A HUGE thank you to all of you who participated in COG’s
bird blitz over the weekend. I hope you enjoyed yourself as much as I did,
though I ended up so tired I resorted, like Geoffrey, to drinks in the garden and
an early night instead of thanking you all more promptly. Like Geoffrey, I was
surprised by the relative lack of fantails and whistlers, especially in the
urban areas. But was mightily relieved that the Brown Quail, Superb Parrot and
Rainbow Lorikeet put in appearances. There is nothing more frustrating to this
blitzer to check her local patch for a known resident and not find it! Thanks
are due to Barrie Pennefather, who so ably navigated the Naas fire trail with
Catriona, a lame Stuart Harris and me in tow, enabling us to watch in awe as a
hobby knocked off a starling before our very eyes, and to enjoy excellent
sightings and hearings of four cuckoo species (no, not my BEC), plus two “vulnerables”
in the form of Brown Treecreeper and Hooded Robin. Thanks too to all the other behind-locked-gates
blitzers who all managed this year to let me know they were back safely, and
who have all promised they have returned their keys. Now I await your
datasheets with eager anticipation. Either drop them in to me, put thm on COG’s
electronic data input system (and tell me, pls), mail them to COG, PO Box 301,
Civic Square 2608, or let me know you’ll be taking them to the November
COG meeting. I’ll provide updates on this chatline as I process them. b
