If I’d known I’d have invited you along!
Denise
On 17 Jan 2017, at 11:11 am, Stephen Ambrose <> wrote:
> Hi All,
>
> I can beat that - the ground temperature out in the sun when I was observing
> small passerines during extremely hot conditions at Hamelin Station, Shark
> Bay in Western Australia (5th January 1983) was 63 deg C;
>
> Reference:
>
> Ambrose, S.J. (1984). The response of small birds to extreme heat. Emu 84:
> 242-243. http://www.publish.csiro.au/mu/pdf/MU9840242
>
>
> Regards,
> Stephen
>
> Stephen Ambrose
> Ryde NSW
>
>
> -----Original Message-----
> From: Birding-Aus On Behalf Of
> Denise Goodfellow
> Sent: Tuesday, January 17, 2017 11:05 AM
> To: Chris Charles
> Cc: birding-aus; Chris Lloyd
> Subject: Re: [Birding-Aus] Hot birding down the Lachlan
>
> Chris, thank you for a fascinating trip report.
>
> On extreme temperatures and spouses: While surveying Gouldian Finches near
> Victoria River, NT, in the early 1990s I spent hours lying on the bare
> ground near eroded waterholes with little tree cover. It was hot. Once I
> measured the ground temperature at 56oc. I would never have expected
> anyone else to join me in such conditions, including my (male) field
> assistants. I sent them off to watch the shadier water bodies.
>
>
> Denise Lawungkurr Goodfellow
> PO Box 71
> Darwin River, NT, Australia 0841
> 043 8650 835
>
>
>
>
>
> On 17 Jan 2017, at 8:38 am, Chris Charles <> wrote:
>
>> A spouse that goes birding with you in 44 deg?
>> You seem to have won the lottery of life Chris.
>>
>> Chris Charles
>> +61412911184
>>
>> Licole Monopods
>> http://www.licole.com.au <http://www.licole.com.au/>
>>> On 15 Jan 2017, at 5:22 pm, Chris Lloyd <> wrote:
>>>
>>> Some months ago the idea of a week birding in western NSW seemed like
>>> a good idea. A warm but pleasant amble down the Lachlan with the
>>> caravan brought us to Forbes and three booked nights at the CP. Now
>>> closer followers of ancient rituals and weather forecasts would
>>> already have noted some red flags. We simply noted that the CP was
>>> choka-block and moved straight to Gums Swamp. Nothing spectacular but
>>> a good collection of old friends and, like all the countryside
>>> around, plenty of water and greenery. Returning to the Park we found
>>> an unusual number of men with large black sideburns and women
>>> sporting some variation of the onesie with sequins. The penny dropped
>>> when an otherwise perfectly competent string quartet moved from
>>> Dublin to Memphis while rehearsing in the camp kitchen at the request
>>> of the large impromptu audience. At this point it was 6pm and a bracing
> 36° with 38° for the following day.
>>>
>>>
>>>
>>> A day of retail therapy, the library and the hysterical society kept
>>> our cool until an inevitable return to the van and afternoon of
>>> recline in the air-con. It was not to be as the combined assault of
>>> frig and AC compressors brought on a denial of service from the aging
>>> circuitry of the Park. Tempers flared as much trousers as the system
> tripped out every half an hour or so.
>>> There were compensations. For those rooting for the King there was a
>>> crooner at a battery power mike and for us the delight of warm beer
>>> and wine while watching the aerobatics of four first year Collared
>>> Sparrowhawks intent of playing tag with cockies while a brace of
>>> White-faced Heron observed both phenomena.
>>>
>>>
>>>
>>> It was with a brave face that we informed Rhinestone cowboys and
>>> girls that we were headed for the milder climes of Lake Cargelligo.
>>> 39° in Condobolin made the bitumen toasty for the dog’s pads and a
>>> hefty 20 knot north-westerly made clothes driers redundant. As we
>>> motored along the Valley Way to LC the Bureau raised the bar for the
>>> following day to 44° and we started to consider professional help.
>>>
>>>
>>>
>>> Then we struck the ephemeral lakes and flooded paddocks. Most of the
>>> world’s population of Pacific Herons seemed to have descended and
>>> around their legs wandered Black-winged stilts of all ages,
>>> Red-necked Stints, coots, and plovers. Overhead in the wind were the
>>> Marsh Terns in flocks of dozens while all three ibis species strutted
>>> their stuff in the greasy water. There was nothing new, just
>>> thousands of ‘good’ birds loafing or foraging as the whim took them.
>>> There were stilts on to their third or fourth clutch while the
>>> previous off-spring wandered around the sitting adults. Ducks and
>>> grebes seemed to have endless trails of bobbing heads either behind
>>> them or on their backs. A pair of Plumed-whistlers did not seem to
>>> have lost one of their near grown brood to the Kites as they wove
>>> through a forest of egret and spoonbill legs and bills. A quick dash
>>> through the furnace blast to the water’s edge showed that, what
>>> appeared a still surface from three metres away was a swirling stew of on
> algae, insects, fish and crustaceans. It might be hot but nobody was going
> starve.
>>>
>>>
>>>
>>> Friday lived up to everyone’s expectations and to the 44° nature
>>> added a powerful north-westerly and thick black clouds to provide an
>>> apocalyptic edge. Gallons of water and a little bit of German
>>> refrigeration engineering kept two adults and a small spotted dog
>>> from joining their respective makers as lunchtime hit the 40 mark and
>>> climbing. But nothing stopped the birds. We peered in awe out the
>>> windows as half a dozen Major Mitchells cartwheeled across the park
>>> and Peewees and Pied Butcherbirds used the sprinklers to assist the
>>> luncheon efforts. Two Butcherbirds carried out a full mating display
>>> of neck pecks and vocals on the wing while their youngster watched
>>> on. The White-Ibis, using their suburban experience wandered about
>>> lawns and bins exuding an air of ‘nothing to see here’ as dog and
>>> humans cringed under wet cotton. The one great saving grace of the
>>> west in summer is the evenings and despite the mid-forties onslaught by
> midnight you are reaching for the sheet and then the blanket.
>>>
>>>
>>>
>>> Dawn brought 30 degrees and a south-westerly that brought the ‘feel’
>>> down to 25° but with a sun that had the bite of a White Pointer. So
>>> it’s off for a day along the Lachlan and the lakes. Once again no new
>>> birds but who needs new birds when thirteen adult Nankeen Herons rise
>>> from a water race and disport themselves around the trees? Everywhere
>>> water moved there were fishers dipping a bill in their favourite
>>> hole. At the regulator there was a line of black and tans in their
>>> yellow waders as the water rolled past. No one was missing out and
>>> even the ill equipped ibis were making a catch. Just up river a human
>>> family complained they had got little other than carp fingerlings.
>>>
>>>
>>>
>>> The locals were as awe inspiring as the birds as they maintained
>>> their laconic bonhomie to melting birders and still mowed lawns,
>>> welded pipe or served customers. Cargelligo again lives up to its
>>> reputation as a hot spot to bird.
>>>
>>>
>>>
>>>
>>>
>>>
>>>
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