It was that time of year again, the last weekend of October, the NSW Twitchathon 2012 was here. For the third year running I made my way up to Newcastle to rendezvous with the rest of my team (Grant Brosie, Nick Livanos, Robert Kilkelly) and make our way west.
For those of you reading who haven't heard of Twitchathon, it is basically a 24-hour race during which teams of birders race around the state in an attempt to see/hear as many species as possible. For a bird to go down on the race list, the majority of the team must have heard or seen it, another rule being that there must be a three-hour break between birding in order for teams to get some much deserved rest. This break usually occurs in the wee hours of the morning, but is an unnecessary precaution in my opinion. Anyway, back to it...
Grant, Nick and myself made our way up the New England Hwy from Maitland heading for the small country town of Manilla. Here we would stay the night in preparation for the race, which would start at 4pm on Saturday. The Friday afternoon was our allocated dummy run, following the same basic route as the race, while at the same time sussing out sites to check the next day. The weather had looked promising all day, but as we began, a stiff southerly blew up and remained constant for the rest of the evening, bringing several brief showers and overcast conditions - sh*t for birding!
To put it simply, we returned to Manilla very disheartened that evening. We had only found 83 species, of which only 25, or so, were 'western birds' (birds that we deem as being, although not strictly western, species that are difficult or impossible to encounter on the Sunday). We had seen a taste of the birds that were on offer and it would be our mission to comprehensively scour our route the next day to greatly increase our chances for the race and not make a repeat performance of the dummy run.
Saturday morning dawned with the weather looking somewhat dodgy (hah!), but by 10am it had turned around and we were looking at superb race conditions for the afternoon! After Grant had collected Rob from Tamworth and I had done a spot of birding around the caravan park and adjacent park (54 species in 2 hours, including White-winged Triller, Pallid Cuckoo and Azure Kingfisher), we set off.
We began our western route backwards in order to end up at our starting point in time for 4pm. Our 'town site' had all the required species; Musk Lorikeet, Blackbird, Blue-faced Honeyeater, Brown Honeyeater as well as Yellow-billed Spoonbill. At a bridge just off the highway we came across small numbers of White-browed and Masked Woodswallows (both species we hoped would stick around). At our 'whiteface spot', a top a rocky knoll covered with pines we found no evidence of Southern Whiteface, but were superbly compensated with Red-capped Robin, Spotted Bowerbird, Blue Bonnet, Mallee Ringneck and Grey-crowned Babbler. Western Gerygone was calling from where it should be, as was Singing, Spiny-cheeked, Brown and Painted Honeyeater, but it was time to head for the starting line.
The 3:55pm alarm rang as we all tried desperately to keep eyes on a female triller moving about in the top of a swaying gum. The starting gun sounded and White-winged Triller went down as bird #1. The next 10 minutes went something like this:
"Diamond Firetail, there, on the ground!"
"Got it!"
"Yes, tick."
"Tree Martin above!"
"Where?"
"Just went behind that gum tree."
"Ah, yes, got it! Nick?"
"Yep, me too, let's go!"
"Brown Treecreeper calling!"
"Nup, didn't hear it... Yes!"
"Tick it up!"
And so we made our way around, back to the car, coming across such goodies as Little Friarbird, Black-fronted Dotterel, Fuscous Honeyeater, White-bellied Cuckoo-Shrike, Turquoise Parrot and Rufous Songlarks galore.
Out along the dusty roads, "Apostlebird!", "Chough in the paddock!", "Red-rumps flying up!", out to our bushlark stretch... Dip. Further along and, wait a minute, yes, "Banded Lapwings, down by the sheep, just flew in!", after a bit of confusion we added Little Raven and sped off.
Our honeyeater spot turned up the goods, but we couldn't find the Red-capped Robins from eariler. Spotted Harrier and White-winged Fairy-Wren, but no Yellow-throated Miners. Cockatiel expertely picked up by Nick and then, our best bird for the race, a pair of Ground Cuckoo-Shrike we had come across earlier nest building.
The 'whiteface spot' was a major dissapointment, with only Blue Bonnet to show for our effort. Into the state forest, birds calling from all directions; Speckled Warbler, Peaceful Dove, Little Lorikeet, Leaden Flycatcher, Varied Sittela, Buff-rumped Thornbill and not Inland, but Chestnut-rumped Thornbill - quite unexpected!
We arrived in town with the sun setting, but all the required species turned out to meet us, unlike the woodswallows just previously. A quick pit stop and we were off along the highway, hoping to have enough sunlight to pick out Blue-billed and Pink-eared Ducks on the sewerage works. Success, and Hoary-headed Grebe a bonus.
With the day's end, we could relax a little, stock up, tally the list and make our way to the rainforest. We ended up with an impressive 109 species, of which 45 were 'western' birds after counting up at KFC! Our spirits and caffeine levels high, we drove off into the darkness, not even half way through the race, yet eager for more!
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