For me, the thrill of seeing the LBB Gull atop that festering rubbish pile at the Broome Rubbish Tip on Saturday was more than proportionate to the difficulty and expense to travel Sydney – Broome – TWICE! My initial trip unfortunately overlapped with the first-known two or three day absence for the gull from the tip since its discovery several weeks earlier. George was incredibly helpful, and together we searched a range of potential Broome hangouts for it, all to no avail. I spent a second day doing the same, and returned home on the overnight killer-flight disappointed and a bit defeated. So I didn’t know whether to laugh or cry when George rang me up a day later with the news that the gull was back at the tip. Unexpectedly the wife OK’d a second assault, and I was back in Broome two days later. Full of anticipation, I rang George from the Airport to get the latest intel. He said that a big storm had hit the night before, and that the gull was apparently absent from the Tip, and that for the first time, he was a bit concerned about its whereabouts. Aughh. George met me at the tip ten minutes later, and despite the usual scavenging flocks of Silver Gulls, Ibises, Crows and Corellas, NO LBB Gull. I made a lap of the sewage treatment plant, and various beach and shoreline locations, before returning to the tip late that afternoon. What a relief to see that big beautiful rubbish-eater mixing it up with the usual junk-yard scrappers. It’s been described as a glorified Kelp Gull by some, and ‘scungy’ by others, but all I could feel was love! An unforgettable experience, and a chance to see a species that may not be ‘see-able’ again in Australia for a long, long time.
John
To:
“Tony Russel” < pratincole@esc.net.au>
Subject:
Lesser Black-backed Gull at Broome
From:
John Tongue < jspk@iprimus.com.au>
Date:
Tue, 12 Feb 2013 13:20:13 +1100
If people don’t want to spend the money to go and see it, then don’t…..
On 12/02/2013, at 1:04 PM, Tony Russel wrote:
> Richard, I’m with Philip on this. You skipped very quickly over the > expensive bits !! For a start you used frequent flyer points !! The air > fare from Adelaide (compulsorily via Melb) is around $400-800, and that’s in > the cheap seats. Going on one’s own the minimum accommodation cost would > be ca $120 per night. Then I’d have to hire a car for a couple of days – > allow $120 for that, plus fuel. Oh, and I guess one would need to eat , > other than taking sandwiches. Allow another $50 for that even eating fast > food ( which I don’t). OK for some, but not for most of us. And all for > one skungey bird which I’ve seen a hundred times in the UK. I don’t think > so. > > Tony > > —–Original Message—– > From: birding-aus-bounces@lists.vicnet.net.au > [birding-aus-bounces@lists.vicnet.net.au] On Behalf Of Richard Baxter > Sent: Tuesday, 12 February 2013 11:48 AM > To: Philip Veerman; birding-aus > Subject: Re: [Birding-Aus] Lesser Black-backed Gull at Broome > > Philip, > It doesn’t always cost a fortune. I twitched the LBBG in Broome a > few weeks ago with Mike and Rohan. The entire trip cost me $75. I used > frequent flyer points, we shared a room and George Swan very kindly drive us > to the rubbish tip. > > Breakfast at Maccas and flew home. > > Cheers > Richard > > > > Sent from my iPhone > > On 12/02/2013, at 12:02 PM, “Philip Veerman”
===============================
To unsubscribe from this mailing list, send the message: unsubscribe (in the body of the message, with no Subject line) to: birding-aus-request@vicnet.net.au
http://birding-aus.org ===============================
======= Email scanned by PC Tools – No viruses or spyware found. (Email Guard: 9.0.0.1218, Virus/Spyware Database: 6.21000) http://www.pctools.com/ ======= ===============================
To unsubscribe from this mailing list, send the message: unsubscribe (in the body of the message, with no Subject line) to: birding-aus-request@vicnet.net.au
http://birding-aus.org ===============================
