birding-aus GPS

[Bob Sothman <>]

1.  A car accessories firm in Adelaide is flogging Magellan 300 GPS
units (the base unit recommended for Atlassing) for $265.  This compares
with $299 from Birds Australia, although the Birds Australia price includes
a useful in-car "charger".

2.  I would like to suggest that, when available and where relevant, GPS references be included with bird sightings.  Such references can often be useful, e.g.  I recently found the beautiful Red-eared firetail at Wungong, WA at the GPS location recommended in Frank O'Connor's excellent web page (Thanks Frank).   Wungong is a relative big area with a number of tracks.  Knowing the GPS reference we were after allowed us to negotiate the right track and undoubtedly saved us considerable valuable time.  Once we got to the recommended GPS reference we easily found the firetails,  a lifer for me!!
I realize that GPS references are not always useful but for some habitat specific birds having an exact location of a recent sighting can be useful.

3. I recently took my Magellan 300 to Brasil (near Rio) where it did not work...would not even pick up one satellite.  Would be interested if anyone knows why.

Thanks,
Bob