Subject: Re: Planning a trip Downunder
Date: Dec 19 14:25:17 1994
From: Dennis Paulson - dpaulson at ups.edu


>Dennis The Knowledgable sez:
>
>>Birds are common in Australia. We saw our first
>>Sulphur-crested Cockatoos flying across the road just after we left the
>>airport!
>
>I'll say Sulphur-crested Cockatoos are common! Driving around the farm
>country surrounding Cairns and towards the Atherton Tablelands, they
>can be seen in immense flocks. To the US birder, at first it appears
>the fields are full of flocks of gulls - just to give you some idea
>of scale and numbers. A stop and a look and a healthy "holy s**t!!!!"
>
>Actually, though, only common birds are common in Australia. The rare
>ones are ... rare! :)
>
>-Don Baccus-

Well, Don, you just disillusioned me. I had the distinct feeling that even
*rare* birds were common in Australia! At least they sure looked rare (and
wondrous) to me....;-) But, interestingly, we didn't see "immense flocks"
of S-c Cockatoos around Cairns, only pairs and occasional small
groups--possibly different season? We were there in October.

We did see big flocks of cockatoos--Little Corellas--near Darwin, like
white pigeons out in the fields. One memorable experience was a mixed flock
of Little Corellas and Yellow-billed Egrets. Australian birding was one
long series of holy unprintables.

Dennis Paulson phone: (206) 756-3798
Slater Museum of Natural History fax: (206) 756-3352
University of Puget Sound e-mail: dpaulson at ups.edu
Tacoma, WA 98416