Aussie Finch Forum

desertbirds wrote:At a recent 24 hour twitchathon here in town , the winning team goat around 100 species and last year i think it was 120 ish.

Hehe. My team got 161! So happy with that!

Madhatter: Good luck! I hope you see alot! Are you counting captive birds too?

Nrg800 wrote:Are you counting captive birds too?

Nah, too much to keep track of. I will put up photos from my zoo visits and my aviary visits too, provided the owners give their consent. That won't all be posted in this thread though, I'll put those up separately when the time comes.

Another weekend's birding added 12 new species to my Big Year list, bringing my total up to 94 species, and adding another 2 to my life list. Was really hoping to hit 100 this weekend, but that's OK. Hopefully I can make 100 before the end of the month...
Sunday's trip to Bunyip resulted in zero photos worth sharing. Spent too much time slogging through the bush in search of Helmeted Honeyeaters to really pay too much attention to other species. Still, it was worth it as we discovered a previously unrecorded breeding pair.
Saturday, despite being overcast and a bit drizzly produced better results. After my meeting at Melbourne Zoo I checked out the Trin Warren Tamboree artificial wetlands and was quite surprised at the species diversity.
Superb Fairy-wren:

Little Wattlebird:

Little Pied Cormorant:

Hardhead:

Eastern Great Egret

And my lifer for the day; Little Grassbird:

Wow, that sounds great! I'm still yet to see a grassbird. I've heard them many times. But seeing them is another matter, let alone photographing!

Whoa! I just realised that it was a new year! I need to total my last year's bird total!

Good pics, im sure you will add a few more soon. Grassbirds are incredibly criptic so well done getting a pic . Emu Wrens sound right up yr alley.

Going well and loving the photos

How goes the big twitch Madhatter?

Fanatasic MadHatter.
Love your pics and updates.

I also loved the Big Twitch book as others have mentioned.
I wasn't really interested in bird watching before I read the book (I still haven't been on any dedicated twitching outings - but am far more observant with the natural surroundings).

Good luck and can't wait to read your updates.

Sorry Jay, there will be an update coming when I find the time. The aforementioned meeting at Melbourne Zoo resulted in my getting a short-term weekend contract with the reptile department. Which means I'm working 7 days at the moment. Admittedly the weekends are only half days, but it's still fairly taxing, both mentally and physically.
I did get out on Australia Day, I just need the time and motivation to go though my photos and update the list.

I see you gat a contract at the zoo, are you still coming to Alice ?