FLIGHT OF THE BIRD NERDS
A rare breed of mammal is winging around the Territory this week, keeping a keen eye out for the living wonders that hover within the Top End’s trees. They are artists, birders and the more fanatical, twitchers — all fans of the feathered creatures flutte
GROWING up near the orchards on the Mornington Peninsula, a young Ian Hance would see his peers stoning black birds to death.
It was a time when wedged-tailed eagles were strung up on fences and farmers shot crimson rosellas on sight so they didn’t eat their profits.
All the while Hance sat on the periphery as a bird lover.
“Birds down there had a tough time,” he said.
“I was a bird nerd and I was an artist, which was even worse.”
That love for birds never went away, and for more than a decade Hance volunteered to organise bird surveys, travelled up to the Territory to count the Gouldian finches in Katherine, and always chased the buzz of spotting a rare featured find.
“It’s absolute exhilaration and joy,” he said.
“It’s one of things that really stimulates me.
“You’re often granted just the briefest glimpse, which is really tantalising.
“You’re given just a second view, just enough to say ‘yes that’s it!’.
“I think that’s what drives a lot of people — that moment — that very brief vision that stays in your mind forever.”
Hance said that feeling was also achieved in his paintings — that moment when it all came together.
“It doesn’t have to be a bird painting, it can be any creative act,” he said.
“You can strive for that magical moment when it all goes click-click-
click into position. “It really is exhilarating.” Hance’s work is featured among a diverse collection of work on show at Framed Gallery, showing the relationship between artists and life in the trees.
For the Birds is one of several exhibitions celebrating birdlife across the NT, and ties in with National Bird Week this coming week.
CHARLES Darwin University Art Gallery curator Joanna Barrkman rediscovered a fascination with birds when she returned to the Territory a few years ago to hear their song wake her each morning.
“I think it’s something about the fact birds are ever-present — we can hear them although sometimes we can’t see them,” she said.
“There’s something very poignant about birds, in that we see them in the sky making journeys and darting among the trees.
“There’s something very ephemeral about birds and I think, in a way, that’s something humans relate to because, although we don’t think it, our existence is very ephemeral.”
Our Feathered Friends at the CDU Art Gallery features a cross section of work ranging from some of the earliest documentation of Australian birds by Europeans to the culturally significant birds of indigenous Australians and contemporary representations of birds in the modern and destructive world.
Hand-coloured lithographs published in Australian Birdlife in 1840-1848 show a naturalistic depiction of birds by John and Elizabeth Gould and HC Richter.
“These are the earliest depictions of Australian birds by Europeans and these are, to a European eye, very realistic naturalists and serve to document the species,” Ms Barrkman said.
“These early works ... really give us a beginning point in terms of ornithology and the documentation of birds and art.”
Contrasting the work of the Europeans are the indigenous artworks showing the cultural significance of birds, particularly in the depictions of Tokwampini by the Tiwi Islanders.
“The original ancestor is believed to be a bird and they believe that people were created from the bird — hence the bird dances,” Ms Barrkman said.
“They perform pelican-based dances and sea eagle dances that reflect the origins of humans and indeed the ceremonial armbands that Tiwi Islanders wear feature feathers — and they’re very important attire to wear for ceremonial practice.”
THE exhibition also coincides with research being undertaken at the university in conservation. Artist Chips Mackinolty has donated a digital print of his work Would that we could fly and sing
forever, a print of the Yellow Chat. CDU PhD candidate Robin Leppitt is researching the yellow chat subspecies, now endangered in the Northern Territory, and the money raised by Mackinolty’s print sales will go towards researching what is threatening the chat and what can be done to save it.
The yellow chat is just one of the 378 species of birds that inhabit the NT, from the common orangefooted scrub fowl and magpie goose, to the rare birds prized by bird watchers.
Internationally-renowned bird specialist Professor Stephen Garnett will deliver a public lecture on the NT’s birdlife in correlation with the exhibition.
“Darwin in particular is enormously diverse; many species that are threatened in southern Australia are still common in Darwin suburbs — bush stone curlew, barking owl for example,” he said.
“It’s still possible to see 100 species before breakfast around Darwin if you know where to go.
“I draw inspiration from there being such variety in life and I get huge pleasure in seeing other species living their lives alongside us humans.”
Garnett said the artist’s fascination with birds demonstrated how much birds meant to people.
“It shows how important birds are across society,” he said.
“We know that hardly anybody wants to lose more birds and keep what we’ve inherited and pass them on to our children.
“And it’s not just bird watchers or conservationists – it’s all sorts of people.”
THE density and diversity of native birdlife makes the Top End a prime location for bird watchers, including John Rawsthorn.
“Birds are intrinsically interesting,” Rawsthorn said.
“They give a good, accessible indicator of what’s going on in the natural world. And travel takes on another dimension as well, because you can go and see new and interesting birdlife.
“You can also meet interesting people with a shared passion — and birders are notoriously welcoming and friendly to visitors as well.”
For every bird watcher there is a prized bird they would love to spot — for Rawsthorn it’s the whitethroated grasswren.
“It’s a bird that lives in the sandstone country around Kakadu and into Arnhem Land,” he said.
“It lives in spinifex, so even if they’re present they’re hard to find.
“But they’re also sensitive to fire, so over burning leads to destruction of their habitats and makes them hard to find or completely absent in places often burnt.”
With National Bird Week upon us this coming week there are several activities for bird lovers and those with a casual curiosity.
The Aussie Backyard Bird Count is a major national initiative which encourages people to document the birds they can see from their backyard, down at a park, or even from the office.
“At any place you feel at home go out and count the birds and see what’s there and share it on a national database,” Rawsthorn said.
The Backyard Aussie Bird Count runs from October 17-23. You can register for the bird count and become part the project at aussiebirdcount.org.au.