"... it seems to have settled in the NE corner of the pond ..."
I meant the NW corner, not the NE corner. I assume this will only last until
the wind direction changes and that corner is no longer sheltered.
Peter Shute
Sent from my iPad
On 20/05/2013, at 12:12 AM, "Peter Shute" <> wrote:
> I sent the email below to the list in haste early Sunday morning, but it
> never arrived. As a newly moderated moderator, I think I must have discarded
> it instead of approving it! So here it is again.
>
> It's worth noting that despite the presence of lots of cars and people again
> on Sunday, it seems to have settled in in the NE corner of the pond near gate
> 6 on Paradise Rd, and was still there when I came past about 1pm.
>
> Peter Shute
>
> Sent from my iPad
>
> Begin forwarded message:
>
> From: Peter Shute <<>>
> Date: 19 May 2013 5:39:32 AM AEST
> To: Scott Ryan
> <<>>
> Cc: Birding-Aus Aus
> <<>>
> Subject: Re: [Birding-Aus] Shoveler a 'No-Show' at Werribee
>
> Given the number of birders intending to come a long way to see this bird
> over the next week or so, I'm wondering what people think of the following
> idea: that attempts to approach closely to get photos should be discouraged.
> I don't want to start an anti photographer thread, just to make people aware
> of what's at stake for others who haven't seen it yet.
>
> Yesterday (Sat) it was fairly predictable once it had been located. It was
> tending to stay in the upwind corner of Borrie and the pond west of it. At
> one point two photographers asked if anyone minded it they tried to get
> closer, and no one did as we'd all had a good look.
>
> We were probably 200m from where it was sitting on the bank at the time. They
> barely got 10m when the whole flock flew back into the water. We thought at
> the time that it was something else that frightened them, and it probably
> was, but it highlights the potential for this bird to become hard to find,
> even if it only moves a kilometre. There are many inaccessible ponds at WTP.
>
> Last week, the bird was in Walsh's Lagoon, this week in Borrie. My OBP survey
> team counted 80 Aus Shovellers in T Section No. 7 pond, so that's a suitable
> spot for it too. It's a very frustrating exercise negotiating all the locked
> gates between these places, especially if you're by yourself. It would be
> great if it could be great if one could rely on the Birdline location from
> the day before to find the bird, rather than hunt around all of WTP.
>
> On the other hand, perhaps ducks just move anyway. Any thoughts?
>
> My Birdline photo from yesterday is from 200m with an ancient manual focus
> 400mm lens, a small (4/3) sensor camera and low skill levels. Recognisable,
> but that's all. I'm sure those with sharper lenses and newer, bigger sensors
> and some skill could do a lot better, but still not the quality photography
> enthusiasts strive for. But do we really need a super sharp photo of this
> bird? It looks pretty much like the pictures in the guides, and there are a
> million good photos of the species from the northern hemisphere.
>
> Peter Shute
>
> P.S you can probably guess why an OBP team was counting ducks instead of OBPs.
>
> Sent from my iPad
>
> On 18/05/2013, at 5:40 PM, "Scott Ryan"
> <<>> wrote:
>
> Great news Peter.
> Myself & another Canberra birder are planning on driving down Sunday night if
> it was still around.
> Are there any birding-aussers who would be interested in meeting us out there
> on Mon or Tues morning for a twitch?
>
> Sent from my iPhone
>
> On 18/05/2013, at 5:24 PM, Peter Shute
> <<>> wrote:
>
> It's still around, I found it easily at about 1pm today - I just drove to
> where all the cars were parked and got someone to point it out. I had driven
> past this spot 30 minutes before, and missed it. It's easy to see if it's
> facing you, not so easy if it's facing away or distant.
>
> It was at the north east corner of Lake Borrie, and I think it had been there
> an hour or so before I got there. Soon after that, it flew to the north east
> corner of the pond to the west of Lake Borrie. This is the pond that's
> separated from Lake Borrie by a narrow causeway you can drive on.
>
> Then it seemed to just drift with the wind almost to the east side of that
> pond, where it encountered 3 or 4 male Australasian Shovelers swimming south
> west. It swam hard to catch up with them, gave up, caught up again, then they
> all swam back to the north east corner. There it got out on the bank for a
> while till all the ducks there flew back into the water. I left at about 2.30
> after having watched it for about 1 and 1/2 hours.
>
> Thanks to whoever found it first today, I think it was Steve Davidson, and to
> those who pointed it out to me later. Sorry you missed it, John, it's the
> luck of the draw when a bird could be at any of dozens of ponds. I tried a
> couple of times when there was one here in 2011, and never found it.
> Hopefully this one will stick around longer than that one did.
>
> Peter Shute
>
> ________________________________
> From:
> <>
>
> <>]
> On Behalf Of John Tongue <>]
> Sent: Saturday, 18 May 2013 10:50 AM
> To: Birding-Aus Aus
> Subject: [Birding-Aus] Shoveler a 'No-Show' at Werribee
>
> Sadly, despite a day of concerted searching around Walsh's Lagoon, from there
> to the Borrow Pits, and around Lake Borrie, the Northern Shoveler was not to
> be seen. A quick check around T-Section late in the afternoon also failed to
> turn up the Aus Bittern seen recently.
>
> Not the most successful in terms of targets, but sill, a very pleasant day.
>
> John Tongue
> Ulverstone, Tas.
>
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