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Quest for Princess Parrot part 3

To: <>
Subject: Quest for Princess Parrot part 3
From: "michael hunter" <>
Date: Thu, 29 Aug 2002 16:04:48 +1000
   Part 3, Night Driving and Night Parrots
>
>       Nighttime driving speeds in Australia's semi-deserts are kept low by
>  kangaroos, cattle, and sometimes the "roads" themselves. Provided you
drive
>  slowly enough to stop within high beam headlight distance, for me up to
to
> 80
>  kph, identifying nocturnal birds on the roads or verges before they fly
> off,
>  and not running them over, is easier, not to mention mammals. Most major
>  roads now have wide mown verges, which attract birds day and night.
>      The only recent specimen of a Night Parrot was probably hit by a car
>  near Cloncurry, and although your chances aren't high, keeping your eyes
>  open for chunky almost quail-shaped birds with a big head and hooked
bill,
>  and with a spotlight or strong torch ready to approach them if they sit
>  blinded by the headlights on the road, might pay off one day. "You never
>  never know if you never never go"
>       A Barn Owl sat on the roadside as I drove into Kulgera after seeing
> the Letter-wing Kites,
>  not many 'roos and they were avoidable, but on the Stuart Highway back up
> to Alice Springs,
>  literally scores of black Wedgetail Eagles and carrion crows consuming
the
>  carnage of kangaroo carcases killed overnight were almost the only birds
>  visible while driving, one Major Mitchell ("Pink") Cockatoo at a wayside
>  rest.
>       Leaving Newhaven a couple of nights later there were seven Yawny
>  Frogmouths, a Spotted Nightjar and a probably a Pipit on the road up to
the
>  main gate.
>                                                                     Cheers
>
>  Michael
>
>  Michael Hunter
>  Mulgoa Valley
>  50km west of Sydney Harbour Bridge
>
>


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