Aha ! Got a snap. Now at least we know the real story. Ok, Bob, I
take it all back, perhaps it was just an unfortunate train of events
which caused b-a people to not get the message until Monday
morning. 'Twas a very nice penguin though.
Tony.
I first heard about it late on Fri night and it
was a very vague, sketchy report of a King Penguin that had apparently been
seen on a beach somewhere in our area and had swum out to sea. I notified both
Colin Rogers and Mike Carter of thi on Sat afternoon after not being able to
gather any better info, Rob Farnes then contacted me Sat night and all I could
tell him was that it had apparently been seen in our area, I didn't even know
near which town. I received a phone call Sun morning from a local (non-birder
I add) to tell me that it had been seen on Sat and whereabouts. I went down
almost immediately to investigate. Rob Farnes was there when I got
there. I notified one Port Mac birder and one Mt. Gambier birder while I
was there, on my return home I started letting people know.
I did not know that Colin Rogers was in Tas so
assumed that Colin would let people know, when I found out where he was I
tried to ring John Cox but he had changed his number and I got hold of David
Harper who happened to have J Cox visiting. From there on the report spread.
My posting to Birding Aus was sent from my computer at 9.47 after first seeing
the penguin at about 1230
Were you one of the birdos that came
down with John Cox?
The kind of message where the sender goes off
with only half the info they need to make an informed opinion should remain in
the trash.
Personally I thought that the network spread the
message fairly quickly and efficiently.
If anyone can think of a way to let people know
about sightings before we see them then please let me know.
Isn't it lucky I rang around some of my
mates. Sure is !
Bob Green
