I don't know why this was made such a big deal of. My
article was a post-Twitchathon 'letter to the editor' basically explaining the
concept of the Twitchathon to the general public...in a public forum. It was in
simple layman terms, outlining the importance of (a) the Hunter Region for
birds and (b) the fundraising element of the Thon for bird conservation.
My source for the number of Hunter Birds, as Alan has
pointed out, was the HBOC records (and included off-shore pelagic birds). My
point was to bring to the general public's attention that we (in the Hunter)
live not only in a coal-fired industrial heartland (sic), but in a very
important region ecologically. Most people in Newcastle don't realise what is
just outside their front door. I also wanted to gather interest in the Thon and
it's fundraising importance (incidentally, there's a half-hour documentary on
ABC Radio National airing on Nov 30 and repeated on Dec 3 on the NSW chapter of
the Twitchathon...should be fun!).
The reference to Kakadu was simply aimed at surprising
the public, as the public has a perception of Kakadu with 1000's of birds
(flying Magpie Geese etc etc) and I just wanted to illustrate that we have more
in our region and to try and get people out there and interested! Nothing more.
Looking at Phil's message...it won't be too long before individuals have seen
400+ in the Hunter!
