Twitchathon

Past Champions

Twitchathon 2006

Twitchathon 2005

Twitchathon 2004

2004 Victorian Twitchathon Report 25 - 26 October

Tim Dolby

Once again the Victorian Twitchathon has been run, won and lost. In 2004 there were two major races, the 24 hr race and the 8 hr race - see summary below. The heavy rain in Victoria over the weekend caused major problems for many of the teams (with a few being washed out during the night), although surprisingly it did not seem to affect birding totals. On Sunday afternoon 30 tired and bleary-eyed twitchers made it to the finish line at Birds Australia HQ in Hawthorn.

	The winners of the 2004 Twitchathon: the Bush Turkeys (from left: Paul Peake, Nev Amos, Michael Veitch and leader Sean Dooley)
	The 8-hour champions for 2004: the Seven Year Twitchers (from left: Tim Dolby, Fiona Parkin and Greg Oakley)

Final Results 24 Hour Race

1st Prize, 200 birds, Bush Turkeys (Sean Dooley, Nevil Amos, Paul Peake, Michael Veitch) Best bird: Square-tailed Kite,
2nd Prize, 174 birds, 24-Hour Stints (Margaret Alcorn, Richard Alcorn, Simon Starr, Clive Curson). Best bird: Square-tailed Kite,
3rd Prize, 158 birds, Common Loudmouths (Philip Jackson, Frank Mitchell, Max Arney, Greg Hunt, Ken Norris, Russell Thompson). Best Bird: Spotted Nightjar,
4th Prize, 150 birds, Amber Beer-Eaters (Peter Fuller, Adam Bridger). Best bird: Gull-billed Tern,
5th Prize, 142 birds, Ninox Nincompoops (Lynne Billing, Noel Billing, Brenna Billing, Asha Billing; seen below receiving the prize for best bird) Best Bird: Painted Honeyeater.

Final Results 8 Hour Race

1st Place, 141 birds, Seven Year Twitchers (Tim Dolby, Greg Oakley and Fiona Parkin). Best Birds: Greater Sand Plover,
2nd Place, 127 birds, Norwegian Blues (George Pergaminelis, Phillip Krohn, Andrew Krohn and Jack Krohn Jnr: see below relaxing after the event). Best Bird: Spotted Harrier.

Best Bird

The best bird was a Painted Honeyeater, although Square-tailed Kite (nominated by 2 teams) was a close second. Overall all teams saw a combined total of 256 birds. The following is a selected summary of the birds seen in the 2004 Victorian Twitchathon, and reads like a Who's Who? of Victorian birds.

The following is a summary of the 2004 Victorian Twitchathon.

Non-passerines included Emu, Gull-billed Tern, Freckled Duck, Cape-barren Goose, Glossy Ibis, Little Penguin, 5 species of cormorant including Black-faced Cormorant, both Australasian and Little Bittern, Nankeen Night Heron, 15 species of birds of prey including Peregrine Falcon, Square-tailed Kite, Spotted Harrier and White-bellied Sea-Eagle, Buff-banded Rail and Spotted Crake, Black-tailed Native-hen, Greater Sand Plover, Artic Jaeger, both Black-tailed and Bar-tailed Godwit, Whimbrel and Eastern Curlew, Red Knot, a flock of over 500 Banded Stilt, Pacific Golden and Hooded Plover, Latham's Snipe, Gull-billed and White-winged Black Tern, Kelp Gull, Peaceful Dove, Brush Bronzewing, and an amazing 23 species of parrot including Major Mitchell's Cockatoo, Cockatiel, Australian Ringneck, Blue-bonnet, Budgerigar, Mulga, Regent and Turquoise Parrot, Spotted Nightjar and White-throated Needletail.

Passerines included Superb Lyrebird, both Southern and Mallee Emu-wren, Variegated, Splendid, White-winged, and Superb Fairy-wren, Large-billed Scrubwren, Shy Heathwren, Western Gerygone, Rufous Bristlebird, Striated Fieldwren, 7 species of thornbill, including Inland and Chestnut-rumped Thornbill, a remarkable 26 species of honeyeater including Yellow-throated Miner, Painted, Crescent, Spiny-cheeked, Tawney-crowned, Blue-faced and Black-chinned Honeyeater, Southern Scrub-robin, 6 species of robin, including Red-capped, Hooded, Scarlet, Flame, Rose, and Eastern Yellow Robin, the 3 possible babblers, Grey-crowned, Chestnut-crowned and White-browed Babbler, Varied Sittella, Crested Bellbird, Gilbert's Whistler, Rufous Fantail, 5 species of woodswallow including White-breasted, Masked, White-browed, Black-faced and Dusky Woodswallow, Apostlebird, Singing Bushlark, Diamond Firetail, Zebra Finch, White-backed Swallow, Bassian Thrush and Song Thrush.

My special thanks goes to the participant in the 2004 Victoria Twitchathon. I would like to thank the BA Vic committee who helped with the organisation of the BBQ, and to the judges for doing a very accurate job, for example they penalised (removed) a total of 10 birds from team lists, with the Common Loudmouths suffering the most, with 5 birds removed for lateness. They even (in line with the current rules) removed Mallard from my teams list!

Cheers,

Tim