Bob Rusk, formerly of Queanbeyan and now of Tasmania, was an
indefatigable source of reports on unusual birds arriving at Jerrabomberra Wetlands.
Before this chatline, his main vehicle was the telephone warmline personned
chiefly by the radiogenic Ian Fraser, but Bob would also ring up interested
persons directly with hot news of any new arrival that he would pick up on one
of his – at least twice daily - passes by JW. Bob was
the artist behind the diagram of the sewage ponds handily mounted on the lid of
the FSP entry book container, and, for true aficionados of the local wetlands, is
commemorated in the name of ‘Rusk’s Crossing’. He
is also associated with the advocacy of Giant Binoculars as an optical aid, a
fad which attracted few adherents.
A few years ago (was it 3 or 4?) after Bob had left us and
when interest in news from the wetlands seemed to reach a new level of
intensity, the ‘Golden Rusk Award’ was instituted. Points were
awarded for being the first in a given period to report the appearance at the
wetlands of unusual birds such as migrants and crakes. A lively level of
competition developed, although there were, frankly, one or two
misapprehensions about the rules framework. (I recall at the time
the embarrassing question ‘How many points for a Regent Honeyeater?’
by the chatline member who, creditably but irrelevantly, had located one that
year on the slopes of Mount Ainslie.)
To cut short this narrative, Steve Holliday won the award
with a remarkable tally. He continues to be the first to find new
stuff. His finding the White-fronted Honeyeater near the Fulica hide is an
example, although I would need to go back and look for the rules to say
whether that species, although certainly unusual, would have earned GRA points.
Now he and Pru have found, of all things, a Painted Snipe. To me, this
lends to Jerra Wetlands a kind of respectability that belies its modest extent
and, er, well, clearly sub-Ramsar status. Many more pretentious marshy
expanses that hold their ‘Waterbird Festivals’ and the like will
not have had a Painted Snipe in recent memory, if at all.
‘What about the Painted Snipe?’ we will say when
the proposal for a combined motocross and dog-racing circuit is being proposed
for the JW periphery by the Minister for National Capital Leisure Facilities.
Let him say ‘What Painted Snipe?’ at the risk of being laughed out
of office. Hence the Diamond Rusk, a distinction that might not be
awarded again until the ACT has as many Senators as Tasmania.
