Mark
Agree re the birding early morn and late afternoon but I reckon that during
the height of summer, and after seeing a few new birds, rehydrating with a
cold beer in the cool of a country pub can't be beaten.
Greg Little
-----Original Message-----
From:
On Behalf Of Mark Carter
Sent: Monday, 12 September 2011 4:42 PM
To: ; ;
Subject: desert birding in summer
Hi Peter et al.,
Yes, I should have mentioned that about sand country and gibber- it heats up
faster than other habitats and reaches higher overall temps. Desert rivers,
gorges and to an extent Mulga woodland tend to be comparatively cooler and
facilitate birding up to the 11am cut-off. A good bit of fieldcraft in
summer is thinking-through where the birds will be on warm mornings: no
point looking for Eyrean Grasswrens on the sunward side of a dune! Of course
weather can always go the other way too- you occasionally get those freak
overcast days where the temps don't get over 30 all day- they are solid
gold. Basic rule of thumb is when its too hot for you, its usually to hot
for the birds too!
To make the water drinking easier I strongly recomend a water bladder with a
hose such as 'camelback' or 'source' which either come in their own backpack
or you can fit inside your usual bag or scope tripod pack. These allow you
to carry up to 3 litres easily and allow you to sip it gradually as you go-
your body cannot absorb more than (roughly) 250ml every 15 mins so if you
drink your litre for the hour all at once at the end of the 60 mins not only
will you feel queer, you will pee out 3/4 of it and still be dehydrated
anyway! Camelback do military-grade insulated 3litre bladders under the
'maximum gear' label- a bit expensive but worth every penny.
Mark Carter
0447358045
www.desertlife.com.au
===============================
To unsubscribe from this mailing list,
send the message:
unsubscribe
(in the body of the message, with no Subject line)
to:
http://birding-aus.org
===============================
===============================
To unsubscribe from this mailing list,
send the message:
unsubscribe
(in the body of the message, with no Subject line)
to:
http://birding-aus.org
===============================
|
