G’day all,
As Anthony knows, I was one of the
binocular wielding hordes in the ANBG this morning, along with Sue Newbery and her
son Nicholas, and Noel Luff. I returned later this afternoon to show the owl to
my wife after she finished work, and ran into two of the ladies from the CSIRO
Sustainable Ecosystems library who had been to a lunch time meeting in the
gardens, as well as Margaret and Bill Robertson enjoying cuppa after a
successful viewing, and several other former work colleagues enjoying the
sunshine. I showed the library ladies the owl and joined the former colleagues
for afternoon tea. As Anthony has said there was a steady procession of
binocular toting and camera carrying bodies beating a determined path to the
owl. Most of the people I did not know apart from Jerry Olsen. The ladies in
the café knew that there was an unusual owl in the gardens but not where it
was. I managed to take one of the staff, who was given a “couple of
minutes off” up to show her the bird so she could show the rest of her
colleagues what all the fuss was about. She was most impressed. They did know about
Southern Boobooks, and I gather they do find
out about the birds etc from café patrons. I am not quite sure if the total
number of birdos in the gardens was close to the numbers that chased the
Grey-headed Lapwing but it must have been close. I imagine the coffers of the
ANBG swelled greatly from the parking revenue. Thanks again to Anthony for
letting us all know that the bird was there. I have a friend in Sweden who is most jealous of all those who have
seen it – she has missed it on several visits to Australia –
maybe I should have tried harder to find it for her! Oh well, next time
Mark
From: Anthony Overs
[
Sent: Monday, 14 May 2007 7:45 PM
To: martin butterfield; Overs,
Anthony (REPS)
Cc:
Subject: Re: [canberrabirds] on
Powerful Owls
When visiting the ANBG, you won't need a field guide for
birds. Yesterday and today I needed a Field Guide to Canberra Birdos! I've
never seen so many people wearing binoculars in the gardens. And I bet the
staff at the cafe are wondering what is going on up that path that is
attracting so many people.
