The Black-necked Stalkers, a Clarence Valley, north coast NSW, team entered the
NSW Twitchathon for the sixth consecutive year this year. The team, which was
supported by the Clarence Valley Birdos, comprised Greg Clancy (head stalker),
Russell Jago, Bev Morgan and Maureen O'Shea. Gary Eggins was the
non-participating scribe. Sue Hawick was our main fundraiser.
As usual we had spent the previous twelve months planning how this year would
be the year that we excelled. Well it didn't quite go as planned. The start
was unbelievable. One minute before the official start a Black Noddy, a
species very rare in our area, flew into sight. All team members, including
the scribe, had great views but then it flew over the edge of the rock platform
and disappeared from view - 30 seconds before the start time. We dipped on
it!!!
We did start the list though with Eastern Reef Egret which we don't often get
on a twitch. Our shorebird site produced well but some important species such
as Lesser and Greater Sand Plovers were missing as the tide wasn't high enough.
We did well on dusk though with Ground Parrot, Tawny-crowned Honeyeater, Brown
Quail and King Quail all calling from the one area. A deep call was not
identified. It may have been a bittern but was not the call typical of any of
the local species.
We ticked off Black-necked Stork, Brolga and Comb-crested Jacana at the local
wetlands and one site with artificial ponds provided views of a number of duck
and other waterbird species. There were four species that were only seen by
one or two team members and therefore could not be counted. They were
White-winged Chough, Speckled Warbler, Chestnut-breasted Mannikin and
White-headed Pigeon. Our rarest bird was the White-eared Monarch followed
closely by the Rufous Scrub-bird.
Our final total was 198 species and included the following threatened species:
Black-necked Stork, Brolga, Blue-billed Duck, Comb-crested Jacana, Australian
Pied Oystercatcher, Sooty Oystercatcher, Eastern Osprey, Little Tern, Ground
Parrot, Rufous Scrub-bird, White-eared Monarch, Grey-crowned Babbler, Mangrove
Honeyeater and Black-chinned Honeyeater.
We know where we didn't perform well and plans have been already drawn up to
address the problems (minor though they were) for next year's attempt. We came
sixth in the main race and were beaten by only a few birds by the teams that
came fourth and fifth. The winning team's total of 247 species is mind
boggling though.
Congratulations to the winners (and the losers) as it is a great social
experience as well as a birding experience.
Till next year.
Greg Clancy
Head Stalker
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