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My dilemma- hang around the Alice spiking myself
amongst the spinifex for Spinifexbird (that now most decidedly of evil species)
or get the hell down to Adelaide before this Franklin's Gull defongerated.
[Defongerate:- to bugger off quick smart: The Barry Dooley Dictionary]
I got the call on my way north out of Alice,
heading for the Grey Honeyeater site. Another five kilometres and I would have
been out of mobile range. I immediately swung around to the airport. Who would
have thought that there was only one flight a day to Adelaide. I wouldn't get in
till well after dark. (Though this was irrelevant as the bird was only turning
up in the early mornings.) I now had several hours to kill.
I swung around north again, figuring that even
though it would be the middle (and therefore the hottest) part of the day, not
the most conducive time for seeing elusive desert species, it was worth a
shot.
In one of those golden birding moments, I pulled up
at the "Thomas and Thomas" site at Kunoth Well. (I had some recent gen that
suggested I should try nearby, but I thought I would use their site as my
reference point.) The first bird I saw as I got out of the car was a
Grey Honeyeater or more precisely, a pair of them, possibly
even two pairs, calling their heads off and chasing each other around all
through the Mulga around me.
I know dozens of birders who have slogged and
sweated out in the heat of the desert and still not seen this bird so this is as
sweet as it gets. And to top it off, a group of Slaty-backed Thornbills decided
to play within mere metres of me, while I finally found my first Diamond
Dove for the year at the Well itself. The whole episode was a total
relief as it was by now getting pretty hot, and there were some cantankerous
looking cattle lurking about.
Back to the airport, and I felt like I could have
flown to Adelaide myself. But the plane had been delayed three hours. I still
had half an hour of daylight left, so where else would I head but that infernal
hill above Heavitree Gap. Dipped on Spinifexbird again, but once more got great
views of Dusky Grasswren and a startled Euro. (Crap joke number 257: Q: Why did
they name the new Pan-European currency after an Australian Outback Kangaroo? A:
Because it bounces up and down and is only found where the going gets
rocky.)
Finally arrived in Adelaide, sitting behind Meg
Lees, fresh from her defection from the Democrats. Imagine her surprise upon
landing, to be greeted by a massive press corps. They ignored her and
proceeded to ask me what I thought my chances of Franklin's Gull were, and
whether I thought I would crack the 500 before the end of the month. Boy did she
seem put out.
Eventually arrived at the Harper Family residence
well after 11:30PM. And then to make myself a really popular guest,
had the whole family up at dawn in order to get out to Salisbury in time for the
Franklin's Gull show. Being a flashy American, this bird
didn't disappoint. I reckon the entire Adelaide birding community must have been
there for this matinee performance - I counted thirty after the first few
twitchers had started to drift off. The bird was there in full stage
make-up, black hood, its breast looking rosy in the morning sun, showing up our
drab local seagull talent for the plain old bucolic hicks they are. It strutted,
it flew around, even accepting breadcrumbs from an adoring fan, - a true
professional.
By eight o'clock most twitchers had dispersed. they
obviously hadn't been waiting twenty years to get this one. Watch out Lansley,
I'm now in the Five Gull Club- only four to go. Not satisfied with one
successful twitch (this is The Big Twitch after all) I conned David
Harper to take me down to Tolderol to try for the Little Stint that had been
reported there.
We arrived via an unsuccessful attempt for
Malleefowl in the Ferries MacDonald Conservation Park. No luck, and no
footprints where they are normally seen. Could the birds here be yet another
statistic of our fragmented habitat? We reserve these little pockets of good
habitat in a sea of clearing and then
scratch our heads when local populations crash for no apparent reason. Hopefully
though, these Malleefowl are alive and well and healthy, sensibly avoiding this
rabid twitcher.
On arrival at Tolderol we were met by Colin Rogers
and John and Heather Cox who informed us that the reported Little was actually a
brightly marked Red-necked Stint. While they
couldn't produce a Little Stint, they did produce Elegant
Parrot of which several displayed themselves to their optimal
cuteness in the afternoon sun.
And on the flight back to the Alice the next
morning, after a night of typical Adelaide hospitality (for those of you not
from SA, that is actually a good thing), I reflected on another successful
twitch. Of course if I had done a similar twitch to get on
the Southport pelagic I would have added a further four birds to the
list. Then again if I had twitched the June boat trip off Southport I
wouldn't have added any.
Oh well, back to the desert.
Sean Dooley, July 28, 491
species.
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