birding-aus
Hi all,
You might remember the discussion whether to permit German Parrot Breeders
to visit Australia or not. Well, the tour took place, and we visited
Darwin, Kakaku, Ayer's Rock, Sydney, Blue Mountains, O'Reilly's, Cairns,
Atherton Tablelands and Daintree. Most places we stayed only one night, so
it was definitely not a birding trip.
The tour was supposed to do the ?touristy-stuff ?, visit zoos and talk to
breeders, plus a bit of birdwatching at the same time. Not an easy mixture,
if you have a few birdwatchers (3 out of 19) to satisfy as well. Only about
6 people had binoculars!
There was no danger to our native parrots at any stage, as they were a
bunch of people happy to stand in front of aviaries all day, but searching
for a rare birds in the wild (like we did with the Glossy Black-Cockatoo)
was too much effort. They almost all had the TV expectations, if the bird
doesn't turn up straight away they had the ?forget-about-it' attitude. My
thanks to Glen Trelfo at O'Reilly's for finding us after an easy 3 hour
walk (between 9.00 am and noon) the Glossies, but I got told off later on
by the group organiser, that it took too long!
I was of course very disappointed, that they had one chance in a lifetime
to see this rare bird (hardly known from aviaries as well) in the wild, and
they showed so little enthusiasm to look for it.
GIVE ME BIRDWATCHERS ANY DAY!!!
They did enjoy the day with Andy Burton, as they saw plenty of Lorikeets
and Parrots in the Sydney area, which was a relief after the quiet time at
Ayer's Rock. Thanks, Andy, and specially for my new bird, the Powerful Owl!!!!
We did actually see quite a few birds overall, including some rare ones
like the Banded Fruit-Dove in Kakadu, and we had a total of 238 birds. Not
too bad, considering the limited time at each location and the diverse
interests of people.
Still, they weren't a bad bunch overall, and they sure enjoyed Australia.
Happy birding, Klaus
P.S. I controlled myself and ...didn't mention the war!
Kirrama Wildlife Tours Klaus & Brenda Uhlenhut
PO Box 133 SILKWOOD QLD Australia
Kirrama Home Page http://www.gspeak.com.au/kirrama
Birding Web Directory http://www.ausbird.com
To unsubscribe from this list, please send a message to
Include "unsubscribe birding-aus" in the message body (without the quotes)
|
