Hi Michael,
Congrats on the Spotted Quail-thrush. Everyone has their own bogeybird
and as soon as you tick one up another rears it ugly head (actually
they are quite fun). I spent a summer working in Chicago about 5 years
ago and for the life of me could find the breeding Hooded Mergansers
that were supposed to frequent some lakes a few hours to the west of
the city. I didn't have a car so had about a two hour walk from the
train station to the reserve. When I finally reached the wood fringed
lakes the mosquitoes were so bad I found I had to break into a jog
every few minutes to try to escape them. It really was quite horrific.
Despite the hardships I spent several weekends in the area trying for
them. Male Hooded Mergansers are stunning birds and I figured were
worth the effort. However I never did see them.
Typically when I was home in Ireland later that year a female/first
summer male Hooded Merganser turned up at my local birding spot
(Kilcoole) to the south of Dublin. It will never be accepted by the
rarities commitee but it was funny to bump into the bird so easily and
so close to home.
In Australia Sooty Owl was my bogey bird till earlier this year. I had
heard them 4 or 5 times (once extremely close by but just beyond a
fence that I was reluctant to climb) and had even found several
feathers at two seperate sites but just couldn't get views of one. Of
course when I did connect with the bird (the famous Bunya Mountains
bird) it was almost too easy to see at its day roost.
Cheers Dan
Now to find that Masked Owl....
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References
1. http://g.msn.com/8HMBENIE/2752??PS=47575
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