (WA), Capertee Valley (NSW), Gross Valley (NSW), practically the entire Simpson Desert, [...]
On the north Western Australia coastline lies the small and charismatic tourist town of Broome. The town, established in the 19th century as a pearling centre has since become known as the “gateway to the Kimberley” and is a tourist mecca for lovers of nature, adventure and good times from across the planet. There’s plenty [...]
It’s been a pretty big couple of weeks for me. My trip to Roebuck Bay delivered a bunch of rarities and rare vagrants, including a second Australian record. You always expect a rarity or two when you visit the Broome region – its situation in the broader geography and the structure of the vegetation and [...]
It’s always interested me how each year a couple of species of plants seem to enjoy a flowering abundance which overshadows the efforts of all other species. So far this year, the prize on the Northern Beaches of Sydney has to go to the Red Bloodwood (Eucalyptus gumifera). So profuse has the flowering of these [...]
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