On Tue, 26 Oct 1999, Glen WHITE wrote:
> It's a bird, and you know exactly what it is, instantly. YES!
For me one of life's great pleasures is unexpected encounters with
animals or plants that I've previously only read of but on sighting,
I recognize instantly. The instant meeting of knowledge and experience
is a great joy.
The last was a Southern Angle-headed Dragon on a Barrington Tops trail a
few months ago. Sadly these days its rarely birds. I've seen sufficient
bird species that unexpected encounters with new bird species are becoming
scarce - normally travel and some expectation is involved.
I feel that in some cases this pleasure should be conserved. I've wanted
to see Sooty Owl ever since reading David Fleay's Nightwatchmen of Bush
and Plain many years ago. It has an evocative b/w photo of a Sooty
Owl which is one of my favourite Australian bird pictures. I've heard
Sooty Owl several times - even standing under the tree from which an
Owl was calling, I've found a recently dead Sooty Owl but I've yet to
even glimpse one alive.
I expect with with a tape and the type of helpful location details
regularly posted to birding-aus, I could see a Sooty Owl with only a few
of deliberate attempts. But I'd sooner wait for an unexpected encounter -
maybe in a month or maybe in ten years time.
Andrew Taylor
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