Hello again,
As promised in a previous report you will find my
'want list' following. It is compiled from my own
previous records, those of others (hope I haven't
forgotten any!) and from trawling the Birding-Aus
archives (what an amazing resource). Some of these
have only been seen once or twice in the inner city
but Paul Peake has convinced me to be positive. It
sure is paying dividends so far!
The last 'certainty' on the 'want list' was Little
Wattlebird. They have returned to around home in the
last couple of weeks, so it was easy to tick one in
the front yard (West Brunswick) one morning.
There have been other recent removals from the list as
well. I ticked Striated Pardalote Wednesday evening in
Royal Park West (near Melbourne Zoo). I have only seen
them there once before. Westgate Park has yielded two
more ticks. I added Red-kneed Dotterel there about a
week ago. There were three roosting on the bank of a
tiny island in the Freshwater Lake (strange name, you
won't catch me drinking from it). But the real
surprise was a solitary Pink-eared Duck I spotted
there yesterday afternoon, bringing the two-month
total to 92. This one wasn't even on the 'want list'!
But who's complaining? I went there in the hope that
the Baillon's Crake might still be there. No luck, but
what compensation!
Speaking of dips, I've been looking for swifts each
day and the only time I've seen them was a few
kilometres outside my Puny Twitch area. It's similar
with Nankeen Night Heron. I saw a beauty on the Merri
Creek (whilst doing a reccie) last weekend, but of
course this doesn't count because I wasn't commuting
from work on my bike. I'm not too concerned however,
because I've several great leads for sites to spot
this bird.
I'm finding that since starting the Puny Twitch I'm
seeing lots more birds generally. And I haven't had to
set the alarm clock any earlier either! Because I'm
more attuned to the surrounding sounds and movements
I'm reaping the benefits, even on my usual patch. So I
guess the secret is 'to be alert (but not alarmed)'!
Cheers,
Alan Flack
The 'want list'
1. Australasian Shoveler
2. Stubble Quail
3. Brown Quail
4. Musk Duck
5. Great Crested Grebe
6. Little Penguin
7. Australasian Gannet
8. Nankeen Night Heron
9. Yellow-billed Spoonbill
10. Brown Falcon
11. Peregrine Falcon
12. Baillon's Crake
13. Black-tailed Native-hen
14. Painted Button-quail
15. Banded Stilt
16. Pomarine Jaeger
17. Common Tern
18. Yellow-tailed Black-Cockatoo
19. Gang Gang Cockatoo
20. Long-billed Corella
21. Little Lorikeet
22. Purple-crowned Lorikeet
23. Swift Parrot
24. Crimson Rosella
25. Horsfield's Bronze-Cuckoo
26. Shining Bronze-Cuckoo
27. Powerful Owl
28. Southern Boobook
29. Tawny Frogmouth
30. White-throated Needletail
31. Brown Thornbill
32. Eastern Spinebill
33. Scarlet Robin
34. Red-capped Robin
35. Flame Robin
36. Golden Whistler
37. Rufous Whistler
38. White-winged Triller
39. Olive-backed Oriole
40. Pied Currawong
41. Skylark
42. Richard's Pipit
43. Mistletoebird
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