I spend many many restorative hours tramping over this wide brown land chasing as many of Australia’s 850+ bird species as I can. And if I don’t see them, I think of all the wonderful places that I’ve been anyway. That aside, I have seen over 620 species and I haven’t been to any of the offshore islands such as Norfolk, Lord Howe, Christmas, Macquarie etc.
I speak about birds and birdwatching and I lead tours of amateurs and afficianados alike, locally and to India, a country I’ve visited many times. Check the tabs here and see things that I’ve written about birds, musings on birdwatching and bird activities.
Night parrot dreaming says it all – many a birdo has dreamt of finding a night parrot. Many have tried but none succeeded until John Yound found some in May 2013. This article by Simon Mustoe was written the year earlier.
Night parrots have been in people’s imagination for a long time. This article is from the S A Ornithologist and was printed only a decade or so after the last authenticated sighting of the ‘fat budgie’.
Birdwatchers span a range of shapes, sizes and approaches. At one end, you’ll see some in their various shades of Kathmandu merchandise, camouflaged from head to toe in khaki and sensible hats, with $2000 Swarovski or Zeiss binoculars and twitching in their earnestness. And then there are the other kind, the irreverent chaps (and they are mainly chaps) out for a good time in the bush. You can find somewhere on the continuum where you’ll fit, so do yourself a favour, take the advice in this handy introduction and I’ll see you out there.
Bird names range from the bleeding obvious to the quite evocative and then to the delightful. Then there are drongos and loons, dotterels today and plovers tomorrow and sensitive Collingwood supporters. Here is some musing on bird names.
Since their recent rediscovery, night parrots are turning up in a range of locations. Are we seeing the legacy of a number of wet years across the centre? This ABC article suggests a South Australia population.
When we think ‘wildlife’, we should think India! More antelopes than Africa, elephants, rhinos, tigers and lions (in fact, 5 big cats), jackals, hyenas, langurs and macaques, over 1,300 birds …
John Huxley Brisbane Times June 23, 2007 “There’s no doubt the bird is out there” … Leo Joseph, of the Australian National Wildlife Collection in Canberra. Photo: Glen Mccurtayne THE …
Bob Gosford Crikey Jun 09, 2010 Over the weekend Birding-Aus, the Australian birding site for twitchers with attitude – posted a report of a recent sighting of the Night Parrot …
After recent years dabbling in Twitch-lite (the 8 hour Champagne section), we returned to the full 24 hour Twitch, extreme birdwatching at its most gruelling. Max drove over from the …
Common Loudmouths Twitch Report Sunday November 18, 2012 Twitching joins the Twittersphere Never let it be said that the Loudmouths are anachronistic old coots. We were one of the tweeting …