I, and what seemed like dozens of others, went to see the snipe Saturday
afternoon (1/11/08). I got there around 3.45pm and was immediately shown where
it was hiding under a tree, visible from the car park. I could only see its
legs and part of its stomach, and this is apparently a typical view before it
comes out to feed. I'm not sure that I would have been able to find it myself.
I went into the hide to see what else was around while I waited for it to come
out, and had good close views of several Australian Spotted Crakes, Buff-banded
Rails, Little Grassbirds, Australian Reedwarblers, water rats and a single
Spotless Crake. No Baillon's Crakes for me, although I heard someone else
pointing one out. There must have been twenty or so adults and kids in the
hide, including many obvious beginners who were being given lots of help by the
volunteers. Hopefully there'll be a few more birders as a result of the
attention this bird's attracting.
The hide closed at 5pm, and by that time the snipe had moved out a little and I
could now see enough to identify it. With three others I waited till it came
out to feed, around 5.30pm, and watched it through the car park fence for an
hour or so. By that time it had moved left from its day position, perhaps
heading under the little bridge feeding. Several Buff-banded Rails were seen
running around, and I was glad to finally hear this species calling.
Just in case anyone turns up there and there's no one to show them the bird's
hiding place, I've put together some photos showing the location:
http://picasaweb.google.com/lh/photo/s_U5GnFVe5uZjXDUbMBt_g
My thanks to whoever found this bird, and the volunteers at that amazing two
storey bird hide. In Altona we consider ourselves lucky to have a railing to
lean on.
Peter Shute
==============================www.birding-aus.org
birding-aus.blogspot.com
To unsubscribe from this mailing list,
send the message:
unsubscribe
(in the body of the message, with no Subject line)
to:
=============================
|
