StuartReeves
Local rarity
Excellent; congratulations on your succesful quest. You should ask the moderators to replace the question mark in your thread title with and exclamation mark. Or maybe add "and back!" on the end.
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Bristol to Kagu ? (2 Viewers)
- Thread starter Larry Sweetland
- Start date
AStevenson
Well-known member
Great to see you nailed 'em - very engaging them Kagus - looks a lot drier than when I was there!!
Have you managed to knobble the rest of the endemics?? - if not gives you an excuse to stay longer. Can recommend a bit of Solomon Island hopping or did you do that on the way out I can't remember!
Is it just me or does the Kagu in the 2nd photo have 3 legs!!!
Cheers,
Andrew
Have you managed to knobble the rest of the endemics?? - if not gives you an excuse to stay longer. Can recommend a bit of Solomon Island hopping or did you do that on the way out I can't remember!
Is it just me or does the Kagu in the 2nd photo have 3 legs!!!
Cheers,
Andrew
travellingbirder
Well-known member
Thoughly enjoyed this thread has had me coming back on here day after day to see where you were. Summart like a Cyber Soap but much more entertaining. Well done on achieving your goal.
Lappkrabben
Well-known member
About the legs
The three legs: I see it on my screen also. Even though it's late saturday night it's not the pints i've been drinking tonight.
I think you've nailed it "AStevenson". Larry & Nicky are not in New Caledonia now.
They are actually home in Bristol using there imagination and there computer skills (photoshop, stuffed birds etc) to give us a kind of Harry Potter adventure Bristo-birder-style
I'm just joking around. I have no clue why we can see three legs (or i would prefer to say; something that looks like three legs).
Cheers!
The three legs: I see it on my screen also. Even though it's late saturday night it's not the pints i've been drinking tonight.
I think you've nailed it "AStevenson". Larry & Nicky are not in New Caledonia now.
They are actually home in Bristol using there imagination and there computer skills (photoshop, stuffed birds etc) to give us a kind of Harry Potter adventure Bristo-birder-style
I'm just joking around. I have no clue why we can see three legs (or i would prefer to say; something that looks like three legs).
Cheers!
Larry Sweetland
Formerly 'Larry Wheatland'
Farino
Wow, thanks so much everyone, it’s great to know its worthwhile reporting our trip.
Better clear up the 3 legged issue for the sleuths among you who ought to be on records committees. The third leg belongs to the other Kagu which is actually positioned directly behind the visible bird! There is even a pic somewhere of a 3-legged 2-billed bird, the extreme rare Rhynochetos birostritripes.
To answer the returning question, we’re aiming at trying to be back in Bristol while it’s still summer next year, and before all the festivals are over. We have 3 month Aussie visas, so we hope to travel quickly from Brisbane to Darwin and somehow cover the Top End and north and south Western Australia in that time, but it depends on what happens when we land. We then plan to go to Indonesia (Chlidonias is currently our frontline reconnaissance division), and hopefully visit some of Wallacea and Borneo, including Malaysian Borneo. Our anticipated problems here include wet season, which might force us north into SE Asia quicker than we want, and the size of the stupid field guide! We then plan to head up through Malaysia, Thailand, and Laos back into China, then visit Mongolia and take the train back to Europe through Russia again in the summer this time. Might do a bit of birding as we go. That’s what we hope anyway.
Pour chercher la Fauvette Calédonienne
After the Kagu:king: appeared in the morning of the 15th the rest of the day was mostly spent searching for Cloven-feathered Dove and Crow Honeyeater in the rainforest, but we had no luck with either. The birding was good however, and birds included a NC Crow, 2 Red-crowned Parakeets, a NC Flycatcher, a White-bellied Goshawk, a few Striated Starlings, Horned Parakeets, NC Whistlers and NC Cuckoo-Shrikes, Metallic Pigeons, Barred Honeyeaters, NC Myzomelas, lots of Yellow-bellied Robins, NC Friarbirds and Glossy Swiftlets, Rainbow Lorikeets, Southern Shrikebill, Fan-tailed Gerygones, Green-backed White-eyes and Red-throated Parrotfinches.
Next morning still no sign of the two hoped for extra endemics, and it started to rain. The shuttle bus then appeared and had been sent specially to pick us up because the park was closed due to bad weather until at least Saturday! We were taken to Pont Perignon and started walking in the rain back to HQ. Hitching might be good in NC, but trying it on a dirt road in a park when it’s not open is pushing it. We walked 7kn in the rain before the shuttle bus driver passed us in her car and drove us past HQ to the main road. We stood in the rain trying to hitch back to Noumea for a bit, gave up and walked to Les Bois du Sud where we camped. It rained all night and we were drenched. Next morning we put on our wet clothes and walked to the main road and hitched back to Noumea. It rained all day. In Noumea we bought more supplies before catching an 11.30 bus to La Foa. We started to walk towards the Farino turnoff, thumbing in the rain, and someone stopped who wasn’t going to Farino but took us there anyway. This was very nice of her because by now we didn’t just look like we’d been on the road all this time, we smelled like it too.
When we turned up at the Refuge de Farino the owner seemed surprised that we wanted to camp in her flooded field by the river. We had access to a tiny kitchen area. It had walls. It had a roof. It was dry. It was Heaven.
Next morning our luck changed dramatically. It stopped raining and while we were having breakfast outside the kitchen area 3 Cloven-feathered Doves appeared in the garden. It was great to catch up with this unusual looking and rather flashy dove, which appeared to be not uncommmon around Farino by voice.
We then followed a combination of directions from 2 trip reports to get the 8km from the Refuge to the well known New Caledonian Grassbird site, and were surprised to find that the site is now within a new park called Parc des Grandes Fougères, which is signposted from most of the way back to La Foa. The park has designated areas for mountain biking, conservation, and hunting, and comes complete with an HQ building with parkies to take the small entrance fee and give you a glossy trail leaflet, well signed trails, picnic spots with lawns and benches (presumably to attract :king:Kagu):king:, and opening times (it’s closed on Tuesdays). Interestingly the parkie, who knew about some of the local birds, was unaware that NC Grassbirds existed. Hopefully whoever is involved in park improvements knows about them, as the well known spot for them is not within the “good forest” bit.
People’s grassbird experiences at this site vary from “relatively (?) easily seen at Farino” to “we heard no response to the tape”. As far as I can make out, the hotspot is a few hundred metres down the left hand fork from the parking area. Here the track passes for c200m through very dense low scrub and long grass, on a slope sparsely covered with pines, with encroaching rainforest on the downslope side. I spent a total of 7 hours in this “zone”, 3 in late afternoon and 4 from dawn the next day. There’s plenty of good birds here as distractions, which is handy because if you want a good view of a NC Grassbird you could be here a very long time. To add to the fun is the respectable variety of sharp calls that Dark Brown Honeyeaters and NC Myzomelas are capable of making while hiding invisibly in low cover at this site, some of which are not unlike the grassbird’s. In 7 hours the only time I got a bit of NC Grassbird in focus in the bins was at 8.30am when one was calling from tall grass right next to the track, on the downslope side, right by the sharp hairpin in the middle of the zone. The bird was infuriatingly close, and it was a nightmare trying to focus through the grass. Eventually I got its tail in focus, which of New Caledonian birds could only belong to this species! It then steadily moved away down the slope calling occasionally for the next 10 minutes, while remaining completely invisible at all times. It called briefly again about half an hour later, when a NC Crow landed near to where I’d last heard it. Apart from that, I had a couple of brief glimpses at around 4.30 the previous day in the same part of the zone, including the little sod flying very low over the track and diving into the base of a clump of long grass before tzekking invisibly away.
If I had to write a school report of this bird it would be something like “Fauvette could be more co-operative”, but in the staff room I’d say “Fauvette? Nasty piece of work. Deliberately mischievious. They should never have abolished plucking.”
Other birds at Farino included a few Kagu:gh::king:B heard at dawn, an Eastern Barn Owl flushed at HQ just before dawn after walking the 8km in the dark, Horned and Red-crowned Parakeets, NC and Rufous Whistlers, Striated Starlings, NC Flycatcher, White-bellied and Brown Goshawks, White-breasted Woodswallow, Melanesian Cuckoo-Shrike, Metallic and NC Imperial Pigeons and Emerald Dove. NC Crows were especially common.
Be nice to hear some other NC Grassbird experiences.
So now we’re back at the wonderful Auberge de Jeunesse in Noumea having missed just one of the regularly seen endemics, Crow Honeyeater. Off to Lifou tomorrow if the boat's running.
more pics: 1 and 2 Cloven-feathered Dove
3 NC Crow with tool
4 NC Imperial Pigeon
5 Melanesian Cuckoo-Shrike
1398 CLOVEN-FEATHERED DOVE
1399 NEW CALEDONIAN GRASSBIRD
Wow, thanks so much everyone, it’s great to know its worthwhile reporting our trip.
Better clear up the 3 legged issue for the sleuths among you who ought to be on records committees. The third leg belongs to the other Kagu which is actually positioned directly behind the visible bird! There is even a pic somewhere of a 3-legged 2-billed bird, the extreme rare Rhynochetos birostritripes.
To answer the returning question, we’re aiming at trying to be back in Bristol while it’s still summer next year, and before all the festivals are over. We have 3 month Aussie visas, so we hope to travel quickly from Brisbane to Darwin and somehow cover the Top End and north and south Western Australia in that time, but it depends on what happens when we land. We then plan to go to Indonesia (Chlidonias is currently our frontline reconnaissance division), and hopefully visit some of Wallacea and Borneo, including Malaysian Borneo. Our anticipated problems here include wet season, which might force us north into SE Asia quicker than we want, and the size of the stupid field guide! We then plan to head up through Malaysia, Thailand, and Laos back into China, then visit Mongolia and take the train back to Europe through Russia again in the summer this time. Might do a bit of birding as we go. That’s what we hope anyway.
Pour chercher la Fauvette Calédonienne
After the Kagu:king: appeared in the morning of the 15th the rest of the day was mostly spent searching for Cloven-feathered Dove and Crow Honeyeater in the rainforest, but we had no luck with either. The birding was good however, and birds included a NC Crow, 2 Red-crowned Parakeets, a NC Flycatcher, a White-bellied Goshawk, a few Striated Starlings, Horned Parakeets, NC Whistlers and NC Cuckoo-Shrikes, Metallic Pigeons, Barred Honeyeaters, NC Myzomelas, lots of Yellow-bellied Robins, NC Friarbirds and Glossy Swiftlets, Rainbow Lorikeets, Southern Shrikebill, Fan-tailed Gerygones, Green-backed White-eyes and Red-throated Parrotfinches.
Next morning still no sign of the two hoped for extra endemics, and it started to rain. The shuttle bus then appeared and had been sent specially to pick us up because the park was closed due to bad weather until at least Saturday! We were taken to Pont Perignon and started walking in the rain back to HQ. Hitching might be good in NC, but trying it on a dirt road in a park when it’s not open is pushing it. We walked 7kn in the rain before the shuttle bus driver passed us in her car and drove us past HQ to the main road. We stood in the rain trying to hitch back to Noumea for a bit, gave up and walked to Les Bois du Sud where we camped. It rained all night and we were drenched. Next morning we put on our wet clothes and walked to the main road and hitched back to Noumea. It rained all day. In Noumea we bought more supplies before catching an 11.30 bus to La Foa. We started to walk towards the Farino turnoff, thumbing in the rain, and someone stopped who wasn’t going to Farino but took us there anyway. This was very nice of her because by now we didn’t just look like we’d been on the road all this time, we smelled like it too.
When we turned up at the Refuge de Farino the owner seemed surprised that we wanted to camp in her flooded field by the river. We had access to a tiny kitchen area. It had walls. It had a roof. It was dry. It was Heaven.
Next morning our luck changed dramatically. It stopped raining and while we were having breakfast outside the kitchen area 3 Cloven-feathered Doves appeared in the garden. It was great to catch up with this unusual looking and rather flashy dove, which appeared to be not uncommmon around Farino by voice.
We then followed a combination of directions from 2 trip reports to get the 8km from the Refuge to the well known New Caledonian Grassbird site, and were surprised to find that the site is now within a new park called Parc des Grandes Fougères, which is signposted from most of the way back to La Foa. The park has designated areas for mountain biking, conservation, and hunting, and comes complete with an HQ building with parkies to take the small entrance fee and give you a glossy trail leaflet, well signed trails, picnic spots with lawns and benches (presumably to attract :king:Kagu):king:, and opening times (it’s closed on Tuesdays). Interestingly the parkie, who knew about some of the local birds, was unaware that NC Grassbirds existed. Hopefully whoever is involved in park improvements knows about them, as the well known spot for them is not within the “good forest” bit.
People’s grassbird experiences at this site vary from “relatively (?) easily seen at Farino” to “we heard no response to the tape”. As far as I can make out, the hotspot is a few hundred metres down the left hand fork from the parking area. Here the track passes for c200m through very dense low scrub and long grass, on a slope sparsely covered with pines, with encroaching rainforest on the downslope side. I spent a total of 7 hours in this “zone”, 3 in late afternoon and 4 from dawn the next day. There’s plenty of good birds here as distractions, which is handy because if you want a good view of a NC Grassbird you could be here a very long time. To add to the fun is the respectable variety of sharp calls that Dark Brown Honeyeaters and NC Myzomelas are capable of making while hiding invisibly in low cover at this site, some of which are not unlike the grassbird’s. In 7 hours the only time I got a bit of NC Grassbird in focus in the bins was at 8.30am when one was calling from tall grass right next to the track, on the downslope side, right by the sharp hairpin in the middle of the zone. The bird was infuriatingly close, and it was a nightmare trying to focus through the grass. Eventually I got its tail in focus, which of New Caledonian birds could only belong to this species! It then steadily moved away down the slope calling occasionally for the next 10 minutes, while remaining completely invisible at all times. It called briefly again about half an hour later, when a NC Crow landed near to where I’d last heard it. Apart from that, I had a couple of brief glimpses at around 4.30 the previous day in the same part of the zone, including the little sod flying very low over the track and diving into the base of a clump of long grass before tzekking invisibly away.
If I had to write a school report of this bird it would be something like “Fauvette could be more co-operative”, but in the staff room I’d say “Fauvette? Nasty piece of work. Deliberately mischievious. They should never have abolished plucking.”
Other birds at Farino included a few Kagu:gh::king:B
heard at dawn, an Eastern Barn Owl flushed at HQ just before dawn after walking the 8km in the dark, Horned and Red-crowned Parakeets, NC and Rufous Whistlers, Striated Starlings, NC Flycatcher, White-bellied and Brown Goshawks, White-breasted Woodswallow, Melanesian Cuckoo-Shrike, Metallic and NC Imperial Pigeons and Emerald Dove. NC Crows were especially common.Be nice to hear some other NC Grassbird experiences.
So now we’re back at the wonderful Auberge de Jeunesse in Noumea having missed just one of the regularly seen endemics, Crow Honeyeater. Off to Lifou tomorrow if the boat's running.
more pics: 1 and 2 Cloven-feathered Dove
3 NC Crow with tool
4 NC Imperial Pigeon
5 Melanesian Cuckoo-Shrike
1398 CLOVEN-FEATHERED DOVE
1399 NEW CALEDONIAN GRASSBIRD
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chowchilla
Well-known member
I see you're still getting some excellent pics Nicky!:t:
Any other opportunities to get Crow Honey before you leave NC?
Any other opportunities to get Crow Honey before you leave NC?
Birdingcraft
Well-known member
This exciting birding odyssey has got to be the best trip report for 2009 (and the one that generates the highest degree of envy!). Congrats on the Kagu and thanks for posting photos of Cloven-feathered Dove- what a mind-blowing thing that is!
halftwo
Wird Batcher
And in the top two for 2008! (How's that for diplomacy!?)
edenwatcher
Well-known member
Congrats. Great stuff
Rob
Rob
Larry Sweetland
Formerly 'Larry Wheatland'
Lifou
The Loyalty islands lie between Vanuatu and New Caledonia, are owned by New Caledonia, and have 3 currently recognised endemic bird species. The most glamorous and rarest by far is the Ouvéa Parakeet, which appears on the tourist leaflets for Ouvéa. Lifou has its 2 white-eyes, and anyone about to visit the island for zosteropidological purposes could be forgiven for wetting themselves in anticipation of observing the Large Lifou White-eye and the Small Lifou White-eye alongside the very distinctive sooty-headed local form of Silvereye.
Both islands are accessible by direct flight from Noumea, or by boat from Noumea and each other. We had intended to visit both by boat, but one of the ships is currently not serving Ouvéa, making it logistically impractical for our trip, without having to spend a whole week there and postponing our flight to Brisbane. We had to therefore forego, as Astevenson might have it, knobbling the parakeet, and had to settle for attempting to ransack the quiet peaceful island of Lifou in order to plunder its bootie of white-eyes. The return boat fare from Noumea was a bit of an ouch, at 100 quid each. It can be cheaper doing it with the MV Havannah if your schedule fits.
Seawatching from the boat was a bit tame, but did produce a few Tahiti Petrels, Brown and Red-footed Boobies and a Brown Noddy and Great Crested Terns. We landed at the town of Wé on Lifou and walked 3km north through town and found a place to camp, Chez Rachel, near the beach a little beyond the Drehu Village Resort.
From there I followed directions from a trip report (apologies for not recalling who’s) to a small patch of woodland 20 mins walk away. From the Drehu Village Resort go straight over the roundabout (inland), and take the first left after c200m. This road borders a small wood to your right which has a few narrow trails permeating it, the most distinct being after c100m. In or around the wood we easily found most of the specialities, but it took about an hour and a half in the morning before finally finding a Large Lifou White-eye feeding quietly alone in the subcanopy on a side trail off to the left of the main trail.
Also here were Small Lifou White-eye, Silvereye (if that’s what they are), and two species not on the mainland, Cardinal Myzomela and Red-bellied Fruit-Dove. Other birds were New Caledonian Flycatcher (commoner on Lifou than the mainland or Vanuatu), Melanesian Cuckoo-Shrike, White-breasted Woodswallow, New Caledonian Friarbird, Striated Starling, Dark Brown Honeyeater, Glossy Swiftlet, Long-tailed Triller, Fan-tailed Gerygone, Emerald Dove, Sacred Kingfisher and Streaked Fantail.
We then hitched to the northwest of the island to dude away a few days camping at Chez Benoit at Easo, where the snorkelling was awesome and there were big turtles off the beach. The short walk between Chez Benoit and the Baie de Jinek twice produced white-eye flocks containing all 3 species providing ace views right by the roadside. This area also produced all the birds mentioned before plus Brown Goshawk.
As we were waiting for the boat yesterday we were surprised to bump into the first birders since Kadavu. These were top geezers Guy Dutson and Mark Beaman and their Birdquest tour, who were up for doing some seawatching on the way back. Unfortunately even with more eyes on the case we were unable to conclusively obliterate any value, though Guy got onto what was presumably a Gould’s Petrel, a species which he’s found to be common at other times of the year. It was great travelling back with this crew, some of which must have obtained a rather different perspective on the relative abundances of New Caledonian birds than us. They’d been here only 3 days, and with local help had already erased Ouvéa Parakeet and Crow Honeyeater, but hadn’t caught up with a couple of much commoner birds yet. I couldn’t help notice that the field guide one of the clients was leafing through was gleamingly untarnished and uncreased! This crew are now off to reduce Fiji and Vanuatu to rubble. Me? Envious? No seriously though, best of luck to them.
1400 SMALL LIFOU WHITE-EYE
1401 LARGE LIFOU WHITE-EYE
Thanks for the further encouragement. And to answer Chowchilla's question, we could obviously see the honey if we wanted to but think we oughtn't to bother to give BBB a chance of something to grip us off with.
Back to Oz in a few days. Anyone gotta dodgy used motor for sale?
Here’s a cute Small Lifou White-eye
The Loyalty islands lie between Vanuatu and New Caledonia, are owned by New Caledonia, and have 3 currently recognised endemic bird species. The most glamorous and rarest by far is the Ouvéa Parakeet, which appears on the tourist leaflets for Ouvéa. Lifou has its 2 white-eyes, and anyone about to visit the island for zosteropidological purposes could be forgiven for wetting themselves in anticipation of observing the Large Lifou White-eye and the Small Lifou White-eye alongside the very distinctive sooty-headed local form of Silvereye.
Both islands are accessible by direct flight from Noumea, or by boat from Noumea and each other. We had intended to visit both by boat, but one of the ships is currently not serving Ouvéa, making it logistically impractical for our trip, without having to spend a whole week there and postponing our flight to Brisbane. We had to therefore forego, as Astevenson might have it, knobbling the parakeet, and had to settle for attempting to ransack the quiet peaceful island of Lifou in order to plunder its bootie of white-eyes. The return boat fare from Noumea was a bit of an ouch, at 100 quid each. It can be cheaper doing it with the MV Havannah if your schedule fits.
Seawatching from the boat was a bit tame, but did produce a few Tahiti Petrels, Brown and Red-footed Boobies and a Brown Noddy and Great Crested Terns. We landed at the town of Wé on Lifou and walked 3km north through town and found a place to camp, Chez Rachel, near the beach a little beyond the Drehu Village Resort.
From there I followed directions from a trip report (apologies for not recalling who’s) to a small patch of woodland 20 mins walk away. From the Drehu Village Resort go straight over the roundabout (inland), and take the first left after c200m. This road borders a small wood to your right which has a few narrow trails permeating it, the most distinct being after c100m. In or around the wood we easily found most of the specialities, but it took about an hour and a half in the morning before finally finding a Large Lifou White-eye feeding quietly alone in the subcanopy on a side trail off to the left of the main trail.
Also here were Small Lifou White-eye, Silvereye (if that’s what they are), and two species not on the mainland, Cardinal Myzomela and Red-bellied Fruit-Dove. Other birds were New Caledonian Flycatcher (commoner on Lifou than the mainland or Vanuatu), Melanesian Cuckoo-Shrike, White-breasted Woodswallow, New Caledonian Friarbird, Striated Starling, Dark Brown Honeyeater, Glossy Swiftlet, Long-tailed Triller, Fan-tailed Gerygone, Emerald Dove, Sacred Kingfisher and Streaked Fantail.
We then hitched to the northwest of the island to dude away a few days camping at Chez Benoit at Easo, where the snorkelling was awesome and there were big turtles off the beach. The short walk between Chez Benoit and the Baie de Jinek twice produced white-eye flocks containing all 3 species providing ace views right by the roadside. This area also produced all the birds mentioned before plus Brown Goshawk.
As we were waiting for the boat yesterday we were surprised to bump into the first birders since Kadavu. These were top geezers Guy Dutson and Mark Beaman and their Birdquest tour, who were up for doing some seawatching on the way back. Unfortunately even with more eyes on the case we were unable to conclusively obliterate any value, though Guy got onto what was presumably a Gould’s Petrel, a species which he’s found to be common at other times of the year. It was great travelling back with this crew, some of which must have obtained a rather different perspective on the relative abundances of New Caledonian birds than us. They’d been here only 3 days, and with local help had already erased Ouvéa Parakeet and Crow Honeyeater, but hadn’t caught up with a couple of much commoner birds yet. I couldn’t help notice that the field guide one of the clients was leafing through was gleamingly untarnished and uncreased! This crew are now off to reduce Fiji and Vanuatu to rubble. Me? Envious? No seriously though, best of luck to them.
1400 SMALL LIFOU WHITE-EYE
1401 LARGE LIFOU WHITE-EYE
Thanks for the further encouragement. And to answer Chowchilla's question, we could obviously see the honey if we wanted to but think we oughtn't to bother to give BBB a chance of something to grip us off with
.Back to Oz in a few days. Anyone gotta dodgy used motor for sale?
Here’s a cute Small Lifou White-eye
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Allen S. Moore
Well-known member
Sheer poetry
I hope that you don't mind me saying that I have really enjoyed reading this posting, one of the best in a first class thread. Is zosteropidological one of these new words that you hear about as being included in the latest edition of the Oxford English Dictionary? To read that seawatching from the boat was a bit tame with a species list like that caused me a chuckle!
Allen
I hope that you don't mind me saying that I have really enjoyed reading this posting, one of the best in a first class thread. Is zosteropidological one of these new words that you hear about as being included in the latest edition of the Oxford English Dictionary? To read that seawatching from the boat was a bit tame with a species list like that caused me a chuckle!
Allen
tjbirdofprey
Dorset birder in Spain
This thread is like a legend mate. Rephrase that IS a LEGEND..
Wow, two questions... how many countries you been to?:eek!: the birds you speak of, they do half make me drool and also when (if you are) are you going back to bristol? just curious.
Wow, two questions... how many countries you been to?:eek!: the birds you speak of, they do half make me drool
and also when (if you are) are you going back to bristol? just curious.
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chowchilla
Well-known member
I think 'zosteropidological' should be entered into the OED with the definition: Word that cannot be pronounced after several pints. I shall put that theory into practice next time I've had a few.B
So when do you officially touch down back in Aus again?
So when do you officially touch down back in Aus again?
Allen S. Moore
Well-known member
I think 'zosteropidological' should be entered into the OED with the definition: Word that cannot be pronounced after several pints. I shall put that theory into practice next time I've had a few.B
So when do you officially touch down back in Aus again?
Me, it's towards the end of next year, if I'm lucky. I've got a couple of trips to Barcelona and elsewhere in Spain planned before then. In the meantime, it's over to Larry and Nicky ...
Lappkrabben
Well-known member
I guess the birdquest-tour has another budget-level (could be wrong there ;-)...and i bet they did not use your campsite either...and they missed most of the cultural stuff in the region....
But then again; there's just a few lucky bastards (a. t. m. from Bristol) who can be on a birding trip for a couple of years...
But then again; there's just a few lucky bastards (a. t. m. from Bristol) who can be on a birding trip for a couple of years...
birdboybowley
Well-known member.....apparently so ;)
Cool guys - Guy is the author of the fieldguide I'm illustrating!
It was 5.20pm 14 days 8 months and 1 year after we set off, and there in front of us were not one, but two gratifyingly peculiar, surprisingly blueish, and rather big-eyed and cute-looking KAGU.
I must apologise to anyone who might be thinking “at last the idiot is going to stop this stupid thread”, because after all, the trip’s not over till we’re back in Bristol, in the pub, trying not to think too hard about what on earth we’re going to do next in life. So tune in to the next thrilling episode of what has already happened next! Or go birding if you can be arsed.
1397 KAGU
Congratulations on reaching your destination. Just about the slowest and most convoluted twitch Ive ever heard of.
I reckon your next target should be this: http://www.polarimages.dk/picturega...ble_Island_Flightless_Rail_MG_1386_large.html
...overland via Africa? Now that would be fun. Perhaps have a week or two at home in Bristol first to recuperate tho. Lets face it, after a week or two of not seeing any new birds, you will probably be getting itchy feet again.
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