Hi Margaret,
Thanks for the email.
I would be happy to write up the sighting, but without a photograph or a
second independent sighting the best that could ever be hoped for is that it
is noted as an unconfirmed report (or as Lawrie so elegantly put it,
unreliable).
I know that this sighting has piqued the interest of a number of birders, so
hopefully there will be either more observations or a photograph or two. I
must admit that I'm kicking myself, because both Ruth and I had our cameras
with long lenses, but we both thought that the photographs of the babblers
would have been at too large a distance to make "good" photographs, not
quite realising the significance of the sighting at the time. We were
certainly aware that the babblers were out of their normal range, but we
assumed at the time that there would have been more frequent sightings in
the area. In addition, I left my GPS in the car, so didn't get an exact fix
on the location.
I think that another visit or two to the site, with cameras at the ready,
and the GPS on hand will be in order. Perhaps then there'll be an article
worth writing.
Paul Dodd
Docklands, Victoria
-----Original Message-----
From: Margaret Cameron
Sent: Monday, 29 September 2008 10:23 PM
To: Paul Dodd; 'Lawrie Conole'; 'Birding Aus'
Cc: Marilyn & Dean
Subject: White-browed Babbler at The You Yangs, Victoria
Hello Paul, Graeme etc
This is a significant record. White-browed babblers have been considered
extinct in the area for over 60 years, having been last reported in the You
Yangs in the 1930s (HANZAB). There are no records as far as I know in the
annual Geelong Bird Report (1984 on), nor in the Atlas (and no-one reported
them on any of the hundreds of Atlas sheets for the Geelong region that I
read).
Paul, you have done the right thing by reporting your rare bird. Your
message says "from the other responses I've had, it appears that babblers
are an infrequent visitor to the You Yangs. Certainly not common, but
definitely not unheard of."
It would be really helpful if people who saw unusual birds like this did
report them. As far as I know, they are "unheard of" by local birdwatchers -
at any rate by me but I have not been there for 4 years. An Atlas form for
an Incidental search and an Unusual Record Report Form would be one way to
do it. A photograph would be excellent.
As rare birds editor for Australian Field Ornithology I would welcome a
paper about these recent records but I would really like a photograph to go
with it.
Margaret Cameron
2 Cintra Street
Eastern Heights, Qld
Australia 4305
07 3282 9151
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