morris wrote:
>
> David Geering wrote on 22/10/98
> >Alan, a man of your advanced years really should get a good nights
> sleep. Is it really worth staying up all night squinting into a beam of
> light knowing that the mighty Hunter Thickheads are already tucked up in
> their sleeping bags with a swag of birds already safely ticked off!
> >
> >David also wrote on 26/10/98 Any news of the twitchathon?
> >
>
> Well David do I have news for you!
> Despite having 4 hours sleep at Coonabarabran, the Central Coast
> Champions soundly trounced the Hunter Thickheads in the numbers game,
> sharing the first prize with the Wollongong team with 178 species! As
> numbers appeared to be down all over eastern Australia, even if you had
> not been shackled in Victoria I am sure that your presence would have
> made no to difference to the Hunter Thickhead's final total (but we will
> never know). As one of the oldest NSW participants in the main race it
> is good to know that good looks, an all male crew and a determination to
> overcome the hurtful sneers on birding-aus, can win the day! Like Laurie
> Conole the win overwhelmed the whole team (Stephen Edwards 21 y, Craig
> Arms 28 y and Alan Morris 50+), so that it will be some days before we
> can put our winning list together, we have to sleep it off first!
> However I can say that some of our best birds were a Koel Cuckoo calling
> in the Warrumbungles, Blue Bonnets at Gumin Gumin, Turquoise Parrots at
> the Woolshed, and a very co-operative Mangrove Gerygone at Swansea, one
> of the last birds of the day, and the Little Grassbird and Intermediate
> Egrets that we found 5 minutes before finish at the Shortland Wetland
> centre!
>
> Don't forget if you need a few tax deductions, get with the winners and
> make your twitchathon donation through the Central Coast Champions.
>
> Alan Morris
Dear Alan,
We may have been trounced but we'll be back next year. Coonabarrabran
is a long way every year!! The Thickheads had some great moments with
Red-capped Robin, a Ficus (sp) treeful of male Regent Bowerbirds in the
pouring rain, nest of Brown Quail, Yellow-tailed Black Cockatoos being
chased by a Grey Goshawk. You know how birds pop up in unexpected
places, well this year they popped down!
Best Wishes
Ann Lindsey
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