Frank
I hope you realise that myself being both a twitcher and a photographer my
tongue was firmly in cheek when I set forth the "satanic scale"!
Alistair
On Wednesday, August 12, 2015, Frank O'Connor <> wrote:
> (Probably time to change the subject heading ......? as this no longer
> has anything to do with Night Parrots ...)
> Tony Russell wrote : (referring to irresponsible birders / maybe
> twitchers)
> >Oh yes, and to our exclusion from Price Saltfield and the
> difficulty of
> >accessing Alice Springs, Mt Isa, Broome and most other sewage ponds
> Not to
> >mention the access restrictions placed on other Evaporation areas
> around the
> >country
>
>
> I think that Tony has got it wrong about Broome, and perhaps the
> others? ...
> In the old days (early 1990s), there was only official access to the
> Broome sewage works from outside the fence. However, if people were
> working there, you could usually ask if you could come inside the
> fence, and permission was usually granted. However, there weren't the
> high bunds that are now there, so with a scope it was relatively easy
> to scan all the ponds from outside the fence, and especially the
> overflow section at the back. A few locals were given keys to the
> gate.
> The change to access seemed to coincide with the concern about public
> liability. My understanding is that this is when keys were no longer
> given out. Then over the years the ponds expanded as Broome rapidly
> expanded, and it became more difficult to see many of the ponds. I
> have never heard it mentioned that birders, and especially
> 'irresponsible' birders or twitchers had anything to do with the
> restrictions.
> There is still a track around the outside fence, and by standing on top
> of your vehicle (e.g. the tray of a ute) you can still see the better
> ponds.
> I believe that access to the Derby sewage ponds has a similar history.
> There are tracks outside the fence (at least the last time I was there
> about 5 years or so ago), and you can still walk around the overflow
> area out near the mudflats. They did build a viewing platform for the
> main ponds, but I understand that this has now been removed, from my
> understanding because it was getting old and risked breaking, and
> because of public liability it was easier to remove it rather than
> repair it.
> There was a case at the Kununurra sewage ponds about 15 years ago.
> Birds Australia WA (as known at the time) with me as the author
> published a Birding Sites around Kununurra brochure, nominating the
> ponds as an excellent site to visit. Someone tied a chain to the gates
> and the back of their vehicle and pulled the gates down! This was
> blamed on 'birders' and because of the brochure. There was never any
> evidence of this, and I would be totally staggered if a birder did
> this. You can easily see the ponds from outside the fence.
> In Western Australia, it is quite difficult to access many of the
> lighthouses in the south west which tend to be good seawatching sites.
> Again, I believe this is due to public liability concerns rather than
> 'irresponsible' birders, and definitely nothing to do with twitchers.
> Yes. I understand that people (mainly birders?) doing the wrong thing
> is the reason given for being denied access to the Price Saltfield near
> Adelaide, and Koonchera Sand Dunes / Goyder's Lagoon on the Birdsville
> Track. But not by being 'irresponsible' birders or twitchers, but by
> being bad drivers and getting bogged necessitating the locals having to
> rescue them, and the locals getting fed up with this. And I have heard
> the details of people (yes probably birders but were they twitchers?)
> trespassing to see the Red Goshawk at Mataranka. And the group who
> visited the Princess Parrots a few years ago without getting the entry
> permit (but I heard that this group - or one of the groups - was an
> overseas bird tour company and not Australian 'twitchers').
> I am a twitcher. Number 6 in Australia I think. I think of all the
> twitches that I have done. Black-headed Gull / Blue & White Flycatcher
> / Semipalmated Plover / Franklin's Gull / Red-throated Pipit, Rosy
> Starling / Lesser Black-backed Gull / Chinese Pond Heron / Red-rumped
> Swallow / Tricolored Grebe (all Broome), Fairy Pitta (Derby),
> Red-legged Crake (Whim Creek), Black-tailed Gull (Geraldton), Eurasian
> Wigeon (Carnarvon), Northern Pintail (Mandurah), Javan Pond Heron /
> Tricolored Grebe (Darwin), Laughing Gull / Slaty-backed Gull (Cairns /
> Cooktown), American Golden Plover (Sydney), Stilt Sandpiper / Northern
> Shoveler (Werribee), Hudsonian Godwit (Price Saltfields), Forest
> Wagtail (Alice Springs), Cape Gannet (Portland), Red-billed Tropicbird
> (Lord Howe), Lesser Yellowlegs (Northern NSW), South Island Pied
> Oystercatcher (Ballina). The only bird I can remember flying
> specifically because of my presence was the Chinese Pond Heron and
> probably the South Island Pied Oystercatcher, and the Northern Pintail
> swam behind reeds. The crake walked 6 inches past my foot! Too close
> to photograph. The RR Swallow flew over my head as I stood there. The
> Forest Wagtail walked two metres in front of me. The AG Plover and JP
> Heron landed less than 10 metres in front of me. Then there are all the
> birds on Cocos & Christmas Islands. Yes birds flush there, but they
> would do anyway as people walk past the trees or drive / walk along the
> roads. Twitchers are a very valuable source of income for these
> islands. Twitching is mostly about finding a good site to view from
> and being patient waiting for the bird to show. On Ashmore Reef we
> have walked through the grass and around the pisonia trees and some
> birds do flush, but that is the last thing you want. You aim to get a
> good view of the bird. If it flushes you don't see what it is.
> So like Kevin, Tony P and others I get very offended when 'twitchers'
> always seem to be lumped in with 'irresponsible' birders. 9/10 on the
> 'Satanic' scale!!! by one ignorant person (just behind poachers). I am
> sorry, but the general public are usually the worst offenders. Feeding
> bread to ducks, driving on beaches, letting their dogs chase the gulls
> and other birds ('they are only gulls so what is the problem? .....'),
> destroying sand dunes with their 4WDs, disturbing nests, bush bashing,
> .... General birders are far worse than twitchers because they are
> always on the move and disturb many more birds.
>
> _________________________________________________________________
> Frank O'Connor Birding WA
> [1]http://birdingwa.iinet.net.au
> Phone : (08) 9386 5694 Email :
> <javascript:;>
>
> References
>
> 1. http://birdingwa.iinet.net.au/
> <HR>
> <BR> Birding-Aus mailing list
> <BR> <javascript:;>
> <BR> To change settings or unsubscribe visit:
> <BR> http://birding-aus.org/mailman/listinfo/birding-aus_birding-aus.org
> </HR>
>
<HR>
<BR> Birding-Aus mailing list
<BR>
<BR> To change settings or unsubscribe visit:
<BR> http://birding-aus.org/mailman/listinfo/birding-aus_birding-aus.org
</HR>
|
