Photos

Oh yeah - I'm barring photobucket (those links below) in favour of flickr.com - just seems that you can do more, and with less restrictions at flickr.

the address to go to is...

http://flickr.com/photos/14457656@N08/sets/72157602224364249/

So long 2007

Ok, end of 2007 - aimed to get to 400 for life, and fell short. Also aimed to see 200 for the year, which I made.

The tally for 2007 was:

Life list as at 31/12/07
374
Year list for 2007
270

so not a bad effort. Not great, but not bad.

Targets for 2008 - life list 450+, and year list of 400. That will also have the effect of sanitising my list by seeing most of the birds I saw up north in the early 90's, when I had more hair and was arguably better looking. I also didn't have binoculars or really know how to birdwatch, which is something I'm still learning to do.

2008 also sees me moving out of erko at some stage, so I suppose I should change the name of the blog, but that might confuse the thousands of visitors I don't have coming here.

hehe

Happy 2008

Almost there

Almost at the end of the year... I'm at 374 birds for the life list, although re-analysing the actual species in my list against Clements sees me losing a couple. I guess I'll have to wait until the new Aus checklist comes out January-ish to get a definitive number there. Am on holidays at the moment and have been getting out and about quite a bit, despite the shockingly shithouse weather. Was up at the Capertee Valley for a couple of days earlier in the week, and am off down the coast for Waderfest 2007 - although the weather looks to be even worse than what we've been having, with the potential that the spit to Comerong Island may be closed due to increased flows of the Shoalhaven river, which will make the trip more Scrabblefest than Waderfest. Anyway - got a couple of days/nights there, so we'll see.

Anyhoot - I will post in about 2 weeks time so that the whole none of you who are reading this blog can see how I fared in the previous years twitching action. Next year will be bigger, as I'm going to drive to Cairns in November/December, and I would expect that I'm aiming for 100 new birds in that trip alone. So - all things going to plan - I'll be at around 500 birds for life come xmas next year, and i'll be at around 380ish by the end of this year.

Merry Merry and all that.

Lesser Yellowlegs

I did my (becoming) annual cross-state twitch last weekend when I went up to see the Lesser Yellowlegs at Jerseyville.


View Larger Map

It was in a swamp slightly to the west of that arrow, but thats basically the location.

Had a great trip, 107 birds for the 3 days I was away, and great views of a rarity.

Also have started a flickr account, and you can see my awesome pictures here.

Quick update

Hi there,

Well it's certainly been a while since I've posted. Just got back from a work trip to Melbourne, complete with 3 days of birding to kick things off. Saw a tidy 103 Birds for the trip, which takes me to 236 for the year, and 362 for life. So only 38 off making 400 for life, and I've exceeded my target of 200 for the year. Have got another trip to Melbourne (hopefully) in December, which will include 3 days at Werribee, so if that goes exceptionally well, I should be on target to make 400. To be honest I'm not too fussed if I make that, I aimed modestly for 200 for the year and whipped it!

In local, Erko birding news, there is a pair of Figbirds about at the moment, although they are only turning up in the evenings, and a female Common Koel has been calling loudly outside our back window. The males have been calling off in the distance (at least 3 of them). They may be a bit late though, as the Wattlebirds which hosted the Koel chick next door have already bred, and there's 3 of them flying around now, whereas in Koel years there has usually only been 1. So unless they breed again, there may not be any Koel baby to wake me up early on Summer mornings. Damn. :)

SO yeah - taht's it. I've got bucketloads of assignments to do over the next 6 weeks, so I don't know how often I'll get out birding.

Watch this space.

ErkoBirder

Rock Warbler

Had a trip out to Wattamolla Beach at the Royal National Park this morning, was pretty good indeed! One of the best moments was where I nearly stood on a Rock Warbler, a bird I've only seen once before. It was at the top picnic ground. Saw it first feeding in a clearing, and then it dropped over a ledge. I walked over to it with my camera at the ready and it popped up into a small bush and gave me plenty of opportunity to photograph it. It then got bored and flew off to lower ground. I picked up my scope (I'd gone there for a sea-watch, but the conditions weren't conducive to anything sea-birdy) and walked back, and then it was there again. Too good.

Year count is 169 and Life count is 345. So I'm well on target to get 200 for the year (my guestimate is that I should probably get to 230 without trying too hard), and depending on whether I go to Queensland and/or Melbourne, there's a good chance I'll get to 400 for life by the end of the year.

So long 2006

So, a new year, a new year list. In 2006 I clocked up 172 birds - not a huge tally in the scheme of things, but good enough for me. I wanted to get to 200, but I didn't quite get there. My life list is now at 318. My aim for 2007 is to get the life list up to 400, so i just need to find a lazy 82 new birds... Hopefully the first will be Regent Honeyeater - I'll be heading up to Capertee and surrounds next weekend to try and get that, and Hooded Robin, and anything else that's interesting. Have got into Uni @ Wagga, so I'll hopefully get onto Superb Parrot and a few other things. The drought could work in my favour, or against it.

Anyway - have a good year.