Hi Tim,
You'd be close if you said that is where we started, but it wasn't. We didn't
have any sign of Red-loreds either, but we did manage Gilbo's not far from the
Wheat Paddock. We did get some good mallee / western woodland birds, but it was
the Lake Cargelligo poo ponds that was really our gold mine. What a fantastic
spot and all concentrated into a small area. We added 37 spp there and it was
the last stop for us on Saturday (so many species had already been ticked
beforehand). 17 of those 37 we saw nowhere else on our run.
As far as "acheivable scores" are concerned, I'm not sure if you mean on
push-bike only but I agree that the Hunter would be up there as one of the best
spots in Australia. In 2009 we managed 234 (by car!) all within the Hunter
River catchment. The Cairns area would be the best for push-bike...as long as
you started out west and didn't need to ride UP the hill! It'd have to be the
best by car as well. From memory, the record for the vehicle-based Twitchathon
up there was in the 270's? (maybe Keith Fisher or someone else up there can
comment?)
Mick
On Wednesday, 30 October 2013 6:57 PM, Tim Dolby <> wrote:
Well done Mick and Hunter Home Brewers! 252 is simply brilliant. I'm guessing
you started in Nombinnie Nature Reserve (Round Hill) at the paddock on Cactus
Track. (Interested to see how many whistler sp in the total.)
Also well done Alan, and the other NSW teams; hope you reach your 30 g total.
The Dry-throated Buzzards pushbike thon total of 180 is also outstanding.
Interested to read their report. I wonder if such a total is logistically
possible in other areas of Aust; obviously places such as the Hunter, greater
Cairns and greater Brisbane would be good spots. I might see if I can calculate
a possible (realistic!) route in Vic, and see what sort of total I come up with.
Cheers,
Tim
________________________________________
From:
on behalf of Mick Roderick
Sent: Wednesday, October 30, 2013 2:48 PM
To: Birding Aus
Subject: [Birding-Aus] NSW Twitchathon (Very) Preliminary Results
Hi all,
Alan Morris (NSW Twitchathon co-ordinator) no longer posts to Birding-aus, so I
have copied below the 'very preliminary results' from the NSW Twitchathon on
the weekend below.
Our score of 252 was a new record and came about by combining the NSW mallee
(on Saturday) with
the Hunter Valley (on Sunday). Our compulsory break was made a long way from
rainforest and the dawn chorus was happening while we were in the car! Still,
we managed to peg back most of the rainforest birds and are very happy with the
252 total in our 15th consecutive Twitchathon (even allowing for the ridiculous
dips....they're always the birds you recall the most!).
At some stage I'm sure Jacqueline Winter will pen a trip report. The
Dry-throated Buzzards, who do their Twitchathons entirely on pushbike, managed
180 spp. They have posted a trip report already to our local Hunterbirding chat
group and I can forward it to anyone who is interested (it is a great read I
can tell you!).
In the meantime, here are some very rapid stats of ours that I have at hand...
Total score = 252
Score arriving at camp = 127
Time reached 200 =
0930 Sunday (Varied Sitella)
Time reached 240 = 1249 Sunday (Whimbrel)
Score when Silver Gull added = 224
# Honeyeaters = 30
# Threatened species = 23 (actually down on previous years)
# Raptors = 13 (2 down on our best)
Cheers,
Mick Roderick (Hunter Home Brewers and Hunter Twitchathon co-ordinator)
NSW & ACT TWITCHATHON VERY PRELIMINARY
RESULTS 2013
The NSW &
ACT Twitchathon 2013 was down on numbers of previous years. This was because a
number of team leaders have moved, were having had medical operations or family
commitments and could not attend, and there was the bushfires. In the Greater
Sydney Region all the National Parks and Nature Reserves were still
closed so
that access to favourite birding sites was just not available. Birdwatchers in
the Blue Mountains were particularly affected. So this year only 37 teams and
124
participants in 15 Main Race Teams, 18 Champagne Teams and 5 Children’s Teams
(Dollarbirds and Little Curlews) took part. But what we lost in numbers we have
made up in good money raisers! It is estimated by the participants that over
$23,000
has been raised in sponsorship (note that in 2010 we estimated $22,000 and
actually raised $25,000 so I am hoping it is like that this and we actually
reach our target of $30,000). Note that
not all the results are to hand so don’t take this as gospel yet! I will be
busy following though on the details and verifying the claims over the next few
days. Next week I will
publish the “Preliminary Result”. No Childrens’ Teams
details are available as yet.
MAIN RACE
This year the probable top team, the Hunter Home
Brewers, seen & heard 252 species,two more
than the previous record of 250 (The Menacing
Monarchs). If the details are confirmed, the Hunter Home Brewers will have now
won the Main Race again after
being second to the Menancing Monarchs for the past three years. The Brewers
count of 252 is a New Record for the Twitch! Congratulations to Mick, Steve,
Craig & Lucas!!! Congratulations too, to the Black-necked Stalkers who have
finally made it into the top three
Teams!
252 Hunter
Home Brewers (Steve & Mick Roderick,
Craig Anderson, Lucas Grenadier)
224 Menacing Monarchs (R.
McDonald, M. Kearns & A. Rudder HBOC).
221 Black-necked Stalkers (Greg
Clancy,R. Jago & G.Eggins Clarence Valley)
218 Dodgy Drongos (Grant
Brosie, Nick Livanos, Robert Kilkelly HBOC)
205 C.C. Champion Choughs (Alan
Morris, M.Kuhl, Nick Carson CCG)
191 The Plains Wanderers (Rob
Hynson,A. Stewart, A. Holmes, D.Langley.S)
190 Blind Babblers (Brendon
Sheeon,S,Ryan,B Walmesly, D.Ginty W’gong)
190 Gang-Gang Gang (Steve Edwards,
L.Johnson, M.Filipczyk et al W’gong)*
189 Varied
Wrenegades (Janeen Grieg, Liz & Chris Herbert HBOC)
184 The Lousy Jacks (Paul Burcher,
S. Bloomfield & D.Engel. Sydney)
180 Dry Throated Buzzards (Dan
Williams, D. Lyons, C.Bagnall HBOC)
178 Weebill Rock-yous (Steven Cox,
Rebecca Vere. HBOC)
156 Cheerful Drongos
(Kevin Cheers,
L.Trice, B.Bolt & T.Lawer Sawtell)
156 Gong Gangs (Martin Potter, Paul
Nesbitt, Carla Jackett W’gong)
109 The Dubbo Dippers (Craig Arms
& Simone Pye, Dubbo)
CHAMPAGNE RACE
162 Night Poirots (Peter West,
S.Proust, L.Earnshaw C.Meadows PtMac)
147 Which-is-it? (Margaret &
Kaye Pointer, Michael Breheny CCG)
143 Highland Harriers (Ian Kerr,
Ted
Giblin, Dwaine Laxdal Pt Macquarie) *
137 Not One Wrong Tern (Tiffany
& M. Mason, R.Porter et al Bathurst)
137 Cowra Woodland Bird Brainers
(Warren Chad, N.Courtance, et al Cowra)
135 Champagne Shrike-tits (Eliz.
& T. Karplus, P.Brook, D.Price BNSW)
133 Silly Galahs (Max O’Sullivan,
P.Williams, P.Tenison MFN)
126 Grumpy Frogmouths (Jack Adams,
A.Taylor, E.McKane et al HBOC)
119 Lying Lapwings
(Mike Jefferis,
B.Rusk, R.Hale, E. May Ulladulla)*
109 Noisy Minors/Majors (Michael
Cheers, K.Flavell et al Sawtell) *
106 Matheson Mopokes (Jo &
Archie Cameron, K. Hindmarsh, Inverell)
105 Wooden Spoonbills (Margaret
Harmon, B.Rusk et al BA-Sth Coast)
100 City Chicks (Jo Hanley, P
Norris, K. Hullegie, K.West . Hunter)
93 Red-faced Parrots (Judy
Harrington, G. Hutchinson, J.Stiles et al BAS)
73
The Naggy Magpies (Krishna
& M. Nagarajan, Miranda Moore. Hunter) *
62 Rocking Warblers (Leanne
& Chris Huxley, Sue Thomson. Blue Mtns)
-- Three of us (Susan & r.
Woodhouse, G. Hickson Sawtell)
Children’s Teams – Little Curlews (Under 10 years)
-- The
Young Young-ones (Kate & Elise Richard, Young) *
-- Sawtell
Kites (Kirra, Anthony & Zachary Moore, Sawtell) *
-- Sawtell
King Parrots *
Childrens Teams – Dollarbirds (10-16 years)
-- Field Wrens (Georgina, Luke
& Julie Field, Sawtell) *
-- Malcolm’s Falcons (Jack,
Kate & Natham Malcolm, Sawtell)
In the next few
days I will be following up with the different teams on the details that I
don’t have, so I can give a preliminary results and later, final results sheet.
If there are any details I have wrong please let me know!
Alan Morris,
Twitchathon Co-ordinator
28/10/13
Note (*) – New
Teams for 2013
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