2014 Victorian Twitchathon

Hi bird race fans, As you may be aware, I’m organising an extended Victorian Twitchathon period this year. The race was normally going to be held over the weekend of 16-17 November, however I’ve extended the participation period until Sunday, 14th of December. There are two races scheduled, a 24 hour Twitchathon and a 8-hour Twitchathon. If you don’t know what a Twitchathon is (where’ve you been!) – it’s a race that’s run annually as a fundraising event by Birds Australia. Put simply, it’s like a walkathon but, instead of recording kilometres, you record bird species. It involves teams of birders racing around our wonderful bush, beaches, swamps and forests trying to identify (through sight or sound) as many bird species as possible in 24 or 8 hours. It’s great fun! In order to participate you’ll need to form a team, read the rules, fill in a registration form, organize some sponsors, and plan your route. I’ll supply all the documentation – once I have written them up One team has already participated in the 24 hr race; a team appropriated named the XXXX Goldfinches (Dan Eyles, Warren Tomlinson, Richard Retallick and Emily Bolitho), based in Mildura. Well done guys! For the record their best bird was a toss-up over large group of White-throated Needletail at Kamarooka, great views of a Black Falcon in the Warbys, or 60+ Freckled Duck at Winton Wetlands. Their biggest dip was Emu (by my reckoning that’s a pretty good bird :-), and they tried unsuccessfully for the Long-billed Dowitcher in fading light. What was their final score? Well, I won’t tell you that until after 14th December! In addition, another team from Gippsland will be racing on the weekend of Nov 29th/30th. A few others birders – including myself – are interest in racing this year, so it should be a great event. So, if anyone is interested in racing, or perhaps forming a new team, please contact me and discuss. FYI, my email address is tim.dolby@vu.edu.au, mobile 0448801674. Cheers, Tim Dolby This email, including any attachment, is intended solely for the use of the intended recipient. It is confidential and may contain personal information or be subject to legal professional privilege. If you are not the intended recipient any use, disclosure, reproduction or storage of it is unauthorised. If you have received this email in error, please advise the sender via return email and delete it from your system immediately. Victoria University does not warrant that this email is free from viruses or defects and accepts no liability for any damage caused by such viruses or defects.