Peter thanks for sharing such an exciting and worthwhile journey! I assume
you guys didnt get any Scarlet-chested Parrots? I am assuming you got some
good looks at parrots for him of other species.
Thanks again for sharing such a cool story.
Don
On Mon, Apr 4, 2016 at 1:50 AM, Peter Waanders <>
wrote:
> Hi all,
>
> I spent the Easter weekend birding with Arjan Dwarshuis, who is on a quest
> to break the world-record of birds seen in a year globally. In the context
> of a fundraiser for the Birdlife Preventing Extinctions Programme Arjan
> will try to see 7,000 species – and he's well on his way, having reached
> over 2,000 in the first 3 months of the year. You can follow his adventures
> here:
> http://www.arjandwarshuis.com/#biggestyear. But this is birding with a
> purpose: Arjan is trying to raise awareness of the world's extinction
> crisis, and raising funds for Birdlife 'Preventing Extinctions Programme'
> along the way. During his travels so far he's seen plenty of saddening
> evidence of the ongoing destruction of the world's ecosystems, placing our
> birds under enormous pressure - from the reclamation of mudflats in the
> Yellow Sea, to the almost total eradication of lowland rainforest in the
> Phillipines, to the 'extinction by stealth' of small ground-dwelling
> outback birds that is occurring in Australia right under our noses - it's a
> depressing situation.
>
> Anyway back to our Easter trip. I picked Arjen up from Adelaide airport one
> evening and we drove straight to Gluepot reserve, arriving at midnight, and
> set up camp close to Gluepot in the middle of the mallee.
>
> We had breakfast in front of our tents while the unique birdlife that
> inhabits this mallee habitat woke up all around us. From high-pitched
> whistles of Southern Scrub-Robins to the deep booming of an Emum, birds
> were all around us. Birding was just awesome in the picture perfect
> conditions. One of the first birds was an Emu that rushed off as soon as it
> was on to us, White-browed Woodswallow, Hooded Robin, Crested Bellbird,
> Gilbert’s Whistler and Mulga Parrot were other nice finds, but the absolute
> highlight was a party of 4 Chestnut Quail-thrush, cracking birds that
> allowed point blank views as they blended in perfectly in their dry
> environment.
>
> After the morning run we went after one of the star birds of the mallee,
> the very rare Red-lored Whistler, which didn't disappoint when I located a
> beautiful adult bird within half an hour. Next we looked for White-winged
> and Splendid Fairywren and White-browed Treecreeper, which we found after a
> bit of a run-around through the mallee.
>
> Now there was one bird remaining, the critically endangered Black-eared
> Miner. We drove across the sandy tracks of Gluepot in search of Miners, but
> despite trying and trying we had no success. As it was time to leave Arjen
> had dozed off in the passenger seat when suddenly a flock of Miners crossed
> the road. We chased after them and sure enough, there were at least 2 birds
> that met the current criteria of pure Black-eared Miners in the flock! High
> fives and off we went towards Murray Bridge. On our way we made 3 stops
> producing some more good species, the beautiful White-backed Swallow, the
> unpredictable Little Eagle and the elusive Australian Spotted Crake. What a
> fantastic taste of birding in South Australia!
>
> Once again we bush-camped and the next morning we chased after some last
> target birds, starting off with a smashing Australian Owlet-Nightjar right
> at the crack of dawn, followed by a distant Tawny-crowned Honeyeater and
> finally another one of Arjen's most wanted species, the Diamond Firetail.
> These cracking little birds put on a fantastic performance.
>
> I dropped Arjen back at the airport shortly after 10am in time for his
> flight to New Zealand.
>
> (Adapted from
> https://www.dutchbirding.nl/arjansbiggestyear/1204/march_25_-_31)
>
>
> Regards,
>
> Peter
>
> -------
>
> Peter Waanders
>
> Bellbird Tours <http://www.bellbirdtours.com/> / Southern Birding Services
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