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The Last Days of The Big Twitch

To: "Sean Dooley" <>
Subject: The Last Days of The Big Twitch
From: "Andrew Stafford" <>
Date: Sun, 5 Jan 2003 19:03:18 +1100
Sean Dooley wrote:

> And then within about ten minutes we had mind blowing views of a male Little Bittern right out in the open, perched above the waterline hunting. After all the grief and disappointment this bird had caused me all year, I just couldn't believe how easy it was to see this day.
 
All that grief and disappointment in just one year? Bloody 'ell Sean, up until about 14 months ago I was of the opinion that the Little Bittern was a mythical beastie (much the same as you feel about Grey Falcon). I must have visited that accursed Sherwood Arboretum on more than three dozen occasions before finally seeing one. Now of course I can't stop bumping into 'em.
 
I'll save further remarks about Sean's feat for the next Twitcher's Corner. But it was a pleasure to be with him on the penultimate day (December 30) for what turned out to be the ultimate (703rd) bird of the Big Twitch. No need to mount yet another defence of twitching and twitchers - only the most curmudgeonly would deny the magnitude of Sean's achievement, especially given the circumstances through which the whole exercise came about, and the great pleasure he has given us all in telling the tale.
 
To misquote an old rock review, I dub Sean Birding-Aus contributor of this and every week!
 
Cheers and Happy New Year to all
 
Andrew Stafford
(editor, Twitcher's Corner, Wingspan)
 
 
 
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