Tufted Duck at the WTP!

All twitches are memorable, but this was one in particular I will never forget. Not only was the Tufted Duck a first for Australia, it was ten minutes from my house! It will be two years this month that we have lived in Lara just across the road from the WTP and there has not been a “mega” rare bird in those two years.

As most of you know, Lynn and I had just moved house (albet only about 60 meters to the new place, but still…). So we are in the midst of settling in (unpacking, arranging, sorting, etc and etc). Then the Citrine Wagtail showed up in Whyalla, SA (Wagtail blog link). James and I were over and back in 3 days time. And after a lovely “Lifer Day” on New Years Eve, I was back to doing the house things.

Lately I have been pretty fortunate with my migraines. I have had a few mild ones, but nothing overly intense. Yesterday (Thursday 3 January), I felt one coming-on, but I got out and did some morning errands anyway. When I got back I grabbed some lunch, 3 ibuprofen, and was lying down on the couch. My phone rang. It was James Cornelious. There are very few people from whom I would take a call when I am migraining, but James is on that very short list.

He said, “I’m at the WTP. Have you heard?” And my adrenaline spiked. Something rare must have shown up.

I said, “No, I am lying down with a migraine and not on Facebook. What?”

“Tufted Duck in the T-Section. I am here with Chris Farrell at the pond before the Crake Pond.”

”I'll be there in ten minutes, bye.” And I was too.

So I really only had ten minutes for the twitcher anxiety (FOMO as some refer to it) to build before I was there. I drove to the pond and looked through the scope and saw the bird in minutes. Far away but unmistakable. Sweet as. At that point only a small handful of birders had arrived, Dan Roman was in the first group. Soon Rohan Clarke, Alison Nesbit, Tim Bowden, Sue Taylor, James Mustafa and many others began to show up. A Lifer for us all, it was wonderful.

I will not attempt to list everyone because I am shite with names and I will miss a LOT of people. But it was glorious! Wondrous! JOY!

This is my point… there were at least a couple score birders and all (or damn near all) were in a state of Lifer High. It was like being at a NYE party with good friends that you know, but who you rarely see. People were smiling, laughing, joking, hugging, fist-bumping and patting one another on the back. It was the best of what birding is about for me. There where many of the rock-stars of the birding world. I mean, I got to point out a new WTP bird to Maarten Hulzebosch (he would have found it on his own of course). That put his WTP list up to 239 species! The man is legend. Dez Hughes, my friend and the Wader Whisperer, arrived to look at a duck! And I got to see Mike Carter, Sean Dooley and Kevin Bartam all get a Lifer! What joy! Surreal.

An historic moment! Kevin Bartram (very far left), Sean Dooley (checkered shirt) and the legendary and wonderful human being, Mike Carter on Sean's right. All three were getting a Lifer Bird!

This was the first time that this bird has ever been in Australia or any of its territories. A bloody FIRST! Credit where credit is due, the bird was spotted by Michael Dougherty (a Yank!) and reported to the Facebook Twitchers page by David Parker. Thank you both so very much indeed!  And thank you James for the call.

Peter Bright, Sean Dooley and me... Lifer Selfie

And today (Friday), the WTP is closed because of the Total Fire Ban. It is 44 C here (111 F). It is going to be a bit busy over there tomorrow I reckon. I will be taking some friends in to the farm. My old buddy Robert Shore is driving down from NSW, my old buddy David Stabb is coming over and my friend Eddy Smith is flying in from SA.

I took a tonne of mediocre photos yesterday, but they are okay recording shots and I am over the moon to have them. Here are too many of them.

   

I will write more soon. I wanted to get this recorded and down whilst I was having my Lifer Day. I am very happy (and yes I know the dates on the watermarks are still 2018. The next ones will be correct). This was number 706 for my Aussie list and utterly unexpected. It also seems I have found a very effective migraine treatment!

I write therefore I am. I share therefore it’s real. I love because that is why we are here. 

Citrine Wagtail Twitch Success

My last twitch of 2018 was a joyous success. This is the tale of that journey. I may wax more personal and whatnot toward the end, or more probably in the next blog entry. This part will be more of a trip report (maybe). But I write and let the words take me where they will… down new paths or old paths, dirt roads and sandy tracks with twists and turns and occasional dead ends. Then I stop and think, or not. Well, on to the twitch.

Lynn and I had just moved house. I was (am) buried in “doing stuff” as you would imagine. I had no plans, or time, to go off somewhere. Then Thursday arvo Robert Shore called from Parkes, NSW and mentioned a Citrine Wagtail had turned up in Whyalla, SA. I said that I wasn’t chasing birds right now. I was in the midst of settling into this house. So we chatted a bit. I wasn’t going to go for it. Nope. It was about 2200 kilometres round trip, about 28 “Troopi hours” (I drive about 94 kph. Not 110). I could not do it. No way. Just no.

I did it. But… I knew I had to leave quickly and get back fast. My buddy James Cornelious had called as well regarding the bird. He could be in Lara by 9 the next morning. We could make Murray Bridge, SA by early Friday evening and get to Whyalla the next day. It would be a dash.

This was kind of a big deal. I mean I haven't been over to Cocos/Christmas Islands like many of my friends. This species had only been seen in Australia four times…
Botany Bay, NSW on 1st July 1962
Goolwa, SA on 28th May 1987
Christmas Island on 5th May 2009
Mudgee, NSW on 24th August 2014 

 
We rocked up at Murray Bridge had supper sandwiches and went to bed early. The next morning I was up at 3:30am and we were rolling before 5am. We reached the Wetlands at 10:05. I had spoken with David Harper the night before I left Lara and I had also been in contact with Eddy Smith, who had gotten the bird Friday evening. He also saw it again early Saturday morning. He said he would meet us there.

The hardest part of the drive was the last bit, knowing the bird was there. This rare bird was being seen at that moment, and we still had two hours to go. I may have pushed Troopi to 100 kph (she is fine with that, she just gets very thirsty). We arrived at the Whyalla Wetlands car park and met Eddy. He walked us over to the north pond. It was either James or Eddy (I do not recall) who spotted the bird on a little grassy island just in front of us. We had been there maybe two minutes. Sweet. Twelve hours of driving and we were on the bird in two minutes. Sometimes that is how it is.

We marvelled. We took photos. We rejoiced. We met other birders. We showed them the bird (It was a busy little bird). We watched it some more. Lifer High reigned. It was small, beautiful and quite a thrill. I am still in Lifer High as I write these words. It will reverberate through me for days. Yes, the dopamine of the twitch. Birding brain chemistry magic that some of us get. Here are some pictures of the object of our affection, beginning with that first look...

See how tiny they are? That's it to the right of the Pacific Black Duck.

Regarding the brain, there is this from Google…
“The brain includes several distinct dopamine pathways, one of which plays a major role in the motivational component of reward-motivated behaviour.”

Yes, birding is the pursuit of that which is elusive, yet attainable, a perpetual series of occasions for hope. Our hopes had been realised. I do love me some reward-motivated behaviour! Joy!

Every birder has their own conception and appreciation of birding. Mine is complex and I will write more about that soon. I will just say it is not all about the fucking tick, that is merely a milestone, a marker. It gives my birding a path. It guides me to new areas, new experiences and new friends.

After we took a beaming Lifer Selfie, we left Whyalla by noon and were back in Murray Bridge about 6pm (I highly recommend the Golden Chain Murray Bridge Oval Motel). We had great night’s sleep and drove back to Lara the next day. We had done it all in 3 days. Team Troopi, James and I had once again done well. Here is our Lifer Selfie in Whyalla.

As I write this I am doing a Lifer Day. It is my own extension of Lifer Pie (read my book for the definition of Lifer Pie... Click here for my book), but nowadays, Lifers are harder to come by and I need more than a one treat reward. This sweet little bird was my 705th bird in Oz.

I write therefore I am. I share therefore it’s real. I love because that is why we’re here.

 

There will be more to come soon… I have a place to write!

Tasmanian Boobook (Morepork)

Somehow the Tasmanian Boobook (Morepork) had slipped by me. Earlier this year, I realised that I did not have it on my list. I had no Tassie trips planned for the immediate future, but I knew that these owls were seen consistently at Cape Liptrap Lighthouse in Victoria around mid October. I talked about it with my birding buddy James Cornelious. He had seen them there last year.

On Sunday 7 October, my friends Murray and Charlie Scott from Brisbane were down in Victoria and James and I took them around the WTP. This day of birding ended up including two quite confiding Orange-bellied Parrots. These released birds posed nicely for photos. Murray and Charlie were very pleased indeed.
     

     

The previous Morepork reports started in mid October, with the 14th being the earliest listed on eBird. But James had seen an Instagram post by James Mustafa from 5 October. It seems that he, Sue Taylor, and another birder had seen the owls on the fifth. Since James was already down in Lara, we decided if he stayed the night, we could drive over the next day to Cape Liptrap. We had a plan.

I did not want to drive back late at night, so I decided to book an off-season cabin at Waratah Bay Caravan Park just 20 minutes from the lighthouse. At least in off-season, I highly recommend this park. The views are wondrous! We had a two-bedroom cabin that was very comfortable and reasonable. Honestly, I could have done with a few days there.

I had phoned my friend, Dave Stabb and found that he needed the Morepork as well. He only lives about an hour from the lighthouse. He decided to meet us there at 6pm. I even had time for a short ‘granddaddy nap’ in the cabin before we left to meet him.

On the drive over, even in full daylight, we had to mind the Wombats. We saw several, especially on the last ten kilometres of unsealed road. We arrived at the carpark, met Dave and walked down to the lighthouse. I was surprised at how close it was. It is just a couple hundred metres of flat, easy path. At the lighthouse there are two picnic tables, one on the left and one on the right. This was going to be pretty easy birding.
   

As we waited for darkness some young (late teen, early twenties) ‘kids’ arrived carrying things including several six-packs of beer. They then set up a small beach-type tent right there on the lighthouse grounds. More came, and then a few more. We were very worried that this impending ‘party’ would be noisy and affect the owls behaviour. Even though there eventually must have been at least a score of them wandering around and hanging out in their tent, they were not loud at all. Honestly, we hardly knew they were there.

The first owl flew over us just after dusk. We then saw another couple before it was full dark including one that I caught in the torch beam giving us decent enough views to tick the bird. We sat down at the left picnic table (facing the lighthouse) to wait for more and then… a Morepork landed on Dave’s head! Absolutely silent, it landed momentarily on his head less than a metre away from me and I did not hear or see a thing! (I was looking down checking my camera, as I had tripped and fallen with it earlier). James was sitting right beside Dave and saw the bird. Dave felt it land lightly and depart, but that was all. I mean seriously, on his head!

After sitting a bit longer at the left table, we decided to move to the table on the right side. It seemed the owls where coming from the left. It was now full dark. Every so often I’d wander away from the table and shine the red torchlight along the posts and into the trees and brush. On the third or forth of these wanders there it was, eye shine! Two eyes were staring back at me. I called to Dave and James and soon we were all looking at the Tasmanian Boobook. We took a few photos using only the medium torchlight and marvelled at the lovely little owl. And they are small too. Then we switched off the torch and left it be. 

We took a lifer selfie for Dave and me and said goodbye to him. Then we drove slowly back to Waratah Bay. I lost count of Wombats along the way (nine or ten maybe?). We were in our comfy cabin by quarter past ten. That was my kind of nocturnal birding.

The next morning I was happily up at dawn and enjoyed a short walk. The weather was turning rainy, and after looking at a beautiful female Helena Gum Moth, we packed up and left. Sadly, only a few minutes later, the moth was snatched up by a magpie and devoured. Such can be nature.

 

Sunrise over Wilson's Promontory

I write, therefore I am. I share therefore it’s real. I love because I need to.