On the 30th of October at 3:50pm, Henry, Nathan and I arrived at Pitt Town Lagoon, staking out the area so that we could tick as many birds as possible at 4:00 and then leave. For those who don’t know it, we were about to start the annual NSW BASNA Twitchathon – a race to see or hear as many bird species as possible in 24 hours. None of us had participated in the Twitchathon before, and after having our most experienced birder, Max, snatched away from us by Grant for his team, the Dodgy Drongos (see The Twitcher blog), it was up to us, the Knight Parrots! As we were in the junior division, getting a big list of 200+ wasn’t really a priority, or even a possibility, considering we were only staying in Sydney (as opposed to others like the Macquarie Marshes to Hunter team).
So, back atPitt Town
We drove toWilberforce Park
On to the turf farms, which gave us some pretty good species, some of which we didn’t see for the rest of the twitch. Some good views of a Peregrine, a pipit and getting kicked off a private property trying to get into Bakers Lagoon were the highlights.
The travel times we had planned on where a bit long, so we finished at the turf farms about an hour early. We decided to go back to thePitt Town
We drove back to our campsite (set up earlier at about 3:00), and tallied up the ticks to 69 species. We had a quick dinner (halfway through we heard a Kookaburra, which made us very excited) and headed off to Mitchell Park for some spotlighting.
On the way, we got Max’s text message, which told us they were on 110 species, which we laughed at, assuming that it would be close to our end total for the next day. At Mitchell, we walked all the way to the end of the park without seeing or hearing anything (despite my best Owlet Nightjar impersonations) Henry had more luck, as when he tried his best White-throated Nightjar impersonation, a Powerful Owl responded! We moved towards it, and despite about 30 minutes of coaxing it refused to come into a tree where we could see it, much to our disappointment. We moved away, thoroughly sick of not having seen anything and only getting 1 tick for the list. We then decided to “screw the Twitchathon” and use playback to try and bring in a White-throated Nightjar (not to add to the list, just to see because we all wanted that as a lifer). Unfortunately, no White-throated, but after playing the call a few times, we all got great views of an Owlet Nightjar, which didn’t fly off even when we were all within touching distance! We left it and walked back to the car, thoroughly pleased with our sighting, when another Owlet-nightjar called without the aid of callback. TICK!
So, back at
We drove to
On to the turf farms, which gave us some pretty good species, some of which we didn’t see for the rest of the twitch. Some good views of a Peregrine, a pipit and getting kicked off a private property trying to get into Bakers Lagoon were the highlights.
The travel times we had planned on where a bit long, so we finished at the turf farms about an hour early. We decided to go back to the
We drove back to our campsite (set up earlier at about 3:00), and tallied up the ticks to 69 species. We had a quick dinner (halfway through we heard a Kookaburra, which made us very excited) and headed off to Mitchell Park for some spotlighting.
On the way, we got Max’s text message, which told us they were on 110 species, which we laughed at, assuming that it would be close to our end total for the next day. At Mitchell, we walked all the way to the end of the park without seeing or hearing anything (despite my best Owlet Nightjar impersonations) Henry had more luck, as when he tried his best White-throated Nightjar impersonation, a Powerful Owl responded! We moved towards it, and despite about 30 minutes of coaxing it refused to come into a tree where we could see it, much to our disappointment. We moved away, thoroughly sick of not having seen anything and only getting 1 tick for the list. We then decided to “screw the Twitchathon” and use playback to try and bring in a White-throated Nightjar (not to add to the list, just to see because we all wanted that as a lifer). Unfortunately, no White-throated, but after playing the call a few times, we all got great views of an Owlet Nightjar, which didn’t fly off even when we were all within touching distance! We left it and walked back to the car, thoroughly pleased with our sighting, when another Owlet-nightjar called without the aid of callback. TICK!
We woke up at 5:15 the next morning, when it was still dark, and headed over to Mitchell Park again for the dawn chorus. Luckily, the gates were open (unlike the night before) so we could drive all the way to the end where the habitat was more interesting. After getting out of the car, we quickly ticked off (mainly be call) WTGerygone, Wonga Pigeon, Common Bronzewing, Pallid Cuckoo, Cicadabird, Brown Gerygone, Sulphur-crested Cockatoo (finally!), Brown Cuckoo-dove, Scarlet HE, etc, etc. We also heard a Brush Cuckoo, which I would have loved to get my bins on, but the light was still low and we couldn’t locate it. I can’t complain though, I think Nathan heard about 5 lifers throughout the twitch. Heading back to Cattai to pack up the tents, Henry spotted us a male Satin Bowerbird. This was a surprise, as we didn’t think we would see them anywhere.
At Scheyville NP, we quickly got number 100, a calling Shining Bronze-cuckoo. Shortly after, a Crimson Rosella flew over, and I saw a Rufous Fantail while the others were having breakfast (I was the only one who saw it because Henry and Nathan were too slow getting over, so it wasn’t ticked until we saw one later). We added a few birds for our list including Crested Shrike-tit, Little Lorikeet, Fuscous HE, and more. Unfortunately, we left without seeing a couple of key birds, which we would have to catch up later (our first big dips).
Off to Castlereagh NR, which ended up not being such a good idea. All we added here was Variegated Wren, Speckled Warbler, Buff-rumped Thornbill and Mistletoebird. Luckily, on the way back along the main road next to the reserve, I spotted a Chough. No-one else saw it, so we convinced my dad to do a U-turn so we could add them. Later on, passing Kuringai Chase, Henry spotted some YTBCockatoos, and we had to do two U-turns to add them to the list.
Long Reef added us the common coastal waders plus some Wedge-tailed Shearwaters, but we dipped on Tattler and Gannet. Deep Creek was good, getting a few more birds including Leaden Flycatcher, Brush Bronzewing, Channel-billed Cuckoo and a completely unexpected Striated Heron plus two Figbirds. Here, we achieved our target of 130, with another couple of places to still visit!!! Warriewood Wetlands netted us Black-faced Monarch, White-cheeked HE and Brush Turkey – and it was here we changed our original plans and headed off to the Chiltern Trail to get some Honeyeaters. We got all three targets, which were New Holland, White-eared and Yellow-tufted Honeyeater. Off to Sydney Olympic Park and with our total at 135, we changed our target to 140.
At SOP, we added Coot, Godwit (lifer), Stilt, and fluked a Sea Eagle flying over. We found a couple of flowering trees and added Mangrove Gerygone (lifer) and Brown Honeyeater, our last new bird for the twitch, even though we drove quickly to Mason Park to try and get some Red-kneed Dotterels and Snipe. Finishing at the Birds Australia Discovery Centre, we tallied up or total to 141, thoroughly pleased with ourselves.
Before I end, I wish to thank a two people;
1: The biggest thankyou goes to my dad, for putting up with our insane twitch and driving us 270km in 24 hours, stopping for any bird that we could add to our list.
2: Thanks Max for helping us in the early stages of planning, but not for ditching us for the Drongos…
Off to Castlereagh NR, which ended up not being such a good idea. All we added here was Variegated Wren, Speckled Warbler, Buff-rumped Thornbill and Mistletoebird. Luckily, on the way back along the main road next to the reserve, I spotted a Chough. No-one else saw it, so we convinced my dad to do a U-turn so we could add them. Later on, passing Kuringai Chase, Henry spotted some YTBCockatoos, and we had to do two U-turns to add them to the list.
Long Reef added us the common coastal waders plus some Wedge-tailed Shearwaters, but we dipped on Tattler and Gannet. Deep Creek was good, getting a few more birds including Leaden Flycatcher, Brush Bronzewing, Channel-billed Cuckoo and a completely unexpected Striated Heron plus two Figbirds. Here, we achieved our target of 130, with another couple of places to still visit!!! Warriewood Wetlands netted us Black-faced Monarch, White-cheeked HE and Brush Turkey – and it was here we changed our original plans and headed off to the Chiltern Trail to get some Honeyeaters. We got all three targets, which were New Holland, White-eared and Yellow-tufted Honeyeater. Off to Sydney Olympic Park and with our total at 135, we changed our target to 140.
At SOP, we added Coot, Godwit (lifer), Stilt, and fluked a Sea Eagle flying over. We found a couple of flowering trees and added Mangrove Gerygone (lifer) and Brown Honeyeater, our last new bird for the twitch, even though we drove quickly to Mason Park to try and get some Red-kneed Dotterels and Snipe. Finishing at the Birds Australia Discovery Centre, we tallied up or total to 141, thoroughly pleased with ourselves.
Before I end, I wish to thank a two people;
1: The biggest thankyou goes to my dad, for putting up with our insane twitch and driving us 270km in 24 hours, stopping for any bird that we could add to our list.
2: Thanks Max for helping us in the early stages of planning, but not for ditching us for the Drongos…
Stats
141 birds seen between 4pm and 4pm
271km driven
Rarest Bird – Wood Sandpiper
Biggest Dip – King Parrot
