Birdlife Victoria’s 2015 Victorian Twitchathon results

Hey birding, As mentioned by Chris Watson in a previous message, Birdlife Victoria’s Twitchathon was a great success this year! A few people have asked me about the results. Here they are (see below). Congratulations to all the teams who participated, what a great race! Thank to those who sponsored us. Of course, sponsoring the race is still very much still open – to help save our threatened mallee birds see the see https://www.justgiving.com/2015VicTwitchathon . Big congratulations to the winning teams, the Manky Shearwaters and the Phaps around the Traps! The competition in the 8-hour race this year was the most competitive I’ve seen in any division previously in the Victorian Twitchathon. Four teams finished with 140 and above! Two in the 120s, and the rest around the 100 mark. There was also some excellent promotion from the thon teams such as the Manky Shearwaters, Filthy Flockers and Phaps around the Traps, and so on. The Phaps have put together a fantastic YouTube video – see Great work Matt and Mick. Love it! 8-HOUR RACE 1st 150 Phaps around the Traps (Matthew Crawford, Mick Ramsey). Best bird: Olive Whistler & Black-faced Cormorant; worst dip: Rainbow Lorikeet. 2nd 147 Seven-Year Twitchers (Fiona Parkin, Peter Shute, Giles Daubeney, Tim Dolby). Best bird: Spotted Harrier (sitting next to our car at eye level); worst dip: Black-shouldered Kite. 3rd 144 Soft Cockatiels (Lucas Bluff, Rohan Bilney). Best bird: Topknot Pigeon; worst dip: Superb Lyrebird. 4th 142 Lesser Rednecks (Clancy Weeks, Matt Weeks). Best bird: Apostlebird; worst dip: Wedgie. 5th 129 Filthy Flockers (Philip Peel, Owen Lishmund, Robin Rider, Brad White, Jack Parrington, Adam Fry). Best bird: Mulga Parrot (equal VicTwitch ’15 best bird); worst dip: Black-shouldered Kite. 6th 121 Twice Bittern (Brett Whitfield, Bob Dawson, Tamara Leitch, Aileen Collyer). Best bird: White-bellied Sea-Eagle; worst dip: Grey Currawong. 7th 111 Werribee Plains Wanderers (Stephen Kaye, Sonja Frei, Richard Taylor). Best bird: Pacific Golden Plover, Banded Lapwing; worst dip: Rainbow Lorikeet, Rock Dove. 8th 98 Lame Ducks (Wouter van Dongen, Amy Rogers, Michelle Hall). Best bird: Rainbow Bee-eater; worst dip: Laughing Kookaburra. 9th 97 Catbirders (Reza & Imka Mohammed). Best bird: Rainbow Bee-eater; worst dip: Australian Wood Duck. 10th 90 The Woodies (Martin, Felicity & John Woodward). Best bird: Diamond Firetail; worst dip: Common Bronzewing. 24-HOUR RACE 1st 201 Manky Shearwaters (Steve Davidson, Chris Watson, Sean Dooley, Andrew Stafford). Best bird: Sooty Owl; worst dip: Black-tailed Native-hen. 2nd 120 The Blockies (Kurt Smyth, Konrad Smyth, Roger Newman). Best bird: Diamond Firetail; worst dip: Rainbow Lorikeet. 3rd 96 WE Weebills (John Harris, Knud Hansen & Kathy Himbeck). Best bird: Elegant Parrot (equal VicTwitch ’15 best bird); worst dip: Common Bronzewing. 4th DNF Billings (Noel and Lynne Billing) DNF. Apologies given. 5th (Pending) Werribee Zoo BEST BIRD Joint winners. There were some great birds seen during the thon. Such as Banded Lapwing, Apostlebird, Olive Whistler, Sooty Owl and Topknot Pigeon. However it is hard to go past Elegant Parrot (seen by the WE Weebills in the Little Desert) and Mulga Parrot (see by the Filthy Flockers at Goschen, a new bird for that fantastic little reserve). Australia. The land of parrots. WORST DIP Rainbow Lorikeet was nominated by three teams (Phaps around the Traps, Werribee Plains Wanderers, The Blockies), so that pesky colourful bird must be the worst dips for the competition. SPONSORSHIP & MOST SPONSORSHIP RAISED The competition for most sponsorship raised is still hot, with sponsorship still coming in (see https://www.justgiving.com/2015VicTwitchathon ). However, it looks like the winner will be the Manky Shearwaters, who set up their own JustGiving page (https://www.justgiving.com/Manky-Shearwaters ), but there is serious competition from those Filthy Flockers. In terms of sponsorship, this year must be close to a Victorian record. So far we have already raised nearly $6000 for the the Mallee IBAs. Cheers, Tim Dolby