Hi all,
Not much to report from August...still, a little write-up below on my Big
Year...
Mick
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I know I shouldn’t blame the weather again, but I can’t help myself. Bemoaning
the inland rains has gotten me nowhere but August was defined by costly and
untimely gusting winds that saw me very nearly go a month without adding a new
bird…well, without having to dip into my very modest “bank” of residents that I
have intentionally evaded thus far.
As the organiser of the pelagics that run off Port Stephens I take a great deal
of interest in sea conditions in the prelude to a planned trip. This month I
had
a date set for Sun 15th, with a back-up date for Sun 29th. Needless to say,
both
dates were “blown out” and even more needless-to-say the 8th and 22nd were
picture-perfect days for ocean venturing! This really hurt as I am still
missing
some ‘regular’ winter pelagic birds, most notably the Giant-Petrels. I’ll be
skating on thin waves looking for these birds when we (hopefully) head out on
the 19th September.
August is often a difficult month for pelagics due to fierce westerly winds
that
invariably blow within it. These westerlies put pay to one of the pelagics
(southerlies to the other) but they also made birding in general very difficult
indeed. I have been consoling myself thinking that they might blow some of
those
inland deserters back to the coast! In reality I did actually think that the
westerlies could blow some White-browed and Masked Woodswallows my way, as
often
when a strong westerly hits in spring we find these birds in the woodlands of
the Lower Hunter. It remains to be seen what these guys do in 2010 with life
being so good west of the hill.
As it turned out I only added one species to my July tally. How appropriate
this
month that the only species I added in my tally-room was in the form of a
“green
Tasmanian” – a Swift Parrot. Chris Tzaros had informed me earlier in the year
that we’d be struggling to find Swifties in NSW in 2010 due to conditions in
Victoria being so good. He wasn't kidding! It appears that at least 90% of the
Swiftie population never got north of Mexico this year, so I had to shift from
my theory of “checking regular sites” to having to go twitch Swifties that had
been reported from a site.
The best oil was from a caravan park near Tuncurry where about 6 birds had been
reported over several weeks. When I arrived at the spot, a single Swiftie was
one of the first birds I saw as it flushed from a flowering Red Gum. Despite
hearing other birds calling private properties I was not able to get visuals on
another Swift Parrot, having to wade through zillions of Scaly-breasted
Lorikeets that were clearly running this party. This was during the first week
of the month and subsequent searches both at this location and elsewhere
(including with Chris himself) were fruitless. I think I was very fortunate to
see this bird at all and it was certainly one that I had taken for granted in
my
predictions.
Now that spring is ‘officially’ here, migrants are returning, westerlies are
turning more northerly and the ocean water temp is still cold, I’m very much
looking forward to putting August behind me and moving into the business end of
the year. I require 14 species in 16 weeks to reach my target of 333 – lets
hope
the weather is as appealing as the maths!
Mick Roderick
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