For birds, sight is the most critical of the senses for survival. Hence, their eyes are much larger in relation to the size of their heads (and brains) in comparison to other vertebrate, including we humans. A large pupil allows more light to enter. That’s why an
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For years, in the centre of my Blue Mountains garden, I had a bowl of grape hyacinths sitting on an old terracotta pipe. It was an interesting feature; rustic and simple. However, as surrounding shrubbery grew it became shaded and half the bulbs failed to flower. One
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Congratulations to Mr and Mrs Wonga of Blackheath on the arrival of a healthy chick. It hasn’t been an easy journey for them. This sweet baby called Spirit arrived in the midst of the Covid19 pandemic after its loving parents had nested in a cedar tree about
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I was involved in a heated debate on a FB community site the other day. It was all rather pointless and a waste of emotional energy. In the midst of the fray I decided enough was enough and commented, ‘Well that’s it for me. I’m off to
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Now admittedly I have been conducting a campaign against sulphur crested cockatoos. Well not against the birds themselves, but against the artificial feeding of them. Over the past 15 years their numbers have skyrocketed in the Blue Mountains. They are now competing with other hollow-nesting birds here
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The shiny hubcaps on our house painter Rebekah’s vintage Volkswagen created a few problems last year. You see, our resident Wonga fell in love with his own image. Oh dear, it was very sad. Thankfully, we took certain measures and the problem was eventually resolved. Wonga subsequently
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This is a new chapter in the Blackheath Wonga romance, but first a brief recap. Last year our resident male Wonga fell in love with his own reflections in the shiny hubcaps of our house painter’s vintage VW van. It meant a long, lonely season, as he
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About 30 metres below the Park Avenue gates in Memorial Park at Blackheath is a huge thicket of invasive weeds; blackberries, ivy, scarlet montbretia, red hot pokers etc. A lone Japanese maple struggles to survive in the centre. The irony is that satin bowerbirds, wattle birds and
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We ‘twitchers’ often see birds at dawn or late in the day, in silhouette against the sky. Here in the Blue Mountains of NSW they are balm to my soul. In a world that is increasingly full of stress and strife, chuckling kookaburras herald the new day
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Recently I told the story of our dear Mr Wonga, an Aussie native pigeon who fell in love with four delightful ‘ladies’. Unfortunately they were all reflected in the shiny hubcaps of our house painter Rebekah’s restored, VW van. It just became too terrible to watch, as
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