The Puny Twitch

["Andrew Stafford" <>]

I'll take up Alan's challenge.

 

For the past 12 months I've been running my own version of the "puny twitch" (great name, I'm sticking to it). I'm working on a book at the moment and to support myself in the meantime, I drive a cab for two nights a week. But I have an advantage over others commuting to and from work - my little part-time gig keeps me on the road, driving all over town, taking in a variety of urban, semi-urban and semi-rural habitats for up to 12 hours or more at a stretch.

 

So needless to say I've seen some good birds. Since starting to drive nights the numbers per shift have thinned (I think from memory the best total I racked up for a day was 45), but not so long ago I did see the three main nocturnals in Brisbane in a single shift - Tawny Frogmouth, Boobook Owl and Bush Stone-Curlew. Other good birds I've seen from the cabin, or outside waiting for passengers (is this cheating?!) include Striated Heron, Buff-banded Rail, White-headed Pigeon, Yellow-tailed Black Cockatoo, Swamp Harrier, Channel-billed Cuckoo and many more. It keeps me amused, and driving a cab I need all the amusement I can get.

 

I think the total number seen would be around 80, although I haven't done a proper count. This is throughout Brisbane - good luck to anyone who can somehow snare 80 in inner Melbourne. But then, I doubted Sean would get to 700, like everyone else!

 

Cheers, AS

 

>
> I seem to recall that there was a bit of a thread
> running a year or two back about the number of species
> recorded whilst commuting to work. I hope others will
> take up the challenge and we will see a few reports,
> especially from inner city areas around the country.
>
> See you on the Streets,
>
> Alan Flack.