By Dongyun Kwon
In the Yarra Valley, 97 species of wild birds were spotted in six hours by Coranderrk Currawongs, a group of three animal lovers.
Coranderrk Currawongs participated in the Twitchathon, a fundraiser for Landcare Victoria where participants compete to spot the most bird species in a six-hour window.
This year, the Coranderrk Currawongs consisted of The Monthly (a magazine) production editor Patrick Witton, Healesville Sanctuary zookeeper Zac Bryant and Healesville Sanctuary life sciences manager Falk Wicker.
Coranderrk Currawongs captain Falk Wicker said this was the second time the team has participated in the Twitchathon.
“We knew about it and were on the right mailing lists. Initially, I found out about it via social media and some of my birding contacts,” he said.
“Matthew Crawford (a producer and presenter at ABC Radio) who organises the event does a great job trying to recruit new teams and help worthy causes in the meantime.”
The event was held on the last weekend of October.
The team started the journey at a nearby lake from Healesville Sanctuary where they could find a number of predictable birds including ducks, coots and cormorants.
The first two hours went in a flash with 62 species listed.
In the end, they wrapped up their list with 97 species.
The team captain said the team tried to cover as many different habitat types to maximise their chances of seeing as many different bird species as possible.
“We chose Yarra Ranges as our home range for the bird race,” Mr Wicker said.
“Places we visited include Coranderrk Bushland Reserve, Healesville Sanctuary only for birds outside of exhibits, Birrarung/Yarra River flats outside of Healesville, farm dams along the Maroondah Highway, Lilydale Sewage Plant and part of the bike track between Lilydale and Coldstream.
“The challenge of finding as many birds as possible within six hours is so rewarding and an interesting experience because you have to strategise and decide which locations you give preference to, in order to broaden the range of bird species one might expect to see or hear there.”
Mr Wicker is originally from Germany and he has always loved animals since he was a kid.
He encouraged other animal lovers to get into the world of birding.
“Sir David Attenborough once said ‘The question is not when you found your passion for animals and nature – the question should rather be, when have you lost yours?’,” Mr Wicker said.
“My interest was mainly fluffy mammals to begin with, but when I was 12, I started to attend a youth group that was run by my local zoo in Germany.
“Their focus was birds, so we built nest boxes, examined owl pellets and went for bird walks.”
