Three black cockatoos, a murder of ravens, a handful of currawongs and a dear little eastern spinebill. But alas no raptors. Never mind, no data is still useful data, and it was a good excuse to go for a wander on the mountain.
Not that an excuse is needed. But sometimes, as life gets busier and there seems to be a constant stream of ‘responsibilities’, you start feeling like you need an excuse.
Where Where Wedgie?
Every year in May, there are six days over two weekends where you basically book a ‘square’ then head out and look for wedgies, other raptors and white cockatoos. There are finer points to the surveying, which are explained on the website – https://naturetrackers.au/projects/where-where-wedgie/. No point in me going through it here when it is over there. Some might call it lazy, I call it efficient. Go have a look, and check out the other Nature Tracker stuff while you are there too.
The Zero Heroes
It’s never a fail if you don’t find what you are after. Actually, I am sure there are times it could be considered a fail if you don’t find what you after. So maybe I shouldn’t say it is ‘never’ a fail. If you are looking for a missing person in the wilderness and you can’t find them, then that could be determined as a fail, I guess. Maybe. The expedition would be a fail, but the person who didn’t find the missing person wouldn’t be a failure though. Sometimes things are just out of our control, and no matter how hard we look for something, sometimes that thing just cannot be found. But then there is a difference between a ‘fail’ and a ‘failure’… or not… Anyway, we aren’t talking about search and rescue, we are talking about data collecting.
Getting a null result is still a result. We got a null Where Where Wedgie result, but in terms of a brilliant day out on the mountain it definitely wasn’t a null result.
Citizen Sciencing
“the collection and analysis of data relating to the natural world by members of the general public, typically as part of a collaborative project with professional scientists.” That’s what the definition of citizen science is in the google dictionary.
Where Where Wedgie is the epitome of citizen science. Something that everyone can be involved in, regardless of backgrounds or whether or not they have a bit of paper stuffed into a bookcase somewhere that says they are a scientist. And it is relatively easy. You need to be able to identify the target species of course, but that is made easier by the brilliant Birds of Prey guide which Nature Trackers have produced. Make sure you keep your eyes peeled next April for the details of the May 2025 dates and how to get involved.
Meanwhile… In between watching for big flappy birds, we looked at plants, fungi, lichen, rocks, sticks, insects, listened for birds, enjoyed the view and talked about all kinds of weird and wonderful things. I finally got my 13 year old to come and spend some time in the nature with me. He used to come a lot when he was little, but I think I broke him, and he got a bit over it. He was keen for an adventure watching for eagles though, and three of his friends came along too so it was extra awesome. I have more adventures planned…
Some photos. The End.
