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I was booked into a pelagic trip off Tasmania for
September 22nd. It was now the 16th and with my total on 608 it was time, after
ten weeks on the road, to finally leave Queensland and head home picking up
those few, stubborn, pesky South Eastern birds I still needed and be back home
in time for tea and cakes. Oh if it only it were that simple my friends,
if only it were that simple.
I decided to head from Lamington via Grafton and
then over the New England plateau to get the "Relict" race of Forest Raven,
just in case they ever split it out into a full species again. This was duly
done just outside Ebor in bitterly cold, howling winds where only hours before I
had been in balmy sub-tropical weather of Grafton.
In taking this route I was undoubtedly missing out
on hundreds of sites for Plum-headed Finch, but I was planning on getting this
species in the Capertee Valley whilst going for Regent Honeyeater. For all those
weeks Regents had been hanging around showing nicely on the Central Coast, I had
been travelling inland. Now that I was heading back they had of course nicked
off. There were reports that they were drifting back to the Capertee but the
drought has hit there too, and with very little in flower, the big question was
whether they would remain in their usual haunts.
And after two days being buffetted by fierce winds,
searching every hang out I knew of, I could safely say they had well and truly
dispersed. No luck with the Plummies either. I did see many good species
including: Square-tailed Kite and the advance sortie of the upcoming
Woodswallow invasion. But no target species.
Similarly, as I headed onto the plains of the
Riverina I failed to see any Superb Parrots or Little Bitterns, although on a
swamp near Deniliquin I did see only my second Australasian Bittern for the
year.
It was now the day before I was due to fly for
Hobart and I had dipped on all fronts. Spent hours and hours in the Redgum
Forests at Gulpa ever more desperately looking for Superb Parrots. Possibly the
amount of logging activity in the prime areas was putting the birds off. By
late afternoon still no luck and I was contemplating staying overnight and
heading straight to the airport from there next morning when a pair flew
over. I could only get a good look at the female, but that was enough for
me to tick off Superb Parrot, bird number 609 for the year.
What is it about male parrots and me? So far I've failed to see the much
spunkier males of Scarlet-chested, Orange-bellied and now Superb Parrots. Sure I
get a tick, but I don't get the usual "Ahh, isn't it cute" factor that even the
most hardened of listers still secretly enjoys.
Had time to shower, sleep and confound
my already perplexed housemates even further before catching the plane to
Hobart where I was met by Andrew Stafford, a
fellow Collingwood tragic and rather than spend the day birding (well we
did get some time in on Mt. Wellington where it seemed the entire population of
Hobart had gone snow mad) we ensconsed ourselves in front of the TV at the
Louffre Pub to watch a magnificent Magpie demolition of those Crows. Oh
yes.
This turn of events would have almost made up for
the boat being cancelled, which, fortunately, despite an ominous forcast, still
went ahead. The June trip having been cancelled, I really needed to clean up on
these Southern Ocean birds, particularly since the Ashmore Trip had also been
called off. Basically I figured if I wanted to get to 700 I needed to add at
least five species here, and that would mean a couple of exceptionally good
birds.
As it turns out, in what was a great trip, I only
added two. I finally got good enough views of Antarctic
Prion to satisfy me ( it was a great day for sorting out Prion
identification as we also had great views of Fairy and Slender-billed) and late
in the day a very gorgeous Southern Fulmar slipped past
our scanning eyes to reveal itself sitting by the side of the boat, giving
absolutely brilliant views. (It really is a top bird Tony P.) Sadly the Blue
Petrel that a couple of people saw whiz by never made a return visit, leaving me
three short of what I was hoping for, putting the 700 most probably out of
reach.
Thought I could compensate with Masked Owl as it
was Andrew who had turned me on to the Waterworks site when he had sent me a
stunning photo of the bird he had seen there last year. Turns out rather than
have any solid gen, he had merely fluked upon the bird whilst driving, and we
had no such luck either at The Waterworks Reserve or at the Pittwater Road site.
And so I returned home with the list on 611.
Whether it was the dissapointment of feeling 700 was out of reach, or exhaustion
after three months constant tavel and intense birding, or just depression at
coming back to Melbourne, I'm not sure, but I kind of fell into a heap for the
next three weeks and very little got done.
Could this be the premature end of The Big
Twitch?
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