Here is a preview of a drawing for Don Knowler’s column On The Wing. This drawing is running with Don’s article in the Mercury’s Saturday Magazine on December 10. On this occasion Don’s story is about the population of fairy penguins in Hobart’s Derwent estuary regaining strength in numbers, and, as always, it is a really interesting read and beautifully written. Like many bird species in Tasmania, fairy penguins thrived prior to European settlement, but since then they have been challenged by the invaders’ disruptions to their natural habitat. During the early 1800s there was a plentiful supply of whales in the Derwent and penguins were also harvested for their fat and skins. Later they were challenged by alterations to the sand dunes as people cleared land and built homes close to the beaches. Yet despite almost insurmountable odds the penguins have somehow managed to survive, and Don’s story is a really heartening tribute to these tiny, yet remarkably resilient birds.