langles confronts technology: Plain Wanderers

"What the hell is a twitchathon?" Well, a twitchathon (or "twitch") is a race to see as many different bird species as possible in a given 24 hour period (obviously I'm not totally cured of these 24 hr things). The race is undertaken by teams of bird enthusiasts (yes, I am a nerd), usually 2-4 per team, and in NSW happens in late October, when things are more interesting due to the return of many birds who winter in the far north or abroad. Invariably, the strategy is to visit as many different habitats as possible, jumping in and out of cars in a race across the state, with most teams starting somewhere in western NSW to pick up the dry country birds (4pm start time on the Saturday), driving like a madman (or women) through the night to catch dawn with rainforest species in the more northern forests, and finishing at one of several designated spots on the coast at 4 pm Sunday (we chose Newcastle as one can avoid Sydney traffic and still pick up the seabirds).

Last year I did my first twitch in a team of 4, the "Plain Wanderers" (with reference to a rare oddball quail found only in a couple of paddocks in southern NSW and Vic, the "Plains Wanderer"), comprised of myself, Rob and Andy from work, and Rob's English bird fanatic friend Ed. Last year we covered about 700 km and picked up 173 species, placing us ~15th in the state - a long way from the winners (Menacing Monarchs) amazing score of 247 (and > 1000 km covered). This year, being a little older and (hopefully) wiser, we hoped to crack the double ton. But it would be no walk in the park. The breaking of the drought in NSW this winter, and the generally wet state of the red (green!) center, means that many inland species which would normally be picked up where we planned to start, south of Gunnedah, were nowhere to be seen, yet were being reported in huge numbers in the country's vast interior (ie way way further west than one could reasonably travel in 24 hours).

We all skipped a day of work and headed inland on Thursday eve in the langles mobile (pretty squishy!) to scope out the various areas we had in mind. Stayed in Scone Thursday eve, spent all day Friday on reconnaissance, and boozed and bedded at the only pub in Spring Ridge on the Friday night. On the Friday we stumbled upon the vast plains of Lake Goran, which actually contained water (first time in years) – and consequently loads of waterbirds. So this is where we counted down the minutes to the start on Saturday arvo, with spotting scopes and binoculars strained on various parts of the lake, trying to keep track of distant rarer species which were easily lost and hard to find again amongst the shimmering heat haze and hundreds/thousands of more pedestrian species/specks. With the race under way and after a good swag of ticks we were soon in the car and driving at warp speed along dirt roads south to Spring Ridge, where we bagged a good range of dry forest species, such as Red-Capped Robin, Hobby, and an Owlet Nightjar who's roost we'd discovered the previous day (no bashing of the tree trunk required!). Back-tracking we got Babblers and some of the inland parrots at Breezer State Forest, before getting the divine White-Winged Fairy Wren at Breezer Dam (we knew exactly where to look), before speeding towards Quipolly Dams to tick the two species we knew we would be unlikely to get anywhere else – Blue-Billed duck and Nankeen Night Heron. We got these just on ~7:20, with the light now so bad that everything else had virtually shut up shop for the day.

On our way out of Quipolly we spot-lighted a Frogmouth, and picked up a Boobook Owl at the Quirindi sewage ponds! (ahh, the fabulous places we choose to visit!). Driving through the night proved a little dangerous as one of the headlights had blown during the day, so upon stopping at Muswellbrooke Macca's for dinner (Jebus I'd forgotten how truly awful that shit is), we swapped out the globe and headed further south then north along the diabolically twisty and rutted route to the Allyn river in the heart of Barrington Tops. Upon opening the car door within seconds the car was full of about 1000 midges – I kid you not! We evacuated pronto, opening the windows and flooring it over the range to camp a few valleys away, in a less insect infected yet equally sodden and leech-ridden site, getting to sleep approx 2:30 am with the count at 95 – a couple more than the same stage last year.

Morning arrived all too soon. Apparently I did some impressive snoring during the night, and managed to miss about 10 ticks the other guys heard through the tent in another phenomenal rainforest dawn chorus (only 3 out of the 4 have to identify the bird to make it count). We eventually packed the tents (ie squashed them into the boot), backtracked over the range, and on our exit managed to bag the unmistakable call of the Noisy Pitta from the car, a magnificent little rainforest bird I haven't seen or heard in about 20 years – highlight of the trip for me. We travelled by more back-roads, stopping intermittently at oddball paddocks, lakes and bits of forest, until we met the coast at Stockton Sandspit, and eventually the Newcastle Baths, before heading back to several more swamp areas before arriving at the finish (Newcastle Wetlands Center) with about 40 min remaining, where we bagged the obligatory Magpie Goose and finished with a count of 193 for our 609 km travelled (about 1500 km for the weekend).

Although short of the desired 200, we were pretty content with our effort, given the difficulties wet conditions had presented. We placed 8th in the state with only 4 teams besting 200, and with the Monarchs again winning with 237, but again covering over 1000 km to do so. Most impressive was one team who ticked about 150 birds entirely by bicycle, covering (only!) 105 km in the process. Goes to show how much one misses by being in the car. Now there's a challenge! I was as trashed as last year, but not as trashed as the car which really copped a beating on the dirt tracks, and bottomed out one-too many times resulting in a ruptured muffler; so you can imagine how our ears rang on the drive home. Hopefully that's the only thing wrong with it. All in all, it was a great race and I'm certainly not cured, and want to do it all again….next year!