Preliminary Results for NSW & ACT 2005 Twitchathon

[Mick Roderick <>]

Alan, Twitchathon participants and other birders,

 

Firstly, congrats to the WOW team for accumulating a grand total (229)...one that shattered a confident Brewing outfit, who with 227 at 4pm, were already getting the engraver out for inscription on the trophy. Alas, pipped again! But the way I look at it, looking at the past two years totals - HHB (220+227) & WOW (218+229)...it's 447 each! Looks good for a ripper showdown in 2006 (along with any other teams willing to virtually go without sleep and raise the bar even higher).

 

But I simply cannot help myself but to refute Alan's weather comment - please don't get me wrong Alan, I'm sure you had terrible weather! But the weather in the Hunter was nothing short of abominable. We too had the thunder storms on Sundee morning, with rain continuing for most of the day. Indeed, the only breaks in the rain for us were between approximately midday to 3pm, after which it opened up again (HHB spent the last 5 minutes standing like ducks in pouring rain waiting for an Azure Kf to fly past!). The breaking of record scores has nothing to do with weather (as previous years have been within far superior weather conditions for less species) but more to do with a fierce rivalry that has driven the wheels of competition to new extremes!!

A hearty mix of knowing where to get maximum species yield, a willingness to cover long distances, a commitment to working hard for every possible bird, good oil and dash of good luck have accounted for these scores...not good weather!

 

The HHB also found sponsors that have donated $100 + $1 per bird, so again hopefully Gluepot will be the real winner at the end of the day.

 

Mick Roderick

alan morris <> wrote:

> Hi Birders,
>
> Set out below are the preliminary results as rung through to me late 
> yesterday afternoon.
>
> The results will become official when the organiserI has receive the list of 
> species from each team together with nominated "rarest bird".
>
> Congratulations on the provisional winning teams! It is obvious that the 
> Hunter and North Coast teams had better weather conditions than the Central 
> Coast, Sydney, Wolllongong, Far South Coast and Canberra Teams, all who 
> suffered from thunderstorms on Sunday morning together with heavy rain, 
> wind, fog and mist, and the Central Coast Teams had another period of heavy 
> rain from 3-4 pm making birding nigh impossible.
>
> However that is the way these things go and good on the Hunter Teams for 
> doing so well and breaking new records! Both the Whacked-out Woodswallows 
> and the
>  Hunter Home Brewers exceed the previous record of 221! However as we 
> know, the whole purpose of the event is to raise funds for the Gluepot 
> Reserve Education Unit, so a big thanks to all the teams who took and for 
> you efforts for this fund raising event.
>
> Some interesting birds were seen including Australian Bitterns & Little 
> Bittens (Hunter Home Brewers), nesting Regent Honeyeaters (Hunter 
> Thickheads), Rufous Scrub-birds heard calling (Black-necked Stalkers), Black 
> & Painted Honeyeaters (Wacked-ouit Woodswallows), Painted Honeyeaters & 
> nesting Square-tailed Kites (Central Coast Champions), Buller's Alabtross 
> (Pelagic Pukers), nesting Brown Falcon (Lessticum Phoradae) & nesting 
> Turquoise Parrot (Dodgy Drongos).
>
> So far I have only heard from 2 of the 6 childrens team but the Elegant 
> Eagles (Dollarbirds 10-16 y.o). saw 127 species while the Logrunners (Little 
> Curlews 10 & under) saw 88 birds - which are just
>  great results.
>
> Many thanks to those people who have sponsored the Twitchathon Teams, your 
> funds will be well used at Gluepot.
>
> Congratulation to Michael Cheers who does such a good job in organising the 
> childrens teams from the Sawtell-Coffs Harbour & Repton Schools. Not only 
> did his own team score 166 in the main race , but Michael himself became the 
> father of a new baby boy, Alexander, only 2 days before the Twicthathon!! We 
> are assured that mother and baby are doing fine! Not sure about Dad!
>
> Results
>
> Main Race
>
> Whacked-out Woodswallows 229
> Hunter Home Brewers 227
> Black-necked Stalkers 201
> Hunter Thickhead 201
> Dodgy Drongos 196
> Central Coast Champions 185
> Cheerful Drongos 166
> Once Bittern 159
> Grey Toilet Thrushes 157
> CODS 120
> Speckled Dawdlers 117
>
> Champagne Race
>
> Lessticum Phoradae 147
> Trio Twitchers 134
> Larus Circus 128
> Warbler Specklers 127
> Spineless Spinebills
>  114
> Steamed Chats 112
> Mickey Mouse Birders 108
> Red-faced Parrots 94
> Pelagic Pukers 81
> Matheson Mopokes 79
> Wooden Spoonbills 79
> Mad M,agpies 61
>
>
> Dollarbirds
>
> Elegant Eagles 127
> Willy Wagtails ?
> Regent Bowerbirds ?
>
> Little Curlews
>
> Logrunners 88
> Golden Whistlers ?
> Birdos ?
>
>
> Alan Morris
> Twitchathon Organiser 
>
> --------------------------------------------
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