NSW and ACT TWITCHATHON 2011
The Twitchathon succeeds each year thanks to the efforts of Alan Morris, who organises and coordinates the event.
The Main Race is a deadly serious affair, won for the third year running by the Menacing Monarchs with a total count of 250 species.
The Champagne race, ‘a light-hearted Twitchathon for the socially minded’, was won by the Raven Lunatics.
How did Birding NSW do?
The Champion Choughs
The Champion Choughs entered the Main Race. Their team consisted of Alan Morris (leader), Mike Kuhl and Steven Edwards. This was Alan’s 26th Twitchathon! They started their twitch out on the northwestern side of the Macquarie Marshes near The Mole Station. Two minutes before start time, at 3.58 pm, they watched a Brown Quail thinking about crossing the road. Was this to be their first Twitch bird? Alas, not so – at 3.59 pm said Quail ran back into the reeds and they didn’t see another Brown Quail for the next 24 hours! Still the birding proved great, conditions were perfect, and there were plenty of Magpie Geese, Wandering and Plumed Whistling-Ducks, Crakes, Rails and small bush birds to find. They finished the end of daylight with 120 species. Driving through the night, they got to their motel in Merriwa at 1 am for their three-hour break. Birding recommenced next morning at Medhurst Bridge, Martindale near Denman. Here they ticked Painted and Spiny-cheeked Honeyeaters, while closer to home they had a Spotless Crake and their top bird, a Blue-billed Duck at the Tuggerah Sewage Treatment Works. The team travelled 783 km, saw 211 species and came fifth out of 18 teams. The result was the best ever for this team, their previous highest total was 202 on two previous occasions.
The Champagne Shriketits
The Champagne Shriketits entered the Champagne section. The team was made up of Elisabeth Karplus, Tom Karplus, Philip Brook, Anne van Roekel and Janine de La Begassiere. The Champagne Shriketits travelled 131 kms and saw or heard 131 species during the 24-hour period. The rarest bird was the Green Catbird at Mitchell Park and the biggest dip was the Channel-billed Cuckoo though there were a number of other species the team were disappointed in not seeing. At the end of the 24-hour period, the team was celebrating with champagne at Pugh’s Lagoon (Windsor) only to discover that the Cumberland Bird Observers team, The Speckled Warblers, (who’d turned up unexpectedly) had beaten the Birding NSW team by two birds. Both teams drank to their mutual great efforts and the 2012 challenge!
Team Which Is It
In the Champagne Race, team Which Is It, made up of Margaret and Kaye Pointer, and Michael Breheny, birded around Mangrove Mountain, Bucketty, Yarramalong, Tuggerah and The Entrance. They travelled 153 km, saw 127 species and came ninth out of 19 teams. The team reported their best birds as the Comb-crested Jacana at Pioneer Dairy Wetlands and Lewin’s Rail and Chestnut-breasted Mannikins at McPhersons Road Swamp, Tuggerah.
If you would like to know more about the twitching rules and how to plan your Twitchathon for 2012 click here.
Full information on the Twitchathon will be in the February 2012 newsletter.
