Friday, 16 November 2012

Black-necked Stalkers Twitchathon Report (part 1)



Well Twitchathon time is never dull and this year was no different.  One scratching a few days before the race as our scribe, Annette Harrison, became ill and a bushfire in the Gibraltar Range were the only apparent negative issues.  Everything else looked good.  There were birds everywhere and the weather was predicted to be cool, a relief from the sometimes oppressive dry heat typical of Sunday afternoons on Twitch weekends.  The team comprised Russell Jago, Gary Eggins and myself.  Gary took over the role as scribe but was a participating scribe, meaning he could call birds as well.  We only needed two members to call each species.  We had agreed to stay completely within the Clarence Valley this year which can be limiting.  Three-thirty saw us standing at a wetland near Grafton watching a Black-fronted Dotterel and two Comb-crested Jacanas.  Ten minutes before start time a male White-winged Triller lobbed into a flowering Silky Oak.  Russell was allocated to keep it in sight.  White-winged Trillers have been absent from the valley for a couple of years so we wanted this one on our list.  Four o’clock arrived and we called Black-fronted Dotterel and Comb-crested Jacana but the Triller had completely vanished.  By the time we left this wetland eighteen minutes later we had notched up 31 species.  A good start.  Wedge-tailed Eagle was seen next followed by Plumed Whistling-duck and Musk Lorikeet.  The Musk Lorikeet was a real bonus as they had been absent from the Clarence Valley for many months.  They had only returned the week before the Twitch.  At Eatonsville we added 6 species including Grey-crowned Babbler then back to the Gwydir Highway notching up Rainbow Bee-eater and Peaceful Dove on the way.   Between Eatonsville and the Gibraltar Range we added 23 species including Spangled Drongo, Little Lorikeet and Channel-billed Cuckoo.  Gibraltar Range was interesting with a shroud of smoke but surprisingly we heard Paradise Riflebird and Wompoo Fruit-Dove in an area that had been back burnt.  The back burn was in a rather moist area and was relatively cool and low so the damage to vegetation was limited.  A stop to confirm Brown Cuckoo-Dove also produced Green Catbird, Satin Bowerbird and White-headed Pigeon and others.  A toilet stop at a lookout added Bassian Thrush as two were at the entrance to the toilet block.   Our regular Rufous Scrub-bird did not disappoint and a Superb Lyrebird was foraging on the roadside nearby.  The Noisy Pitta also called on cue and after a few nervous minutes of waiting the two Glossy Black-Cockatoos turned up at their usual location.   We arrived at the Emu-wren site but the sun was setting and the cool weather meant that most birds had shut down for the night.  Despite this we ticked off Southern Emu-wren, Variegated Fairy-wren and New Holland Honeyeater.  As darkness fell we heard Australian Logrunner and shortly after a Southern Boobook was calling.  Nocturnal species are difficult to get but we were happy with Southern Boobook, Eastern Barn Owl, White-throated Nightjar, Australian Owlet-nightjar, Masked Owl, Bush Stone-curlew and Tawny Frogmouth as well as Eastern Koel and Latham’s Snipe.  By the time we went to bed at 1.30 am we had recorded 117 species.  To be continued.

Greg Clancy
Head Stalker
Black-necked Stalkers Twitchathon Team 

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