This is a joke, isn't it?
Ricki Coughlan
Belrose, Sydney
On 31/12/2006, at 12:37 PM, Bill Watson wrote:
Unless you have a Little Bittern staked, the best way to get one is
through the call. They have a distinctive repeated-in-a-series
croak. Go to the Cumbungi or suitable thick reeds or sedge, optimum
time towards or at twilight, with a mate as determined or desperate
as you are. When the two of you line up the call, take it in turns
to walk loudly through the cumbungi while the mate waits up a tree
or in another survey spot for the bird to flush and land again.
Keep this up till you are satisfied.
This works anywhere that you have free access to the vegetation.
Little Bitterns are birdwatchers' birds. The way to get them, and a
whole lot of other skulkers (and frogs and reptiles), is to
frequent reedy swamps. But you increase your chances of getting
mosquito-borne diseases. But only the bold deserve the fair; and
workers deserve the big rewards.
If you have limited time and/or locality, they are a bird to follow
up through sightings reported on this web. Since they don't appear
much, you can see why I regard them as birdwatchers' birds. That
the sightings are often in cities indicates that they are likely to
be in a lot of areas less frequented by birdwatchers.
If you really have to get the bird, I know/knew two birders who are/
were dab hands at finding them. Phil Maher is the one who is still
alive. The other one took a remarkable set of notes and photos when
he found them nesting on a small pond on his dairy farm. Those
records, with all his others, went for record-keeping to a RAOU man.
Bill Watson.
Albury/Eskdale
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