NSW and ACT Twitchathon

Hi all, A quick note to say that the NSW and ACT Twitchathon was run on the weekend just past. There were 32 teams taking part, comprised of 104 participants, ranging from the Main Race to the Childrens’ races. For the second year running, the Dodgy Drongo’s pipped the Hunter Home Brewers by one bird to take out the Main Race prize (preliminary results at this stage). The Hunter Home Brewers thought they had it in the bag arriving at the end location with 247 species under their belt, only to find that the Drongo’s had posted 248! The key difference between these two teams is that the Brewers combine NSW mallee / Lake Cargelligo poo ponds with Lower Hunter rainforest, as opposed to the more productive Barrington Tops rainforests, which are out of reach for teams commencing in the mallee. The Drongo’s however, have a run that incorporates western woodland with the Barrington rainforests – two different models reaping very similar scores. The Brewers were hampered by major storms that forced some major decisions that saw them dashing straight past their key mallee sites to avoid getting stuck in the red earth mud-bath that was about to transpire. We only just made it through, but it cost us a few birds. The Fly By Nightjars placed equal third with the Back O’ Bourke Buzzards (aka Dry-throated Buzzards), who ditched their bicycles this year and headed….well, to the back o’ Bourke! Both teams posted 221 species. In the Champagne Race, Raven On took line honours with an impressive 195 species, followed by the Lousy Jacks on 155 and closely by the Night Poirets with 153. Close to $20,000 has been pledged to the Powerful Owl Project to continue gathering and analysing data for another breeding season. CheersMick