Birdlife National Twitchathon, 12 hour “Big Day” race, 28/10/18
For the 2018 National Twitchathon the band reformed, looking to defend its SA 12-hour title, and this year managed to field a full complement of 4: Ian, Paul and a pair of Sams. Two years ago the Lakeside Lorikeets had whipped our ass. Last year the boot was on the other foot. Who would get the best-of-three, or would some other team come out of left field?
Scouting around Adelaide in the days and weeks before the event suggested we might struggle to meet last year’s marker of 164 species in 12 hours, but it was hard to come up with any variations to our route last year that might have a good chance of yielding a better haul. Even so, we made a couple of tweaks in the lead-up and kept our fingers crossed for good weather.
As it transpired, Saturday was probably the better day weather-wise, but we were restricted to a Sunday run by my overseas trip that week – I didn’t arrive back into Adelaide until 10am on Saturday when (as I found out later) the other SA teams were well underway.
0330, Toorak Gardens, 0 species, 0km
My alarm goes at an ungodly 3.30 and Paul and Sam M are outside my house in the eastern suburbs at the agreed time of 4.15. By 4.25 we have picked up Sam G on our way north on Portrush Rd. Apart from a fuel and coffee stop in Nuriootpa, it’s a straight flog up to Blanchetown. We enjoy a stunning orange sunrise as we bomb over the river-land plains before pulling up under the bridge by Lock One. In a departure from last year’s itinerary, we have decided to start this year by the River Murray.
0615, Blanchetown, 0 species
We do a bit of scouting and start the clock running at 6.15am. We can immediately tick the key target here, Darter, because we find a couple roosting in willows on the opposite bank. This is a species that is common along the banks of the River Murray, but damned hard elsewhere so we have deliberately made the 10min adjustment to last year’s route. We are also able to rack up very rapidly a bunch of other species including Great Cormorant, Sulphur-crested Cockatoo, Little Corella, Australian Pelican, Noisy Miner, Laughing Kookaburra, Crimson Rosella, House Sparrow, Little Grassbird, Australian Reed Warbler, Magpie-lark, Galah, Black Kite, Silver Gull, Eurasian Coot, Australasian Swamphen and Rock Dove. Of these we are most pleased to get Great Cormorant which is occasionally elusive, and Laughing Kookaburra – common but not always prominent. The others are mostly trash-birds that we expect elsewhere, but they are runs on the board so still valuable, and every bird, whether it’s a Malleefowl or a House Sparrow, counts the same!
Five minutes later we are on our way to Brookfield, picking up Whistling Kite, Little Raven, Magpie and a heard-only Grey-Shrike-thrush en route.
0630, Brookfield, 22 species
We drive in via the main gate on Sturt Hwy and immediately listen out for anything that might be calling. Worryingly, it’s pretty quiet. Though it is mercifully still, it’s a cool, overcast morning and this will probably affect our chances for some singers that like a spot of early morning sunshine (eg Redthroat). A km or so on we pull up near a small stand of mallee where we’ve heard some interesting stuff. Striated Paradalote are always incessantly calling in almost all the habitats we will visit and today is no different. They go straight onto the list. More interestingly, the Sams are immediately on the case, pointing out that a few White-fronted Honeyeaters are singing. A repeated single note whistle is one of the Gilbert’s Whistler vocalisations we recognise (we missed this last year and Brookfield is our only chance – again we gratefully scribe this onto the list and will hear a few more over the course of the next hour or so). We also have Weebill, Red Wattlebird, Brown Treecreeper, Singing Honeyeater and Spiny-cheeked Honeyeater before we realise the need to keep moving.
We head straight for the blue-bush section hoping for Redthroat and/or White-winged Fairywren but draw a blank on both. Purple-crowned Lorikeet buzz overhead and Australian Ringneck are prominent. They will be one of the commonest species in Brookfield today. A perched Nankeen Kestrel takes off and I see it in flight as Sam M tries to give directions. In amongst the Ringnecks calling we hear a different parrot sound that Sam G points out is Bluebonnet. I am less certain and want a visual, which we duly get as we move closer, and in a small copse of mallee in the sea of blue-bush we confirm that some babblers are indeed the smart and much-desired Chestnut Crowned Babbler. White-browed Babblers are also found in Brookfield but these are easy at two of our other sites so it’s the Chestnut-crowned we really want here. We are disappointed to miss our two main blue-bush targets and I secretly worry we’ve started the whole day with two prominent dips, both of which we got last year in the first minute! But twitchathon strategy dictates that we must move on.
We pick up Yellow-throated Miner as we drive back to the main track and a few hundred metres on I pull over at the first more extensive tract of mallee that has been good to us previously. Immediately a single piping note rings out and Sam M realises it’s a Red-backed Kingfisher. We have fantastic close views of the stonker perched in a dead tree and continue to hear it calling for the next 30 minutes as its song drifts across large swathes of the park. We missed this last year, so maybe it makes up for the Redthroat dip. Southern Whiteface always seem to be common and easily found in Brookfield. In contrast other species apparently come and go in waves, one day common, the next absent. Last time I was here there were Trillers everywhere, but not today, and last year it was Rufous Songlark in great numbers. This year we get neither in Brookfield, but Restless Flycatchers are pumping out their little raspberries all over the place. Likewise there are Rainbow Bee-eaters in a few places, added initially on call.
Walking into the mallee it seems quiet, especially compared with my last visit a couple of weeks back. We add a female Mulga Parrot and eventually all get onto a Yellow-plumed Honeyeater, while Willie Wagtail and Tree Martin round out an unimpressive haul for our first stop in the mallee. I am getting worried. Next stop is not much help either; I see a distant Grey Butcherbird but cannot get the others onto it glides off out of sight, and we move on not even having added to the list.
As we drive the eastern boundary track finally a few new species begin to manifest: we add White-winged Chough, Common Bronzewing and Grey Currawong before Sam M excitedly calls “Emu” and we see a couple running off into the bush. This is another “easy” bird that is just as easily missed. We also claw back Grey Butcherbird when one sings, Spotted Pardalote – one of our two worst dips from 2017 – is also feeding along the eastern edge of the park, bringing up our half-century, and we also hear (then see) Chestnut-rumped Thornbill.
We hear some fairywrens across the track in the neighbouring property and I am delighted when a stunning Splendid Fairywren (or “CMF” Fairywren as I like to call it) pops up. Sam M and Paul get on it, so we can record it, but Sam G comes over, scans and sees instead a male Purple-backed (formerly “Variegated”). It disappears, and we need to get moving, so we hope the rest of us can get a Purple-backed elsewhere – because we have chances for them in the rest of Brookfield, Browns Rd and Monarto CP, we don’t want to waste too much time on one here. It has been unusually quiet and therefore I am grateful, when we stop briefly at the Charcoal Pits track, to hear a distant Crested Bellbird pumping out its unmistakable song and point it out to the others. At the next stop Paul is on the ball, realising that the chattering in flowering mallee is small party of Brown-headed Honeyeater. Final stop in Brookfield is at the far NW corner of the mallee drive where Paul and I had a good crop a few weeks back. Sam G finds another Purple-backed Fairywren and I struggle to get onto it as a prominent Splendid repeatedly pops up in my bins as I scan for the Purple-backed. Meantime some Yellow-rumped Thornbill are feeding nearby, then Sam M excitedly announced “Quail-thrush” before rapidly backtracking – “maybe it’s just a babbler”. No, he was right first time and we are glad to get this stonker, Chestnut Quailthrush, on our lists. We missed it last year and though we are better equipped this year with more familiarity with its song, we haven’t heard a peep. Finally I get onto the Purple-backed Fairywren (which is already safely on the list because the other 3 have seen it, but it’s nice to have on personal record as well).
Our time is up here and we still have no robins or cuckoos and a few other key birds but our list is not bad. We’ve missed some low probability birds we got last year, but have a few different ones to compensate. I drive as quickly as I dare out of the park, noting Crested Pigeon and then we are glad to hear and Australian Raven call driving past the homestead. At 7.50 we hit the highway again and add only Common Starling until we pull up by a small dam on Thiele Hwy by the country town of Freeling.
0857, Freeling, 59 species
We are here because a few weeks back Paul and I successfully scouted Fairy Martins here. Sure enough a few martins can be pinned down as Fairy Martin within a few minutes. We also add Grey Teal, Pacific Black Duck, and Hardhead on the dam. Masked Lapwing call conspicuously and small flocks of Musk Lorikeet fly over. Sam G aptly describes muskies as “everywhere and nowhere” and having them nailed down so early means we can drop our scheduled stop at Whites Rd.
As we drive through Freeling we add Spotted Dove, and realise that the heavily flowering bottlebrush that line the roads are filled with more Musk Lorikeets. Last year we drove out of Freeling via Neldner Rd, hoping to connect with some vagrant Orange Chats. We failed but did get some compensation in the form of Songlarks, Bushlark and Stubble Quail. This year we are not so lucky and hear only Eurasian Skylark, dipping on all the others. Maybe this has something to do with the weather which has remained cool and overcast, and we are concerned that the breeze is now picking up.
We are ahead last year’s pace, but of course we’ve got more trash under the belt having started at Blanchetown this year.
0930, Pengilly, 68 species
As we drive up to Pengilly Scrub along Molloy Rd a stocky falcon sits up and we note Brown Falcon, while continuing the brown theme, a chunky lark sits up on a fence wire and we can add Brown Songlark. Before I drive off, another smaller brown bird is noticed on the same fence a little way down. We all raise bins expecting a pipit or sparrow and are delighted to find a Horsfield’s Bushlark – two birds missed near Freeling gripped back! An even smaller bird on the fence wire is a White-fronted Chat.
In the scrub itself we immediately find White-plumed Honeyeater, and both Masked and White-browed Woodswallow as well as White-browed Babbler. Neophemas take a bit of tracking down but eventually we are all happy to have seen Elegant Parrot. Even better, straight after another dainty parrot flies across our paths and lands on an open branch so that Sam M and I can land our gaze on a Blue-winged Parrot, its large solid blue wing panel making the ID unequivocal. Luckily it stays long enough for the others to get it also. We are still missing Red-rumped Parrot. Sam G has heard them but neither Paul nor I is happy personally to tick this sound. It has to stay of the list til ¾ of us are satisfied. A pair flies over and we get an identifiable visual on Red-rumped Parrot. South Aussie Birding acquaintance Neil Edwards is here taking photos of Bee-eaters (they are common here), and we stop for a quick chat. He has seen three species of Woodswallow and we are still missing what I usually consider to be the easiest, Dusky, but we do not have time to track them down and have to hope that Browns Rd will deliver for us. As we climb the gate back out of the reserve I see another interesting bird land in a tree across the road – White-winged Triller. This is a lifer for Sam M and after a short expletive laden celebration (note to R Bruce and Bill ONeill: no time for pies or dances), we are on our way again.
1010, Roseworthy, 81 species
Just like last year, a mere 1 min diversion from Horrocks yields nature’s fastest creature, Peregrine Falcon: two are roosting on the silos here. We add Blackbird and New Holland Honeyeater in Roseworthy when we stop to try and get views of a potential Little Wattlebird that I try to string. It was probably Red, but a minute here might have saved us 10 later one so perhaps it is worth it.
I also try to string a Rock Dove into a Back-faced Cuckoo-shrike along the Northern Expressway. But then a few km along another bird flies over the expressway as we speed along at 110km/h and this really is a Black-face Cuckoo-shrike.
1040, St Kilda, 85 species
We arrive at St Kilda ahead of schedule and with a decent total building, some 16 species ahead of last year! This largely unpleasant spot is actually pretty good for spotting both bogans and shorebirds. It’s the latter we after and is our only site for a bunch of essential species. In a mere 10minutes we add some really good species. Banded Stilts are numerous on the salt pan, along with a few Australian Shelduck and White Ibis, and at the groyne we quickly add Pacific Gull, Black Swan, Great and Little Egret, and 3 more species of cormorant: Pied, Little Pied and Little Black.
The tide is higher than we’d expected so we need to scan over towards the beach, rather than out into Barker inlet for waders. As hoped for there are both Sooty and Pied Oystercatcher and a few Pied Stilts patrolling the mudflats where numerous Whiskered Tern are roosting. I find a group of Common Greenshank and we all note them in the scope. There are some smaller waders also visible, but we need to get a closer view – even 60x in the scope is not enough to ID the tiny blighters. We drive quickly around to the beach where we find our first turbo-chooks (Black-tailed Nativehen) of the day and now we’re closer pick out both Red-capped Plovers and Red-necked Stints on the beach.
We add perhaps the ultimate suburban trash bird, Rainbow Lorikeet, to the list as number 104 for the day. Sam G comments that it can’t be too often around Adelaide that you can rack up a century of birds before seeing a Rainbow Lorikeet!
Last year Whites Rd was very productive for us, but we know it holds very few species we can’t get elsewhere. We’d retained it in our tentative itinerary because it is so reliable for Musk Lorikeet and can produce other goodies, but with Musk in the bag from Freeling we decide to cache the extra minutes and bet that we’ll get birds like Freckled Duck and Royal Spoonbill elsewhere. Instead we drive directly to Magazine Rd.
1120, Magazine Rd, 105 species
We have hopes of finding a Musk Duck quickly, just like Paul did yesterday. We hear Superb Fairywren, then as we walk the track towards the first pond Sam M hangs back for a wazz and hears a Horsfield’s Bronze-Cuckoo. I have heard enough too, and realise it’s in much the same place as Paul and I heard one two weeks ago. Sadly the others further up the track have not heard it and it does not sing again. We scan the pond for Musk Duck (“it was just here yesterday” says Paul) but fail to connect. Trying to find it we are drawn much deeper into the reserve than we’d intended.
Dusky Moorhen, Hoary-headed Grebe, and Australasian Grebe are easy, the at the northern section of the loop we see a Swamp Harrier cruising over the ponds. We also add Royal Spoonbill and Australasian Shoveler. The only identifiable waders at the northern end are Sharp-tailed Sandpiper, but on the walk back we add Red-kneed Dotterel, a single Wood Sandpiper and Black-fronted Dotterel.
1205 O.G. Road, 116 species
Despite dipping on Barbary Dove last year, and not having had any luck with our scouting mission the week before, we decide the extra 5 mins we add by taking this minor detour are worth it, just in case. And so it proves – I drive slowly down a side street and in the front yard of one house Sam G spies a Barbary Dove feeding next to a Crested Pigeon. To see it I need to drive back about 15m. I slam the car into reverse and nearly smash into the car behind. I do recover my composure; I pull over, let the car past, then reverse until we can all see it. The whole episode has cost us less than 2 mins. Just what you need on a twitchathon!
1220, Horsnell Gully, 117 species
Paul has made the suggestion that maybe we should one day consider Horsnell Gully as a site for hills birds. It’s not a spot I have ever birded before so in a quiet moment on Saturday I decide to scout it. The mission is actually pretty successful and earlier in the day I have suggested we give it a go on our official route. At 12:20 we pull into the small but virtually empty carpark. One of our concerns our original plan of Morialta was the fact that Sunday lunchtime the carpark is pretty-much guaranteed to be full.
Immediately Horsnell Gully produces the goods. We have added Yellow-faced Honeyeater even before we arrive when one sings on Norton Summit Rd. A Mistletoe bird calls and Sam M and I hear it but the others don’t. We’ll have to wait a bit on this one. But there are Crescent Honeyeaters singing, Silvereye feeding in trees near the carpark, and of course ubiquitous Grey Fantail. A low regular booming is identified by Paul as the harder bronzewing, Brush Bronzewing (we check the song on the app quietly and it’s an exact match). A plaintive screech (if there can be such a thing) is a Yellow-tailed Black Cockatoo, another bird we know is hard this year. It’s past midday but still quite cool which is good because the birds are still active. Golden Whistler sings, a White-browed Scrubwren chatters its irritated tschhh-tschh-tschh. A piping whistle is Eastern Rosella, then we hear a Tschurr-tschurr – a White-naped Honeyeater, which we then find feeding in one of the big river redgums that line the dry creek-bed. Finally a Mistletoebird calls again to everyone’s satisfaction. Of course there are also a few Koalas here, wedged in unfeasibly small forks of some of the spindly young gums. Within 15 mins we are on our way having added 11 species, most of our targets for this spot. At the corner of Horsnell Gully Rd and Norton Summit Rd I stop to look for traffic and Sam G points out the fluid chattering we hear through the car windows is Goldfinch.
1250, Toorak Gardens, 129 species
I have tried hard to find a spot on our route with reliable Little Wattlebird over the last two weeks, but failed, so we drive down Greenhill Rd for a quick stop at my house where one calls almost every 10mins without fail in the springtime. As we arrive a right-sized bird flies across the garden into the neighbour’s tree but we can’t see it and it doesn’t call. Eventually as I am regretting the detour it chatters and then as we leave I see it again fly to one of the trees on the verge.
We retrace our steps up Greenhill Rd. Fortunately neither Sam gets car-sick as we wind our way up the “back road” to Mt Lofty. It’s marginally slower than the SE Freeway, but we have more chance of picking up new species from the car this way. And so it proves: as I round one corner Paul calls out “Fantailed Cuckoo”. I kill the engine and sure enough we all hear the gentle purring of our only cuckoo of the day.
1320, Warre Track, 131 species
We do not have too many targets for Mt Lofty summit, and straight away we have one less as our first birds on the Warre Track are a small party of Striated Thornbill. We add Eastern Spinebill and White-throated Treecreeper on voice. They can be hard to separate but on this occasion both are calling so it’s easy to pick whcih is which and the Treecreeper ends up showing well. We then add few more species, but nothing new until a bit further down the track, Sam M excited and waves: “Scarlet Robin”. Despite the commotion it doesn’t immediately flush and we all get onto the little beauty. A couple of Black-cockatoos are roosting quietly above the track and I regret not having my camera. As we walk back up an excited chatter goes up and we scan the sky. Sure enough an accipiter bombs through and we have enough on its structure, especially the rounded tail, to add Brown Goshawk to our list.
1340, Mt Lofty Botanical Gardens, 136 species
We roll into the carpark at the Botanical Gardens at 1340. Before I have parked we hear a four note call, and after a bit of cog-whirring in my brain I realise it’s a Sacred Kingfisher calling. We park and walk over to the gully to west of the carpark when Sam G finds the culprit. Again I regret not having my camera. A few Striated Thornbill are also active here and I also think I’ve heard Brown Thornbill but none of us is sure and we cannot see one. It will have to wait.
At 1445 we stop the clock for our lunch break. Down in the gardens we chill for a bit, and eat our packed lunches while enjoying a bold White-browed Scrubwren and some Red-browed Finch near our picnic spot. I try to grab forty winks doze for a few minutes but at 1540 we are getting ready to start the clock again. At 1545 our 12 hours starts ticking down again but the Red-browed Finches are nowhere to be seen. Fortunately a bit further up the path we find a couple, then a few minutes’ walk down the trail above the Rhododendron Gully we reach more native bushland and a Brown Thornbill sings below us.
1513, Laratinga Wetlands, 139 species
Though we have done well in the hills, and we are about 20 minutes ahead of last year’s timing, but we are now one behind in terms of species list. We park on Spring Rd and walk in quickly. Straight away we add Chestnut Teal and Maned Duck (amazing that it’s taken us this long to find some), then in the swale at “the neck” we find a couple of Spotted Crake. As expected, a few Freckled Duck are easy on Pond 9. Yesterday Paul has had a Spotless Crake in reeds on the corner of 10, but it’s neither showing nor calling today. Fortunately just along form there on the edge of 11 I find a Baillon’s Crake that unusually doesn’t immediately scuttle for cover and the others have time to get it too. It’s a good 5-10 minutes walk back to the car and we also spend time at one other spot where Spotless Crake is outside chance, but we are now eating into the time buffer we’ve built up.
Back at the car I make a captain’s call and drive the extra 100m to view the treatment ponds. The larger deeper one has been drained which is bad news, because this has been our only historically reliable site for Blue-billed Duck. We dip on that today but fortunately there are a few Pink-eared Duck here. We expect hem at Tolderol as well, but as it turns out they are missing from there so it’s just as well I have taken the unilateral decision to go off-script for a minute or two.
As we turn from Springs Rd onto Bald Hill Rd we spy a field of ravens with some white blobs mixed in amongst them. I pull in to the verge and we quickly establish that these are Little Corella. However a larger flock of pale birds is visible further way and I set up the scope. Most are Galahs, there are a few Little Corella, but to our joy there are also a pair of Long-billed Corella with the flock. We all take turns in the scope noting the pink breast-band that is the best ID feature at this range.
1618, Browns Rd, Monarto, 146 species
We arrive at Browns Rd with a bit of time up our sleeves, but not as much as we’d imagined because of a longer-than-expected stop at Laratinga. However our lunch break means we are arriving at a better time than last year. We will need all our time at Browns because of crucial Robin misses at Brookfield. As we walk in I hear the ch-ch-ch of Yellow Thornbill and we will all hear this in a few places today. Peaceful Dove are next on the list, then Sam M finds a Varied Sittella in one of the dense native pines. I’ve not previously recorded a Sittella on a twitchathon before so this is a good one to get. In the area near the now disused feeding station a distinctive clack-clack-clack rings out. We all try to process this unusual call that we all surely know. I am first to the ID but I am sure the others are there as well as I announce “Hooded Robin”. Sam G finds it perched just off the track. A Rufous Whistler calls, then we find one the key Browns Rd birds, Diamond Firetail. We still need Red-capped Robin and Dusk Woodswallow, and fortunately Paul finds a small brown robin which Sam G and I are confident is a Red-capped Robin. Paul needs some convincing – the forehead shows almost no red colouring — but as far as I am concerned it can be nothing else based on size and plumage. Sam G grabs some photos and the remainder of the team are content so it goes on the list. We spend a few more minutes hoping for Dusk Woodswallow but draw a blank. Some more punters arrive as we are leaving and we realise its Steve Potter with a tour group. They pause to look into the mallee where I know Owlet-nightjar are often seen but do not appear to be on one so we make a beeline for the car.
Sadly a Starling appears to be occupying last year’s Owlet-nightjar hole on Frahn’s Farm Rd, but we do pick up an Australian Hobby. It takes me a while to stop because I’m travelling at speed on the unsealed rod but once I have slowed, turned around, driven back and the dust has cleared, the dainty raptor that Sam M has seen from the car window is amazingly still perched in a dead tree and now perched at number 154 on our list.
We trundle down Mountain View Rd hoping for pipit but dip it (;-)). Pipit will be one of our most glaring misses for the day. A call comes in from Steve that he has located an ONJ but we are now too far beyond to come back and in any case it would not be in the spirit of the twitchathon to make use of this gen.
1700, Monarto Conservation Park, 154 species
Last year we spent 20 minutes at Monarto CP for precisely zero species. We are conscious that it is not the best time of day, and scoring skulkers like Scrub-robins and Heathwrens can be very difficult without playback. Nevertheless within a few minutes Sam G points out that a faint but tuneful warbling is a Shy Heathwren. We also hear Tawny-crowned Honeyeater. Sam M hears a Scrub-robin but Paul and I hear nothing and Sam G is not sure. It does not call again and so we can’t count it. Then Sam G and I hear a Purple-gaped Honeyeater. Sam M and Paul have not heard it so we wait with bated breath. But this too, does not call again. We leave Monarto CP with 2/4 of the main targets.
We call in at Ferries MacDonald CP and listen for our missing mallee specialists in a few spots but it’s getting a bit breezy and we heard nothing. Also very disappointingly a Malleefowl fails to walk across the road in front of us like it did for some lucky punter last week in just this spot at just this time of day. We mark it down as our worst dip of the day 😉
1740, Boggy Lake, 156 species
Paul and Sam G discovered this great spot last year while scouting and it’s just want you need on a twitchathon – pretty-much on the main route, and with a nice big panorama that has potential for a host of otherwise tricky birds. We have already added Straw-necked Ibis before we pull up and sweep the area with bins and scope for a few minutes. Instantly I find some Cape Barren Goose. There are only 4-5 here, unlike the 100 or so when I visited two weeks ago, but 4-5 is 3-4 more than we need for today’s objective. A Caspian Tern is new for the day but less exciting because we know there are dozens at Tolderol, our next stop. Much more exciting are two the birds of the day that come in quick succession. First, Paul points out a lone duck and gives me directions to get it in the scope. Turns out I get his directions wrong, but just as well, because I find a cracking Great Crested Grebe. Lake Albert is just about the only spot in the this part of the state you can get this bird. This is our first twicthathon to record it, and even more remarkably it’s a lifer for Sam M, his second lifer of the day! When I finally do get the scope on Paul’s original target it’s a broken-off fence post. Sorry Paul! Next, a minute or so later arguably the bird of the day appears: White-bellied Sea-eagle.
1800, Tolderol Game Reserve, 161 species
We arrive at Tolderol excited – confident even – that against our initial expectations we might actually have a chance at beating last year’s score. It’s windy and overcast, making conditions poor for birding, but surely we can find the mere 4 extra species to beat last year.
We dip again on pipits as we drive in, but as soon as we scan basin 17 we add Red-necked Avocet and Greater Crested Tern. We are on 163, only one behind last year, and we have time on our side; we have deliberately allowed ourselves 75 minutes here because of the potential riches that are available to those with time and patience. But at this point our luck runs out.
Over the next hour we add only Golden-headed Cisticola. We try in vain to find some Curlew Sandpipers (or any other new wader species) but can only see Sharpies. Scanning 5, 6 and 7, we hope for a Glossy Ibis or a Bittern to poke its head above the reeds, but we see only Black Swans. I guess they are all hunkered down against the wind. As if to rub it in, later that evening Chris Steeles changes the banner on South Aussie Birding’s facebook group to a picture of not one but two Australasian Bitterns poking their heads up from the low reeds in exactly this spot, taken by Sean Shaw just a few hours earlier than our visit!
We spend time sitting by the reeds listening, because crakes and rails could be possible (we could do with Spotless Crake, Buff-banded Rail or Lewin’s Rail which are all here). Nope: they may all be here, but they are all silent this evening. Yellow-billed Spoonbill have been here in the last few days. WhereTF are they? We drive around 17 once more to try again for waders but still draw a blank. We spend our final minutes out by 10 listening for crakes again, but at 19:15 we draw a line under it. A good run here and we might’ve broken 170. Instead we have to settle for equalling last year’s score. I should not be disappointed because at the start of the day I’d thought breaking 150 would be a good achievement, but it’s hard not to run through the “what ifs”.
We have brought beers to celebrate the end of a long day but its windy and cold so instead we drive to Strathalbyn. A bastard Black-shouldered Kite sits out by the roadside as if to taunt us, but we do enjoy a stunning sunset on the way, and at the Vic in Strath it is warm and welcoming, and there’s good beer and nice food.
Later that night I receive email from Nathaniel Doecke of the Lakeside Lorikeets. They have blitzed their score from last year but their 162 comes up a mere 2 species short of our tally. 2-1.
| Blanchetown | 1 | Darter |
| 2 | Great Cormorant | |
| 3 | Sulphur-crested Cockatoo | |
| 4 | Little Corella | |
| 5 | Australian Pelican | |
| 6 | Noisy Miner | |
| 7 | Laughing Kookaburra | |
| 8 | Crimson Rosella | |
| 9 | Little Grassbird | |
| 10 | Australian Reed Warbler | |
| 11 | Magpie-lark | |
| 12 | Galah | |
| 13 | Black Kite | |
| 14 | Silver Gull | |
| 15 | Eurasian Coot | |
| 16 | Australasian Swamphen | |
| 17 | Rock Dove | |
| 18 | House Sparrow | |
| Brookfield | 19 | Whistling Kite |
| 20 | Grey Shrikethrush | |
| 21 | Australian Magpie | |
| 22 | Little Raven | |
| 23 | Striated Pardalote | |
| 24 | Gilbert’s Whistler | |
| 25 | Weebill | |
| 26 | Red Wattlebird | |
| 27 | White-fronted Honeyeater | |
| 28 | Brown Treecreeper | |
| 29 | Singing Honeyeater | |
| 30 | Spiny-cheeked Honeyeater | |
| 31 | Purple-crowned Lorikeet | |
| 32 | Australian Ringneck | |
| 33 | Nankeen Kestrel | |
| 34 | Chestnut-crowned Babbler | |
| 35 | Eastern Bluebonnet | |
| 36 | Yellow-throated Miner | |
| 37 | Red-backed Kingfisher | |
| 38 | Southern Whiteface | |
| 39 | Restless Flycatcher | |
| 40 | Rainbow Bee-eater | |
| 41 | Mulga Parrot | |
| 42 | Yellow-plumed Honeyeater | |
| 43 | Willie Wagtail | |
| 44 | Tree Martin | |
| 45 | White-winged Chough | |
| 46 | Common Bronzewing | |
| 47 | Grey Currawong | |
| 48 | Emu | |
| 49 | Grey Butcherbird | |
| 50 | Spotted Pardalote | |
| 51 | Chestnut-rumped Thornbill | |
| 52 | Purple-backed Fairywren | |
| 53 | Splendid Fairywren | |
| 54 | Crested Bellbird | |
| 55 | Brown-headed Honeyeater | |
| 56 | Yellow-rumped Thornbill | |
| 57 | Chestnut Quailthrush | |
| 58 | Crested Pigeon | |
| 59 | Australian Raven | |
| Sturt Hwy | 60 | Common Starling |
| Freeling | 61 | Pacific Black Duck |
| 62 | Grey Teal | |
| 63 | Hardhead | |
| 64 | Musk Lorikeet | |
| 65 | Fairy Martin | |
| 66 | Spotted Dove | |
| 67 | Masked Lapwing | |
| 68 | Eurasian Skylark | |
| Molloy Rd | 69 | Brown Songlark |
| 70 | White-fronted Chat | |
| 71 | Horsfield’s Bushlark | |
| 72 | Brown Falcon | |
| Pengilly Scrub | 73 | Masked Woodswallow |
| 74 | White-browed Woodswallow | |
| 75 | White-browed Babbler | |
| 76 | White-plumed Honeyeater | |
| 77 | Welcome Swallow | |
| 78 | Elegant Parrot | |
| 79 | Blue-winged Parrot | |
| 80 | Red-rumped Parrot | |
| 81 | White-winged Triller | |
| Roseworthy | 82 | Peregrine Falcon |
| 83 | Common Blackbird | |
| 84 | New Holland Honeyeater | |
| Northern Expressway | 85 | Black-faced Cuckooshrike |
| St Kilda | 86 | Banded Stilt |
| 87 | Australian Shelduck | |
| 88 | Australian White Ibis | |
| 89 | Pacific Gull | |
| 90 | Black Swan | |
| 91 | Great Egret | |
| 92 | Little Egret | |
| 93 | Australasian Pied Cormorant | |
| 94 | Little Pied Cormorant | |
| 95 | Sooty Oystercatcher | |
| 96 | Pied Oystercatcher | |
| 97 | Whiskered Tern | |
| 98 | Pied Stilt | |
| 99 | White-faced Heron | |
| 100 | Common Greenshank | |
| 101 | Little Black Cormorant | |
| 102 | Black-tailed Nativehen | |
| 103 | Red-necked Stint | |
| 104 | Red-capped Plover | |
| 105 | Rainbow Lorikeet | |
| Magazine Rd | 106 | Superb Fairywren |
| 107 | Dusky Moorhen | |
| 108 | Hoary-headed Grebe | |
| 109 | Australasian Grebe | |
| 110 | Swamp Harrier | |
| 111 | Royal Spoonbill | |
| 112 | Australasian Shoveler | |
| 113 | Sharp-tailed Sandpiper | |
| 114 | Red-kneed Dotterel | |
| 115 | Wood Sandpiper | |
| 116 | Black-fronted Dotterel | |
| O.G. Road | 117 | Barbary Dove |
| Horsnell Gully | 118 | Yellow-faced Honeyeater |
| 119 | Crescent Honeyeater | |
| 120 | Silvereye | |
| 121 | Grey Fantail | |
| 122 | Brush Bronzewing | |
| 123 | Yellow-tailed Black Cockatoo | |
| 124 | Australian Golden Whistler | |
| 125 | White-browed Scrubwren | |
| 126 | Eastern Rosella | |
| 127 | White-naped Honeyeater | |
| 128 | Mistletoebird | |
| 129 | Common Goldfinch | |
| Toorak Gardens | 130 | Little Wattlebird |
| Mt Lofty Summit Rd | 131 | Fan-tailed Cuckoo |
| Mt Lofty, Warre Track | 132 | Striated Thornbill |
| 133 | Eastern Spinebill | |
| 134 | White-throated Treecreeper | |
| 135 | Brown Goshawk | |
| 136 | Scarlet Robin | |
| Mt Lofty Botanical Gardens | 137 | Sacred Kingfisher |
| 138 | Red-browed Finch | |
| 139 | Brown Thornbill | |
| Laratinga Wetlands | 140 | Chestnut Teal |
| 141 | Maned Duck | |
| 142 | Australian Crake | |
| 143 | Freckled Duck | |
| 144 | Baillon’s Crake | |
| 145 | Pink-eared Duck | |
| 146 | Long-billed Corella | |
| Brown’s Rd, Monarto | 147 | Yellow Thornbill |
| 148 | Peaceful Dove | |
| 149 | Varied Sittella | |
| 150 | Hooded Robin | |
| 151 | Rufous Whistler | |
| 152 | Diamond Firetail | |
| 153 | Red-capped Robin | |
| 154 | Australian Hobby | |
| Monarto Conservation Park | 155 | Shy Heathwren |
| 156 | Tawny-crowned Honeyeater | |
| Boggy Lake | 157 | Straw-necked Ibis |
| 158 | Cape Barren Goose | |
| 159 | Caspian Tern | |
| 160 | White-bellied Sea Eagle | |
| 161 | Great Crested Grebe | |
| Tolderol | 162 | Red-necked Avocet |
| 163 | Greater Crested Tern | |
| 164 | Golden-headed Cisticola |
