NSW & ACT 2023 Twitchathon
Brought to you by BIGnet, A Loose Affiliation of NSW & ACT Birdwatching Clubs and Organisations
This year’s Twitchathon is being held over the weekend of Saturday 28 and Sunday 29 October.
Following the success of last year’s event, BIGnet are once again running the annual Twitchathon event in NSW and the ACT. The Twitchathon has been running, in NSW and the ACT now, for close to 30 years. In this time we have, between us, managed to raise very significant funds for a range of conservation projects. Let’s make this year another success and raise over $30,000 in aid of the Australian Painted-snipe!
The Australian Painted-snipe (APS) is one of our nation’s most endangered and poorly known species, with an estimated total population of just 340 birds. They are stunning in their beauty but skulk in wetlands with mudflats, very shallow water and patchy water plant cover, usually remaining hidden.
A successful crowdfunding campaign in late 2022 raised sufficient funds to run an APS tracking program (https://chuffed.org/project/
The Twithchathon funds will capitalise on the tracking work, enabling researchers to visit key wetlands as the birds move, meet with the landholders, build relationships and trust, and trigger targeted conservation.
The researchers will engage with land managers like farmers, traditional owners, local government officials and park rangers, meeting them on the ground and enlightening them about their significant visitors.
Together, they will then develop concise, site-specific conservation plans for the managers to manage their wetlands specifically for APS. There is also the advantage of assessing the habitat (e.g. water depths, vegetation cover, grazing regime) while birds are present, seeing if additional birds are there, are they breeding, and so on. The more funds raised by the Twithcathon, the more sites can be visited and the more conservation facilitated.
Learning about APS and developing targeted wetland conservation has never been more urgent. Despite a triple La Niña, the species has only been recorded at about 15 sites nationally in the past two years. We basically don’t know where they’ve been. Either that or they’ve declined substantially.
The NSW/ACT region is a key area, and has hosted the most important site in recent years (near Mungindi). We will raise awareness of the existence and significance of the APS at sites revealed by tracking. We will do this with the people that matter the most: the owners and managers of the wetlands they use.
Unfortunately, the APS is not one of the “lucky 22” bird species prioritised for funding under the National Threatened Species Strategy. The Twitchathon funds are much needed and will help give APS the attention they deserve.
We are maintaining the same Twitchathon formats as in the last few years:
- The Big Weekend will be a 30-hour mega twitch for the crazy and dedicated with a target well above 200 species being their goal.
- The Champagne race, which is an 8-hour event for those who want something more relaxing and sedate.
- Finally, the 3 hour Birdathon. This offers something for a whole range of participants, from experienced bird watchers who don’t have the time or inclination for the Big Weekend to the novices looking for a chance to cut their teeth.
As was the case last year, there is no separate children’s event, but children can register as part of a team provided that they are accompanied by an adult.
By now I hope you’re all raring to go, so here’s how. Through this website you can access a registration form, rules, species list, and sponsorship details. Chase up your team and start your planning. Let’s see if we can pass the $30,000 this year!
