While I don't hang out the washing with binoculars around my neck, it
has proved, in the short time I've been watching out for birds, to be
very useful to look for birds while I'm pegging out - this year my
backyard has yielded rainbow lorikeets (which came for about 2 hours
each day for 2 weeks), a little lorikeet and a cockatiel (probably
escapees), and this past weekend a collared sparrowhawk in one of my big
eucalypts and lots of weebills which seem to be gathering nest materials
- they were particularly excited about a thread of cotton they finally
untangled from the mulberry tree a few metres from where I was standing!
The more frequent visitors such as red wattlebirds, noisy friarbirds and
galahs seem quite happy to use the bird bath a few metres from the
clothesline while I'm there.
Sandra Henderson
Email:
-----Original Message-----
From: Milburns
Sent: Monday, 10 July 2006 9:59 PM
To:
Subject: Laundry Lists
Recently, Philip suggested that the mundane process of hanging out and
retrieving laundry was a prime opportunity for making GBS observations.
I could not agree more and have always had my binoculars around my neck
when doing the same. Over the years I think that the most extreme
observation I have made during this process was 4 Purple-crowned
Lorikeets overflying Watson Street, Turner in about 1988 (from memory).
This resulted in my disappearing onto the ANU campus and eventually
relocating the birds but facing the problem of explaining why it had
taken me 2 hours to hang out the washing!
Over this last weekend I observed Restless Flycatcher, Willie Wagtail
(only a handful of records per year in this particular GBS) and a male
Collared Sparrowhawk while doing the weekly chores. It occurred to me
that it might be fun to compile a laundry list and compare notes with
those with this shared experience. Actually, tending the veggie patch
is also a fairly good way of compiling GBS records (binoculars to be
worn at all times) but it doesn't really compare with laundry hanging.
I think that laundry hanging wins out because it tends to be a
morning/evening activity and usually clothes lines are overhead.
Milburn
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The Milburns
42 Bundey Street
Higgins
ACT 2615
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