Oftentimes, where there are trees, there are birds, whether the landscape is woodland, forest, an urban park or rural farmland. In Australia, farmland is being revegetated to attract woodland bird species, a team of researchers wrote in The Conversation. Trees bordering paddocks are being planted, and stands of trees and shrubs that run beside creeks […]
Tag: tasmania

Huon Aquaculture accounts for 75% of seal deaths at Tasmanian salmon farms in past year
Huon Aquaculture accounted for the deaths of at least three-quarters of seals killed at Tasmanian salmon farms since the start of last year, with new data showing the company released more than 8,000 underwater explosives aimed at scaring the seals. Government data released in response to a right-to-information request revealed Huon Aquaculture, now owned by […]

Taronga zoo lyrebird perfectly mimics the ear-splitting wail of a crying baby
From car horns to jackhammers to chainsaws, the superb lyrebird is famed for its ability to mimic a wide variety of sounds. And now, Echo, the resident lyrebird at Taronga Zoo in Sydney, has been captured mimicking a crying baby, complete with ear-splitting, tonsil rattling, screams. The seven-year-old male lyrebird’s impersonation might not provide the […]

Tasmanian devils wipe out thousands of penguins on tiny Australian island
An attempt to save the Tasmanian devil by shipping an “insurance population” to a tiny Australian island has come at a “catastrophic” cost to the birdlife there, including the complete elimination of little penguins, according to BirdLife Tasmania. Maria Island, a 116-square-kilometre island east of Tasmania, was home to 3,000 breeding pairs of little penguins […]

Tasmania’s Greens Beach Golf Club gets approval to shoot wallabies amid ‘destruction’ of course greens
A Tasmanian golf club is set to begin culling wallabies and rabbits due to “excessive droppings” and “destruction” of the course’s greens, a move that has angered animal welfare advocates. The Greens Beach Golf Club in the state’s north has been granted a “crop protection permit” from the Department of Primary Industries, Parks, Water and […]

Australia’s pivot to plantations may be too late for nearly extinct parrots
HOBART, Australia — A dividing line of marking tape separates a clearcut area from intact native forest in the Denison Range of Tasmania, Australia’s southernmost state. An hour’s drive from the state capital, Hobart, the forest sits just outside the boundary of the Tasmanian Wilderness World Heritage Area, Na UNESCO site. The logged area is […]

380 whales dead in worst mass stranding in Australia’s history
About 380 pilot whales were confirmed dead in Tasmania’s west on Wednesday afternoon with rescuers fighting to save the remaining 30 that are still alive. More than 450 long-finned pilot whales were caught on sandbanks and beaches inside Macquarie Harbour, with a rescue effort starting on Tuesday morning. Some 50 whales have been rescued and […]

Port Macquarie shark attack: surfer saves wife by punching shark in the head
A woman is in a stable condition in hospital as authorities hunt the juvenile great white shark that attacked her on the NSW mid north coast. The 35-year-old was rushed to Port Macquarie Base Hospital with serious leg injuries after she was mauled off the city’s Shelley Beach about 9.30am on Saturday. Her husband came […]