Hi all,
Indeed John is deserved of a hard-earned round of congratulations. I just love
how Big Years have those funny quirks, like the dips (of which there weren't
many for John, but Aussie Bittern must be the stand-out) and the fact that one
can be birding so hard for so long and still not see (or at least 'count') a
Pacific Koel or White-throated Needletail until mid November. I know these are
both "blunder birds", but still...
Another great thing about Big Years are the stories, sometimes documented in
books ;-) and I can't wait to hear again the story about the White-throated
Grasswren. From Tim's account it was a tale of sheer determination (put
lightly) to see that bird! Some of the stories about getting from A to B also
sound like great fun, especially being stranded a few times.
It will be interesting to see the wash-up in the C&B taxonomy too (I could try
and work it out, but will leave that to John), as this is what Sean based his
2002 list on. I was travelling o/s all of 2002 so missed a lot of the
excitement of Sean's 'Big Twitch', but it was great to be in the thick of
John's Big Year last year. He was so committed that I thought at one stage that
he was going to get himself committed! ;-)
And Jeremy makes a good point in reminding us that John's Big Year was a
fundraiser for the Devil Ark project. See
http://www.devilark.com.au/support/index.html
Cheers,
Mick
________________________________
From: Jeremy O'Wheel <>
To: John Weigel <>
Cc: "" <>
Sent: Wednesday, 2 January 2013 11:21 AM
Subject: Congrats John Weigel
I'd like to echo the Congratulations to John. An awesome effort, and it
was exciting to be there as a few of the pelagic birds were added to the
list. I hope that others are inspired like I am, and make a small (or
large :P) donation to the Devil Ark charity too :)
Jeremy
On Tue, Jan 1, 2013 at 11:08 AM, Mike Carter <> wrote:
> Congratulations indeed. A massive effort. As to the final number we should
> await John's advice as with just two days to go, he told me that the final
> count should be 747!
> Sad to learn that he could not find an Australasian Bittern in a
> birding-year following two very wet years. Has it really become that rare?
>
> Mike Carter
> 30 Canadian Bay Road
> Mount Eliza VIC 3930
> Tel (03) 9787 7136
>
>
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