Bird-a-Day

Greetings Martin Yes, I agree, it is always of intense interest learning what other birders [often referred to by the general public as “nutters”] are up to. While my “official” retirement occurs on 25 April, as I said earlier, what with the long 2013/14 summer vacation, followed by long-service leave up until 25 April, I have effectively been in retirement since 13 December 2013. And you’re right, the concept of the “weekend” flew out of the window. Rather than “miss” the routine of school I find I have managed to squeeze in a little more birding, especially noticeable since the end of January 2014 when I would ordinarily have gone back into the usual school routine. I think I recall becoming aware of the Bird-a-Day challenge via a posting on this forum and decided it might keep me from becoming bored – I was, at that time, still “employed” by Education Queensland and had heard that retired teachers soon miss the classroom and fade away. Fay and I opened the year as we have become accustomed to open every year over the past few years, a visit to nearby Boat Mountain. It has two advantages: the local avifauna is very good and it’s a steep, very steep, uphill climb – good for my diabetes. We [and in spite of only my moniker being on the lists, it is a joint effort with Fay, my better three-quarters] started the challenge with a Black-breasted Button-quail. Matters went well from there on in, although I doubt that we would have lasted so long had we now not both been retired with the time on our hands to venture forth a little in pursuit of birds. Like you, Martin, I have managed to retain intact most of our “savers”; indeed, we have two categories of “savers”: our Class 1 “savers”, the Torresian Crow, Rainbow Lorikeet, etc. which are constant visitors to the property and our Class 2 “savers”, birds a little beyond the front gate but which are reliable and can be added further down the calendar. April should be straight-forward enough and May should provide few problems whatsoever as Fay and I will be in the UK and even the humble Chaffinch will count as a different bird for one of those 31 days. Following a month in Scotland [one week on the Isle of Mull in continuing pursuit of that elusive Golden Eagle] and England we venture out to – believe it or not, Singapore for a few days before returning home. The second week of June may be more problematic but hopefully that 200th bird looming up in July should be sufficient a spur to encourage us. On the other hand, should Fay and I fall by the wayside, well, the birds are still there and we will continue to add new locations to our growing list of potential birding places, or simply continue to enjoy those birds that visit us on our small rural-residential block. Cheers Julian http://osprey2014.wordpress.com/ _______________________________________________ Birding-Aus mailing list Birding-Aus@birding-aus.org To change settings or unsubscribe visit: http://birding-aus.org/mailman/listinfo/birding-aus_birding-aus.org