I remember I spent three days on Stewart Island off the south of NZ looking for
Kiwi's with a Dutch birder. On the final morning it was bucketing down and I
decided that I had had enough of walking around in the cold and the dark and
decided it was time to return to the campsite, pack up and head back across the
island to the ferry. My Dutch friend decided to stick it out for a few more
hours in the hope of seeing one.
As I returned by myself a Kiwi popped out in front of me walked around me for
about 15 minutes and then moved off. My Dutch friend wasn't happy when he
finally returned to the campsite 'kiwi-less'. He was less happy when back at
the boat on the otherside of the island I informed him I had had another close
encounter of the Kiwi kind on the walk over.
Two days later I was on a pelagic trip out of Kaikoura and the Captain
recounted the story of a very pissed off Dutchman who had missed out on the
Kiwi. Two days after that at Arthur's Pass I heard the same story from an
American Biologist!
Personally I find that if I am trying too hard, or I am too keen to find a
particular species, the birds dont appear, however, if you go with the flow,
relax and try to fit in with the environment the birds eventually appear.
Not sure if the above statement explains it properly but as an example I spent
3 days looking for Noisy Scrub-birds in WA and was close enough that I could
see the bushes move and came away with ruptured ear drums but I never actually
saw one. I figured at the end of that time it wasn't meant to be and went away
content with the fact that I had been in the same environment as this elusive
little bird.
However, as I left the campsite at Cheyne Beach one appeared right in front of
me on the road and proceeded to hop around me for about 10-15 minutes, long
enough to take some photos and my mate to get some excellent video footage. It
only retreated to the undergrowth when a man stopped to ask us what we were
looking at while his labrador, which wasn't on a leash, chased it away.
Needless to say he got a pretty frosty response!
Do other birders subscribe to this Cosmic Birding Kharma as well?
Carl (Buddha Buddha Lovechild) Billingham
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