BIRDWALK

It’s 8:45 p.m. here and twilight is settling in. The sky is still bright over the Derwent, but Mount Nelson is dull. It’s been a gorgeous warm and sunny day with no rain though showers were forecast. It’s a week since I’ve attended to this blog. For those who are wondering, the nature writing workshop went well, though we weren’t able to walk in the park.

But this morning the McGuires and I walked in a lovely park, the Waterworks Reserve. We joined a birdwalk led by Don Knowler, who writes the weekly bird column for The Mercury. I’ve been enjoying his column since I arrived—he’s a passionate birder who has lived in England and America as well as here and has a healthy sense of humour that comes through in the writing.

I reckon about 50 people turned up for the walk—not surprising, given the weather and the fact that it was well-publicized. Knowler said his usual crowd was only half a dozen but I find that hard to believe. Birding with a crowd that size is a challenge—especially walking on narrow trails through the woods—but Knowler handled that well by explaining what birds we might expect to see, and telling us stories about his own birding in the Reserve before we set off. He’s an entertaining and knowledgeable a talker about birds, so a wonderful companion on a walk.

The morning was chock full of birdsong—the striaited pardelote was repeating itself as we started off and Knowler pointed out cracks between bricks where they had nests. He also noted a white-eyed heron and a native hen off on the grassy areas. I couldn’t see either of them, but did see the little black cormorant that flew in and perched on a railing. And eventually I got my glasses on the pardelote—my first sighting of one.

The calling continued as we wound through the bush—the shrike-thrush, various cuckoos, currawongs, a bronzewing in the distance, the grey fantail, all gave voice, though I couldn’t see any of them. When we came out of the trees and were standing near the water a sudden racket of ravens and then a pair of kookaburras announced the circling of a white goshawk overhead—a bird I was thrilled to get a clear sighting of and a ringing note to end the walk with.