birding-aus

2006 Twitchathon

To: "Birding-aus" <>
Subject: 2006 Twitchathon
From: "Greg" <>
Date: Mon, 30 Oct 2006 14:09:00 +1100
Hi all,

Well another Twitchathon has passed and there are a few tired and disappointed 
twitchers out there, twitching nervously a little more than usual due to sleep 
deprivation.

Our team, the Black-necked Stalkers (Greg Clancy, Russell Jago, Maureen O'Shea 
and Bev Morgan) was happy with its tally (189) considering the weather 
conditions.  Saturday night blew a gale and we were almost blown into 
Queensland from the Sandon Estuary.  Nocturnal birds were sheltering and we 
were only able to tick Tawny Frogmouth, of which we observed about 5 separate, 
hardy individuals.  An Australian Owlet-nightjar and a Southern Boobook were 
both heard by only one team member before they shut up and disappeared back 
into shelter.

We had great views of a female Riflebird as a male 'Yassed' us on the Gibraltar 
Range and Rufous Songlarks were at a number of sites.  The Great Crested and 
Hoary-headed Grebes didn't disappoint us and the regular Little Bronze-Cuckoo 
was competing for air space with a Shining Bronze-Cuckoo and a White-throated 
Treecreeper.  The wind made ticking Ground Parrot very difficult but we were 
able to do this nonetheless.

The list of threatened species that we recorded were: Magpie Goose, 
Black-necked Stork, Osprey, Brolga, Comb-crested Jacana, Pied Oystercatcher, 
Sooty Oystercatcher, Lesser Sand Plover, Little Tern, Wompoo Fruit-Dove, 
Rose-crowned Fruit-Dove, Ground Parrot, Brown Treecreeper, Black-chinned 
Honeyeater, Grey-crowned Babbler, Paradise Riflebird.

We did not reach our 2005 record of 201 species but had a great time anyway and 
did raise some money (more than last year!!) for bird research and conservation.

Reluctantly we have decided to give the 'top guns' a real run for their money 
(or prizes) next year so we are going to do the double twitch that the winners 
usually do i.e. twitch the western NSW birds on the Saturday and the eastern 
NSW birds on the Sunday.  We will be starting west of the Divide in 2007.  The 
gauntlet is down!!


Regards

Greg Clancy (Head Stalker)

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