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)
==============================www.birding-aus.org
birding-aus.blogspot.com
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