Hi all, Have only just re-subscribed to Birding-aus, but thought I should post Jacqueline Winter’s Hunter Home Brewers trip report from a couple of weekends ago, just as the Vics are completing their event. I guess we are guilty of being one of them teams that Greg Clancy referred to in his Black-necked Stalkers report last week. Like our list of dips for 2011, the story is long! Thanks to anyone who reads it and apologies for any formatting problems. Mick Brewer HunterHomeBrewers Twitchathon 2011 – ‘Mallee Melee’ In their 13th year of competing in the NSW Twitchathon, the Hunter Home Brewers decided it was time to ‘stretch out’. Each of their past Twitches had been either entirely within the Hunter Valley (4 times) or having started on the Liverpool Plains (8 times). It was time for something new; something remote; something a tad crazy – it had to be the mallee! Once again, Mick Brew had been absent (with leave) since June, but in the lead-up to the Twitch (read: since about late June) it had become apparent to him that the Brewers needed to think outside of the squares this year. Whilst busily seeking out the endemics of Borneo he had corresponded with Steve Brew about what the lads would do in 2011. A guiding commitment saw Steve out in the Round Hill area in early October and he commented that if there was ever a year to start in the mallee, it was going to be this year. The Brewers had toyed with the idea of starting in the mallee in the past, but the (serious) tyranny of distance had dissuaded them from taking the plunge, almost solely due to the fact that they wouldn’t be able to make it even close to a rainforest for a dawn chorus. By not being at a rainforest at this time, or moreover by not making it to quality rainforest at all, does you out of at least a dozen key species – potentially more if your “back-up” rainforest site doesn’t produce. Some quick maths were done and it appeared that they could still make it into good rainforest habitat…just a few hours later than normal. The quality and quantity of birds in the mallee, particularly at this time, was the clincher and soon all four of the Brew Crew were firing up for a mallee run. But some serious oil was required. Hence the lads departed Newcastle early on Thursdee morning to fine tune the itinerary and build on the knowledge that Steve had garnered in his time out there. Larry Landcruiser, on his 7th and final Twitch, was abuzz as the boys neared Lake Cargelligo in the late afternoon. This buzz turned into pure pandemonium as a large figure appeared on the red dusty road as they headed north-west through the mallee country. Larry came to a sudden halt and sure enough a Malleefowl was there, completing what looked like a very relaxed road crossing. A new bird for three of the Brewers, it was the perfect start to a couple of days checking out the mallee action. With the adrenalin of the Malleefowl subsiding, they made a unanimous decision to head to the pub. After a good night’s rest and warming the concrete bar at the Royal Hotel in Mount Hope, it was time for the serious oil-drilling to commence. En-route back to Cargelligo a stop was made to check out some Crimson Chats that were flushed off the Euabalong-Mt Hope roadside. This was a fortuitous thing, as this spot was alive with quality birds, including Gilbert’s Whistler, Grey-fronted, Black and Pied Honeyeaters, but most impressively a pair of Little Woodswallows, which are a scarce bird in these parts. They looked quite settled on a dead tree, whilst dozens of their White-browed and Masked counterparts soared and chirped above them. Having spent the next few hours combing the Cargelligo area it was decided that the “Dummy Run” should start at this spot. As always, the Dummy Run produces some great birds – birds that make Brewers sweat during the main event. The final 2 birds in their total of 110 for the Dummy Run were amongst the best, with a lone Wood Sands picked up by Mick Brew in the scope before scanning through and finding a “shoulder” of an Aussie Painted Snipe amongst the densely vegetated part of the open pond. The bird briefly showed its face as the other Brewers caught a peak, before it sidled away out view. Would it be there the next day? Quite satisfied that 110 was a decent tally, the team adjourned…well, to the pub. Over the obligatory western NSW Chinese fare, the Brewers decided that if the Little Woods were still at their perch, that it was worth starting the main event at that spot again. This was indeed what transpired, but not without complication. The Brewers got into position at 1530 having been charged by some contraband Red Bull that Mick Brew had smuggled in from Malaysia. The Little Woods contently, almost Bee-eater like, stood on their perch occasionally sallying up into the air and returning to the same point. Every team has the standard “fly-by” bird in the lead-up minutes to the Twitchathon kick-off time and for the Brewers it was a flock of seven Budgies that scooted through at lightning speed at about 1545. But then at 1556 both of the Little Woods took to the air…”this couldn’t be happening!” the Brewers thought. Mick Brew trained his eyes onto one of the birds and watched it like a hawk. With under a minute to go he put Steve and Grena Brew got onto the bird as Ando Brew counted down from about 30 seconds out before announcing Twitch-time. Incredulous at how close it was that their star bird nearly escaped, they straightened their craned necks and after the standard 4 or 5 minutes at their starting point the lads set-off on the remainder of their 2011 campaign. Straight to the Wheat Paddock where some of the ‘reason-for-coming-this-far’ mallee birds such as Shy Heathwren, Yellow-plumed Honeyeater and Southern Scrub-robin were added. Two, then three Gilbert’s Whistlers made an appearance but there was no sign of their rarer cousin. A long and time-consuming search was then made for the Chestnut Quail-thrush found easily the day before, but yielded little more than Splendid Fairy-wrens and a Red-capped Robin. One can imagine the excitement when a “long-tailed Quail-thrush-sized bird” then flushed up – alas a Bar-shouldered Dove – the QT was to be a dip. Whooey Tank had been quiet in general over the past 48 hours, and it was no different on the Twitch. However, it did provide the target bird – Black Honeyeater – as well as a bonus in the form of a Red-backed Kingfisher nicely spotted by Ando Brew on a low perch. With 44 on the board they set off south along the mallee highway, hoping for a repeat of the Malleefowl pedestrian effort, but it wasn’t to be. Then in the distance they noticed a suspiciously familiar vehicle hurtling towards them with a cloud of red dust in its wake. The Brewers soon identified the car as the Dodgidrongomobile and each person in both vehicles leapt forth with arms, legs and other appendages combined with various expletive-ridden greetings at each other. Nothing like healthy competition. With that formality out of the way, the Brewers continued onto one of the “gun spots” they had found the day before. White-browed and Masked Woods had been in droves for the 2 days they’d been working the area and they were still there – hundreds of birds moving en-masse between flowering Eremophila trees. Spotted Bowerbird, Chestnut-rumped Thornbill and Little Friarbird were all handy additions, but there was no sign of the Crimson Chats or Singing Honeyeaters that had been regular in that area [sic], the latter which was a particularly cruel miss. It was then a case of mopping up roadside birds such as Emu, Cockatiel, Brown Songlark, Blue Bonnet and Little Raven before someone commented that we hadn’t had Apostlebirds. Literally 300m down the road a group of 3 Apostles were huddled under a lone, dwarf Wilga tree on a fenceline – a rather strange but very welcome sight. Next stop – Chat Alley. Zebra Finches showed instantly, as did White-winged Fairy-wrens but none of the location’s namesakes were obvious to the eye. Steve Brew then picked a male Orange Chat at a distance that then dropped off its salty perch, and it was a long, agonising wait while the other Brewers waited for it to return, which it eventually did. With a well-oiled Painted Honeyeater and a jinking Spotted Harrier next to fall on their way to Cargelligo, an air of anticipation filled the car. Despite some of this air being a by-product of the night-before’s Chinese, things were looking reasonably positive, with some inevitable dips but generally good birds under their belt. A Black Kite was a welcome sight as they entered the city limits of Lake Cargelligo. After a quick peek down at the lakefront for not-much-really, it was on to the Promised Land – the Faeces Farm. The scribes went into overdrive as a flurry of town, lake, swamp and wading birds fell like flies. Their 100th bird was Spotted Crake, seen feeding with Spotless and Baillon’s Crakes, the latter swimming like a miniature moorhens. Mick Brew got into position for the wading birds and soon had the Wood Sands, along with Marshies and Sharpies and a few birds not seen on the Dummy Run; Greenshanks, Avocets and a patrolling Gull-billed Tern getting his what-for from some feisty Whiskereds. Quite a bit (in hindsight apparently too much) time was spent scanning for missing birds like Freckled Duck, Shelduck and almost obsessively the Painted Snipe. Nothing new was added during their final 20 minutes at the ponds and so in Larry they set forth for the long night-drive. After only picking up Barn Owls on the drive to Dubbo, some quality Farmboy oil saw them adding Barking Owl to their list in Dubbo itself – the final of 18 maiden birds for the Brewers in 2011. Alas the 3-hour rule loomed large as they crossed the big hill and into the Hunter Valley. The Brewers rested but barely slept at their night-roost at Cassilis Rest Area where Owlet Nightjars and Tawny Frogmouths were heard calling. Pallid Cuckoos also called frenetically, almost Koel-like for the entire time the Brewers rested, their bodies strewn out on the various picnic tables. At 0445 it was a weary, but tentless packing of Larry before off they went to try and reach the rainforest in respectable time. It was a very foreign sensation for the Brewers to be driving during the dawn-chorus and a time when their list is normally ticking over at a bird a minute. A suggestion was made to make the detour to Medhurst Bridge and as they were missing a few woodland birds it was decided to head down the Martindale Valley. The Brewers must have only just missed the CCCC’s team who had been there for the dawn chorus. As it turned out, the decision to make this detour was a bad one, for two reasons. Firstly, they only added a single bird that wasn’t seen elsewhere yet dipped on some reasonably-expected-birds such as Diamond Firetail and White-backed Swallow. Moreover, it was the expense of time spent getting there and back that may have cost them dearly. The long drive towards the south-facing rainforested gullies of the Barrington Tops from this point seemed to go on forever and eventually it became apparent that they would not have time to visit their key rainforest sites. Instead they had to make do with some rainforest remnants that have normally just been mopping sites in years gone by. Some great birds such as Wompoo Fruit-Dove, Topknot, Regent Bowerbird, Black-faced Monarch, Cicadabird and Pheasant Coucal (amongst 5 cuckoos calling in the area) were added to the list, but there was a host of birds they forewent by not venturing into the rainforest proper. Notwithstanding, there were 187 birds on their list as they commenced the great meander back down the valley, visiting a number of “old haunts” on their way to the woodlands around Kurri Kurri. It would be bordering on blaspheme for a Twitch team working the Lower Hunter not to visit Green Wattle Creek Road and so in the Brewers went, but adding only Crested Shrike-tit in terms of quality birds. Banded Lapwings were found amongst the turf farms at Lorn, en-route to that other pet Twitch site, Walka Water Works where the usual suspects were found, including their 200th bird in Musk Duck. After a time-burning stake-out for New Holland Honeyeaters, the boys ventured into the Kurri Woodlands. As expected, the place was going bananas, even in the heat of the day. Little Lorikeets flew over, Black-chinned Honeyeaters called on-cue and eventually a pair of Dusky Woodswallows were found, amongst the hordes of nest-prospecting White-broweds. Mick Brew had a Painted Button-quail calling at his feet but it was too low-pitched for the others to hear clearly and by the time they’d scurried over it stopped completely. More bad luck followed with the rear right tyre noticed hissing away around an old rusty railway nail. The Larry Pit Crew sprung into action and despite spending the next quarter-hour there, no new birds were heard whilst the repairs were made. Onto Poor Man’s Kakadu and it didn’t fail to produce, with Jacanas found easily and a pair of Sea-Eagles perched on a dead tree – the only ones they were to see on the Twitch. A quick visit to Leneghan’s Drive provided Latham’s Snipe and Brown Goshawk before it was time to head into Newcastle for the high-risk (traffic vs rewards) seawatch and rock platform scope-session. It was a very lean year, with only a single bird added off the ocean (Wedge-tailed Shearwater) and three from the rock platforms (Crested and Common Terns and Ruddy Turnstone). Sooty Oystercatchers were particularly conspicuous by their absence (as many teams could attest to it seems). Now perched on 225 species at 1430 and growing in confidence of at least breaking their own record, they set-off for the crucial visit to the Stockton shorebird roosts. The Brewers had deliberately left this as their final region before heading to the finish line due to the very favourable tide times. And they timed it to perfection with a large flock of gathering birds on the shoreline. With the water line still a tad high though, they decided to go for the foreshore birds first and easily found Grey-tailed tattler and Terek Sandpipers. A slow crawl alongside the mangroves for Whimbrels and Common Sands failed to produce either, but did provide one of the most fluke-filled ticks of 2011, as a voice came from the back seat “hang on, what’s that?”. While all other eyes were trained on the shoreline, a keen eye had picked up a pair of virtually motionless Yellow-tailed Black-Cockatoos gnawing away at the mid-branches of a mangrove tree! A quality mop indeed and bird #230. Over to the sandspit where the water had dropped just enough that more birds were in attendance than had been as they crossed the bridge. The decision to leave the sandspit as there final stop paid off, as it was a who’s who of Hunter shorebirds set-out in front of them, yet not another Twitch team was in sight. Whimbrel was the final bird picked up here, but they’d managed to see virtually all of the migratory shorebirds they could have reasonably expected, including one of the scarcer ones in Great Knot. In the process they’d also surpassed their previous best of 238 species, which now grew to 243 with the wetlands centre still to come and a guaranteed double awaiting there. At the wetlands centre it was the usual final-Sunday-in-October-afternoon, with somewhat bedraggled binocular and list-toting folk gadding about. The Brewers added Maggie Goose and Wandering Whistling Duck soon after arriving, and so had about ten minutes before the final whistle to locate a ‘bonus bird’. Shoveler was the main thing they had in mind, but they happily took the Buff-banded Rail that was walking around the edge of a near swamp. 246 was their final tally and all four agreed it was a fine brewing effort on their first twitch-foray into the mallee. They had recorded 18 birds that they had not on any previous Twitch, bringing their total tally to 309 species (on their 3rd route). Still, it wasn’t enough to take the cake, with the Menacing Monarchs coming home with a new record of 250 from their Macquarie Marshes starting point. Still, to be so close on an ambitious, yet relatively untried run has the Brewers looking forward eagerly to next year. Jacqueline Winter ===============================
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