At last a night, and then a morning, of light but steady rain.
Birds abounding this-morning, Varied Sittellas busy, Golden Whistler singing
out strongly, Leaden Flycatcher showing off her breast and shivering her
tail - all in the same tree, a late-ish Channel-billed Cuckoo passing
through, and just a kilometre up the road a couple of Black Kites, unusual
around here, though becoming regular around Oakey on the other side of the
Great Divide, about 45mk to the west.
Not just unusual, not on the Abberton house-list.
A neighbour, Jack Lund, rang me about them yesterday, then again
this-morning. I popped up to his place and watched a Black Kite fly over in
a bee-line for Abberton. As I said, it's only a kilometre. I asked Jack to
ring ahead to Eileen to warn her of the impending addition to the list, and
headed quickly home. When I got there, just moments later, Eileen was
standing outside watching a large kite overhead - a Whistling Kite.
Deflation, followed by a strange day sort of on standby, some more phone
calls in the afternoon warning of another impending invasion, more standing
outside scanning, but still no Black Kite for Abberton.
So, what will be our 194th Abberton bird, and when?
A few years back we had a Red-backed Kingfisher reported to us, by an
perfectly reliable and experienced observer, as having been standing on the
powerlines at our gate. We've seen them ourselves a kilometre to the east,
and a kilometre to the west. But given that this bird wasn't quite on the
property, although visible from it, and not only was it not us that saw it,
but we were actually away at the time - I just couldn't bring myself to add
it to the house-list.
Now, we've had Black Kites toying with us throughout a frustrating day.
Such is the power of lists! And of birding, of course.
Bill Jolly
"Abberton",
Lockyer Valley, Queensland.
Visit our website at http://www.abberton.org
Email:
Ph: (+61) 7 4697 6111 Fax: (+61) 7 4697 6056
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