Thanks JJ, I was aware of the debate.
We took the precaution of taking out an insurance policy and finding the
Thornbills at Fern Tree too ;-)
Paul Dodd
Docklands, Victoria
-----Original Message-----
From:
On Behalf Of JJ Harrison
Sent: Tuesday, 18 September 2012 12:28 PM
To:
Subject: The twelve Tasmanian endemics
Nice work.
Not that it'd affect your record, if you saw them at Fern Tree, but I must
admit I very much doubt the presence of a Tasmanian Thornbill at Peter
Murrell Reserve.
--
JJ Harrison
Date: Mon, 17 Sep 2012 21:20:00 +1000
From: "Paul G Dodd" <>
To: <>
Subject: The twelve Tasmanian endemics
Message-ID: <>
Content-Type: text/plain; charset="iso-8859-1"
For those of you not interested in competitive bird-watching, now is the
time to close this email and ignore it.
I have always wondered what the record is for seeing the twelve Tasmanian
endemics (Christidis & Boles taxonomy) in the least amount of time? This is
from the perspective of an interstate birder visiting Tasmania, and should
be counted from stepping off the plane at Hobart airport. To avoid any
confusion, the twelve endemic species I am referring to are: Black
Currawong, Black-headed Honeyeater, Dusky Robin, Forty-spotted Pardalote,
Green Rosella, Scrubtit, Strong-billed Honeyeater, Tasmanian Native Hen,
Tasmanian Scrubwren, Tasmanian Thornbill, Yellow Wattlebird, Yellow-throated
Honeyeater. I have not counted the Tasmanian Boobook or Morepork nor the
Tasmanian Masked Owl ? the boobook is split under IOC, from memory, but is
not endemic as it is supposedly the same species as the New Zealand birds,
and the Masked Owl has only been touted as a potential split. I?m not sure
about the Brown Quail, but anyway, I digress.
I had been told that the record for seeing these species from stepping off a
plane at Hobart airport was five hours. Well, Ruth and I managed this feat
in THREE hours last Saturday! We flew in on Saturday morning so that we
could participate in the Eaglehawk Neck pelagic on Sunday. I had said to
Ruth that we should try to get better views of the Forty-spotted Pardalote
and also try to tick the Scrubtit, which we had dipped on previously.
Anyway, we stepped off the plane at around 10:20am Saturday, and picked up
our hire car before heading straight to Peter Murrell Reserve just outside
of Kingston, near Hobart. All the roads are new since our last trip and that
confused both me and the useless sat-nav I hired with the car. Anyway, after
a little bit of mucking around and back-tracking, we found the reserve. In
the carpark we immediately picked up Yellow-throated Honeyeater ? the single
most common species at the reserve. We quickly saw a pair of Green Rosellas
from the carpark too. We heard what we thought were Forty-spotted Pardalotes
in and to the north of the carpark but could only get on to Striated. After
spending about forty minutes in the carpark, we managed to add Tasmanian
Thornbill (and Brown Thornbill) to our list, but no pardalotes, so we headed
into the reserve, crossing the little creek and then heading south along the
Coffee Creek Fire Trail. Behind Penrhyn Pond we found our first Yellow
Wattlebird, but still no pardalotes. Passing Penrhyn Pond and Heron Pond we
came across a stand of taller eucalypts, and calling strongly was a pair of
Forty-spotted Pardalotes! In fact, not only did we get good views, but Ruth
managed some photos of this endangered species.
Walking the trail a little further, we crossed Sandflats Fire Trail and then
reached a clearer area, and could cross the creek quite easily. In a
previous visit we had picked up Dusky Robin here, and not to be
disappointed, easily found Dusky Robin here again ? a pair of them, in fact.
We headed back to Coffee Creek Fire Trail and started heading north ? almost
immediately we had Strong-billed Honeyeaters around us ? a flock of four or
five. We also found a Little Wattlebird in the same spot. Quite satisfied we
started heading back to the car. I checked my watch and realized that it was
only about 11:40. We?d been at it an hour and a half. I said to Ruth that I
believed the record for seeing the twelve endemics was five hours ? and did
she want to try to beat that since we now had seven of the twelve? Ruth
suggested that she was quite up for the challenge! As we were walking back
along the trail I mentally added up the species and I couldn?t get past
eleven ? I couldn?t figure out which species I was missing. By now we were
almost at the point where the path from the carpark meets Coffee Creek Fire
Trail. Since I still couldn?t figure out which bird I?d missed, Ruth
suggested that there must be an internet site that mentioned it ? so pulling
out the trusty iPhone and a quick search later showed that I was missing the
Black-headed Honeyeater ? which, coincidence of coincidences were in the
tree above us! Phew! If we?d missed it here, I?m not sure where we would
have found it.
Now with eight of the twelve under our belt, it was time to head to Fern
Tree in the foothills of Mount Wellington. I was sure that we?d pick up
Tasmanian Native Hen somewhere along the way, and was actually surprised
that we hadn?t already seen one. Driving up the hill from Hobart towards
Fern Tree we came across a small group of obliging Black Currawongs ? this
was the bird I was a little worried about because other than the general
area of Mount Wellington and its foothills, I didn?t really know where to
look. Nine ? and still we?d only been at it for two hours. BY accident, we
drove past the spot just to the north of Fern Tree where you can park and
walk into the forest (the usual spot that most people look for the Scrubwren
and Scrubtit I believe). We kept driving through Fern Tree because I wasn?t
100% sure where we should look. Eventually we got to a wide section of the
road on an almost hairpin bend, with a bus shelter (and porta-loo!) on one
side of the road ? with a bubbling creek ? and a gated track on the other
side marked ?Private Property ? Do Not Enter?. On the side with the bus stop
and the bubbling creek we easily found Tasmanian Scrubwren (TEN!) and had a
flock of Tasmanian Thornbills in the tree branches above us. On a whim I
said, let?s try over the road. We walked up to the gate and sure enough,
there were Scrubtits on the ground! One of them hopped up into a bush for
Ruth to take a photo of (ELEVEN!) It was now 12:45 ? and all we were missing
was the Native Hen.
Heading back towards Fern Tree we decided, of all things, to stop for lunch
at the Wildside Caf? in Fern Tree (my honest advice ? don?t bother). By now
it was just after 1:00pm. Where were we going to find Tasmanian Native Hens.
Then I remembered that the last time we were here, in the pouring rain, we
visited the Waterworks Reserve, just a few minutes down the road and had
seen the Native Hens there on the grassy areas. Sure enough, as we drove in
to the reserve, there were TWO Tasmanian Native Hens! The time was almost
spot on 1:20pm ? all twelve endemics accounted for in three hours!
Paul Dodd
Docklands, Victoria
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