It's all about the birds
For those in NSW and ACT:
BIGNET have moved to go proceed with the NSW and ACT charity Twitchathon this year, at end October. Participants must proceed as legal COVID restrictions allow.
We’ll be looking to raise $20K+ for the Montague Island Gould’s Petrel project.
Head to the website for the three rulesets (30hr, 8hr, 3hr) and registration forms www.twitch24nsw.org. We’ve a facebook page up also for those on that platform: https://www.facebook.com/nswtwitch
Tim Hosking
Sent: Monday, 27 September 2021 8:47 PM
Subject: Twitchathon 2021
Dear all
The NSW Twitchathon will go ahead in some form on the weekend of October 30 and 31. We are hoping that we can run the standard 30 hr, 8 hr and 3 hr Birdathon Twitchathons as usual but we will have in reserve a protocol for a locked down Twitchathon if this is required.
This year Tom and Elisabeth Karplus will be organising the Twitchathon with considerable help from Peter West. Mick Roderick, Dan Williams and Tim Hosking.
I have attached the information about each Twitchathon together with the registration form, checklist and sponsor record sheet. I hope that you will all consider getting your team organised and entering this year’s Twitchathon. Dan is setting up the website again and these documents will also be available on the website at www.twitch24nsw.org
As usual the most important part of the Twitchathon is fund raising for a research/conservation project in NSW. This year funds will go to Nicholas Carlile for his project to determine if Montague Island has become a significant and sustained breeding site for the Gould’s petrel, which is Australia’s rarest endemic seabird. There will be more information about this project on the website at www.twitch24nsw.org. There will soon be information on the website about how you and your friends can donate to the Twitchathon project.
With best wishes
Elisabeth and Tom Karplus
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An interesting article about how Sydney birds around Circular Quay are adapting to the absence of tourists and locals.
https://www.xeno-canto.org/676314
The advent of the third decade of the twenty first century has delivered overlapping health and climate crises. These have impacted on our birding and travel activities.
Covid restrictions have ruled out overseas travel, and interstate ventures are uncertain. The repeated experience of trips cancelled at the last moment means that travel planning has become a bit more of a last minute affair.
Recently, Lee and I bit the bullet and had a two week holiday in far north Queensland – a region hard hit by the loss of tourism and a nice place to be this time of year. By good fortune, we managed to get a good hire car deal – picking up Subaru Forester in Cairns and dropping it off at the Brisbane Airport for less than $1200 for 15 days.
When we are planning our itinerary and booking accomodation, some of the places we wanted to book – e.g. Cassowary House in Kuranda and Red Mill House in Daintree were booked out. When we flew to Cairns, NSW and Victoria were firmly in lockdown and SEQ was coming out of restrictions. At some of the places we stayed, we were the only guests there, and indeed, the only guests in a while. There were tales of mass cancellations. The caravan parks and the like favoured by grey nomads were doing alright (lots of refugees sitting out the pandemic in a pleasant environment), while the niche out of the way places suffered more. There was a vacancy sign out the front of Red Mill House.
One of the things that stood out on this trip was the frequency with which we saw and heard Bush Thickknees. They seemed to be everywhere in FNQ, from the centre of Yungaburra (which they shared with fig parrots), to our accommodation in Wonga and the caravan park at Mission Beach.
Our stay at Kingfisher Park (Julatten) was enjoyable as always. The house platypus put on a good display and the Papuan Frogmouths were hanging out in the bamboo patch as usual. The road up Mt Lewis was in very good condition, the Ho Chi Min Track was clear and we had nice views of a Pied Monarch at the dam. There were plenty of Chowchillas about (including a family of five) and we had nice views of a Cassowary and his (second stage) chick near the carpark. We saw another cassowary near the mangrove boardwalk near Cape Tribulation.
We quite enjoyed Murray Hunt’s early morning bird cruise on the Daintree River. We had nice views of Little and Azure Kingfishers, as well as a Great-billed Heron (the motivation behind many birders patronage of the service). It was also nice to watch sunbirds flying to a nest hanging over the next table while we enjoyed coffee and smashed avocado after the trip.
Finally we enjoyed nice views of the Golden Bowerbird at Mt Hypipamee – he was using moss to decorate his bower.
The trip out to Agincourt was far less enjoyable. Virtually all the hard coral there was dead, and finning about the devastated environment created a deep sense of solastalgia. A dead reef, like a burnt rainforest, is another in your face manifestation of climate change. While I would pick a different reef to visit next time, it was important to witness the impact of humanity’s actions on the biophysical environment.
Another sad observation was the complete absence of Ulysses Butterflies.
Other than that, it was nice getting away from the cross-border Covid incursions (we’ve learnt that a stitch in time saves ninety nine). But for the pressures of work, I would happily spend more time up there.
If you are free of travel restrictions and feel like hitting the road, the birds of FNQ are calling.
Regards, Laurie
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Hey everyone…
I have a Canon 7D mk ll camera body…
What do u all use out there that’s fast and efficient when it comes to card readers downloading images that are RAW to the computer fast Nd great quality???
The other cheap one I got had these little projection thingys which became a little bent Nd wouldn’t line up with the holes on my card…was frustrating..
Hope to hear from you
Kirri
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Good morning,
I hope you are good ? I need an urgent Favour from you, I'd appreciate if you could email me back once you get this.
Many thanks,
Tony