Happy New Year to all!! Just a quick note to say a BIG congratulations to John Weigel on setting a new Australian record for a ‘Big Year’. I’m not sure of his final total, but suffice to say, over 740 will take some beating. Well done Johnny Happy birding to all for 2013 Scott Ryan ===============================
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Just to add my congratulations to John.
Sadly, I never got to meet up with him during the year, but well done, just the same.
I linked my donation to Devil Ark to the actual number of species John found.
Cheers all, John Tongue Ulverstone, Tas.
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Hi all, Indeed John is deserved of a hard-earned round of congratulations. I just love how Big Years have those funny quirks, like the dips (of which there weren’t many for John, but Aussie Bittern must be the stand-out) and the fact that one can be birding so hard for so long and still not see (or at least ‘count’) a Pacific Koel or White-throated Needletail until mid November. I know these are both “blunder birds”, but still… Another great thing about Big Years are the stories, sometimes documented in books 😉 and I can’t wait to hear again the story about the White-throated Grasswren. From Tim’s account it was a tale of sheer determination (put lightly) to see that bird! Some of the stories about getting from A to B also sound like great fun, especially being stranded a few times. It will be interesting to see the wash-up in the C&B taxonomy too (I could try and work it out, but will leave that to John), as this is what Sean based his 2002 list on. I was travelling o/s all of 2002 so missed a lot of the excitement of Sean’s ‘Big Twitch’, but it was great to be in the thick of John’s Big Year last year. He was so committed that I thought at one stage that he was going to get himself committed! 😉 And Jeremy makes a good point in reminding us that John’s Big Year was a fundraiser for the Devil Ark project. See http://www.devilark.com.au/support/index.html Cheers, Mick
________________________________ Cc: “birding-aus@lists.vicnet.net.au” Sent: Wednesday, 2 January 2013 11:21 AM
I’d like to echo the Congratulations to John. An awesome effort, and it was exciting to be there as a few of the pelagic birds were added to the list. I hope that others are inspired like I am, and make a small (or large :P) donation to the Devil Ark charity too
Jeremy
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I’d like to echo the Congratulations to John. An awesome effort, and it was exciting to be there as a few of the pelagic birds were added to the list. I hope that others are inspired like I am, and make a small (or large :P) donation to the Devil Ark charity too
Jeremy
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Happy New Year to all y’all!
I would like to add my BIG congratulations to John Weigel and to also publicly thank him. I am a US immigrant to Oz and ‘fairly’ new birder. I met John at the WTP in Werribee last February as he was beginning his big year and we exchanged emails and kept in sporadic touch.
As the year progressed and I was doing more birding, John took the time to share specific, and extremely helpful information with me as I explored some new areas (Hattah Kulkyne, Gluepot and Tasmania were three). So… here he was doing the biggest year yet, and still he made the time in the midst of it all to help another birder. A great year for a great guy. Cheers, R. Bruce Richardson Torquay, VIC
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Congratulations indeed. A massive effort. As to the final number we should await John’s advice as with just two days to go, he told me that the final count should be 747! Sad to learn that he could not find an Australasian Bittern in a birding-year following two very wet years. Has it really become that rare?
Mike Carter 30 Canadian Bay Road Mount Eliza VIC 3930 Tel (03) 9787 7136
744 I believe – truly amazing. Of those who declare their life lists ( http://www.tonypalliser.com/totals.html) only 15 people have seen more than that in a lifetime!
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