birding-aus

Grasswrens and fairy-wrens.

To: carl billingham <>
Subject: Grasswrens and fairy-wrens.
From: pdb <>
Date: Mon, 11 May 2015 12:26:19 +1000
People would be very very olucky to find any grasswrens at Gunlom now. When
I visited last September, the entire area around Gunlom was severely burnt,
with only a few bits unburnt in the gulleys above the falls.
Reports say they've not been seen for several years - not surprising.


On 10 May 2015 at 20:10, carl billingham <>
wrote:

> Hi Graeme,
>
> I rarely post on Birding-Aus anymore and confess I haven't seen a message
> I have wanted to respond to more than yours in a long time.
>
> I have seen lots of birds all around the world but my love for Grasswrens
> pretty much beats them all.  They are the holy grail of Australian birds,
> enigmatic, difficult to see and only found in remote, inhospitable
> locations.
>
> My first Grasswren was a party of five White-throated Grasswrens bobbing
> along the escarpment at the top of Gunlom Falls in 2003. I found them after
> about 10 minutes of reaching the top of the falls.  Of course this ease in
> finding my first Grasswren set me up for a great fall.  I was lulled into a
> false sense of security that all future Grasswrens would appear so easily
> ...how mistaken was I?
>
> Anyway, I had seen all species until the recent splits of the Striated so
> now I have to head out again to pick up another couple (something I am a
> little excited about:-)
>
> The main reason for this email is to thank you for your fantastic website
> which spurred me on to finding these elusive and charismatic birds.
>
> During the planning of my numerous trips I have studied the photos of
> their habitat and the range maps on your website on many, many occasions
> and have actually transcribed the ranges in different coloured highlighters
> to my old dog eared book of maps of Australia. I have to confess that even
> now seeing these highlighted areas in my map book still fills me with an
> urge to get out there again!
>
> Thanks for your advice over the years, I know you have encouraged many
> like me to have our own 'Grasswren moments' and no doubt also inspired the
> telling of more than a few birding 'shaggy-dog' stories around the campfire
> at night!
>
> Cheers,
>
> Carl Billingham
>
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