Atlasing and Twitching

I know for a fact that there are many people in our part of the world who believe that atlasing and twitching do not mix. You are either a twitcher or an atlaser. But I knew it would only be a matter of time before this perception is proved wrong. It took a while but during the past two weeks this is exactly what happened.

Last week one of our atlasers Michal Groenewald went atlasing to try and submit a list for the Communal Atlasing Week. He chose a pentad in the Centurion area and between all the ducks, wagtails and plovers he found a Franklin’s Gull! Only the second known inland record! After receiving his frantic call the family grabbed the binocs and 30 minutes later we could add this wonderful species to our life lists.

So you see if it wasn’t for atlasing al us twitchers would have missed out. And it is all very simple – rarities can pitch up anywhere in the country. So the more atlasers we get to atlas or bird on a regular basis the bigger the chance that something special will be discovered.

The other interesting observation I made during the last few weeks is how important a House Sparrow can become to an atlaser. I did my home pentad again over the weekend and the species total were not so great so when I saw a House Sparrow to take the total number of species over 40, I was really pleased.

But I will admit not as pleased as seeing the Franklin’s Gull. And he deserves special mention – after all he did fly all the way from America to come and have a look at our beautiful country!