I have it on good authority that
Mr and Mrs Rusk are now residents of Ulladulla. His recent reports from there
(Square-tailed Kite ... they don’t exist!) are not from an extended mainland
holiday but a recent relocation. I’m told the move was as a result of
Tasmania being a bit cold and having few birds. Welcome back to the mainland
Bob!
From: Geoffrey Dabb [
Sent: Tuesday, 16 October 2007 5:23 PM
To:
Subject: [canberrabirds] For those who came in later
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.
