After sunset, most birds are prepared to get some sleep. The volatile sulphur-crested cockatoos cease their screeching, the galahs "zip-zip" their way to bed, and even the restless flycatchers actually take a rest. But the Masked Lapwings (vanellus miles) are always on guard, giving out alarm calls day and night. That’s because they live and... Continue Reading →
OUT STANDING IN A FIELD
A few old trees make all the difference when you're doing a bird survey. The bare, newly planted paddocks on Carkella and Adnamira were limited to a few species, mainly parrots (galahs,red-rumps, rosellas) and a small family of magpies. On a grey morning in April three ornithologists from Canberra Ornithologists Group (Sue Lashko, Chris Davey... Continue Reading →
THE GREEN ARMY INVADES
I was quite cautious when the idea of a "Green Army" was proposed. It seemed like a political stunt. And the cost of the payslips was going to be subtracted from Landcare, a community organization I admire a great deal. Who was this Army going to attack? The trees? Us? Who was going to join... Continue Reading →
THE BIRD LIST
A big attraction of setting up the "small bird stepping stone" plantations on Esdale this year (five 20m x 20m areas that link the Mullion Creek vegetation to the Murrumbidgee) was the promised monitoring of the plants and animals. I'm really interested to see what the changes will be as the trees and shrubs grow.... Continue Reading →
GANGING UP ON GANG-GANGS
Have you seen this bird? It turns out that nobody knows much about Gang-Gangs, even though they're an iconic bird for this region. It's not really clear what they feed on, or where they nest, if their numbers are declining or if they've moved out of town. Most of the recent sightings have been in introduced... Continue Reading →