February 22, 2026 – Birds as Poetry —— Just because I WANDER doesn't mean I'm LOST

For so many reasons we don’t understand, this season’s nesting for Sacred Kingfisher has been a lot quieter in our area than usual.
One lone bird came in, set up territory, and the mate failed to show up. Another pair abandoned several attempts at finding a suitable home among the old River Red Gums.

And it wasn’t for not trying. EE had recovered from her ‘fetlock’ operation and was able to wander about the river haunts, but apart from a few calls, no birds were located at nest.

We were back in the area just before the end of December, and were chatting with the rangers and a couple of folk who were looking for “THE OWL”, (which at that stage had also debunked to the other side of the river), when EE took off and a few minutes later came back grinning.
Found.

The clever pair had chosen a hole in a gum, but it was on the edge of a river-couse and facing away from prying eyes. No change of getting to the far side because of chain wire fences, and despite bending around as much as possible, not much chance of seeing activity at the nest hole.

To add to that, the pair were entirely anti-human involvement. Any approaches to where they were working was enough to send them off into the trees and not be seen. So we retreated and watched from a respectable distance.

This whole business of working with birds has now plummeted to a new level. The sheer volume of photographers, let alone genuinely interested bird watchers, is now putting strains on all sorts of relationships with birds, parks people, and the environment.
I am not one to start offering edicts, as I enjoy being in the company of birds as much as anyone.
Nor do I want to see places locked out because of the volume of visitors.
The Barking Owl, The Orange-bellied Parrots and the Rainbow Bee-eaters have certainly been “loved to death” on social media. And those are just the one’s I’ve had contact with, no doubt there are others.

But I think all that palls into insignificance when I read an article on ABC news about the plight of the Little Penguins in Tasmania.
A quote from the article
“One longtime penguin watcher says, “most tourists want to do the right thing, but there are many tourists that can’t and won’t””.
Here it is if you are interested.
https://www.abc.net.au/news/2026-02-20/people-interacting-with-tasmanian-penguins-and-harming-them/106361614

On a happier note here are a few from the Sacred Kingfisher nesting. We did in the end get some sighting of the two young that fledged.