Field Naturalist and Nature Writer
Welcome to Tanya Loos’s website! Featuring natural history writing on the beautiful flora and fauna of the Wombat Forest, Victoria and further afield, and science writing with a focus on ecology and biology. You will also find practical advice on living with wildlife.
Daylesford Nature Diary
Six Seasons in the foothill forests
Praise for Daylesford Nature Diary
“The remarkable Tanya Loos has identified key indicator species for seasonal changes and described them in delightful prose and engaging photographs. Who can resist the appeal of the puggle, an early spring baby echidna indicator?”
Alan Reid, OAM, environmental educator and author of Banksias & Bilbies.
“Attractively produced and well-illustrated… the six seasons and their features are well-described. [The stories] are short and easy to read, covering all sorts of things an observant naturalist might come across: bats, wattles, ghost fungi, mosses, greenhoods, swifts, rosellas, echidnas, wood ducks and many more.”
Roger Thomas, Nature Notes, Ballarat Courier.
“There is much to recommend in this charming and well-written book. The author takes an innovative approach and lays the chapters out according to the seasons of the local Indigenous peoples. The resulting accounts contextualise the wildlife in both space and time that harks back to such seminal natural history classics as eighteenth century naturalist Gilbert White’s The Natural History of Selborne.”
Review in Australian Birdlife magazine. December 2013.
Latest news…
Monthly blog posts describing natural events in the Wombat Forest, ecological explorations, my recent published writings, book reviews and more…
Wild Mushrooming: a guide for foragers book review
As we enjoy a long and stunning fungus season in our southeastern Australian forests, a new book called Wild Mushrooming by Alison Pouliot and Tom May has fruited! Local eating and wild foraging are increasing in popularity, and yet until now there have been no books...
Hoot Detective!
The low impressive whoo-hoo of the Powerful Owl, the cheerful boo-book boo-book of the aptly named Southern Boobook - and the strange screech of the Barn Owl are the calls I have been lucky enough to hear around me locally. Now, by listening to short clips from...
Peregrine Falcons – sky hunters
Every four weeks I have a short segment on ABC Ballarat Radio talking birds with presenter Gavin McGrath, and last session was about falcons and other birds of prey. And I realised that after writing nature articles on our local flora and fauna since 2008 - somehow I...
Square-tailed Kites nest locally
One of the very best things about 2020 was the return of Square-tailed Kites nesting in my local area! Friend and brilliant photographer Ambika Bone came out in December with Kaz, an old mate, to photograph the gorgeous rufous coloured fledgelings. We stayed on the...
Reflections: Loos on Platypus
This wonderfully cryptic title is my latest published piece: a reflection on an object in the Castlemaine Art Museum collection - a taxidermied platypus. I really enjoyed researching and writing this article! I have reproduced it here - but to see the original click...
Deep Creek: a visit in Nov – and a bird walk on Jan 9 2021
In late November I visited a couple of landholders in Eganstown - and discovered a new lovely spot! Sue has been getting into permaculture and bee-keeping in a big way, and got in touch wondering if I could visit their property and identify the local eucalypt species....
Gorgeous Gang-gangs
There are some relatively common birds that I find exciting and wondrous to see every single time - Wedge-tailed Eagles, Yellow-tailed Black Cockatoos, Crested Shrike-tits - and of course everyone's favourite stocky grey cockatoo with the whispy little crest- the...
Living with local fauna seminar – Sat 19 11 am
I am very excited to be presenting a seminar for the Upper Campaspe Landcare Network tomorrow, Saturday September 19 at 11 am. Here is is the lovely promo written by Rebekah Ritchie UCLN Landcare FacilitatorUpper Campaspe Landcare Network Inc. (and in a nice bit of...
Choo-choo- it’s echidna train time
In the higher altitude foothill forests, the local wattles usually flower in late August and September. The silver wattles are blooming in the Wombat Forest and surrounds: a few weeks early this year. One reliable sign of early spring is right on cue – the appearance...