Next week Katharine Van Spall will give a talk about her birding adventures in Australia at the Scout Island Nature Centre.
The title for her presentation is Birding as a Tourist in Australia because she started out as a tourist and ended up on a quest to observe 100 species of birds in the 21 days she and her partner Dex Porter were touring Australia in November 2013.
They visited three different states and several different ecological zones in Australia.
“Binoculars and bird-book in hand, I initially thought I would just casually watch birds in hotel parking lots and on the beach at sunset,” Van Spall says.
“However, after I spotted five life birds during our first day in downtown Sydney, it occurred to me I could see over 100 new birds if I kept up that pace!”
After several days of travel she says observing 100 new birds became her goal — “without driving my partner mad.”
Van Spall’s presentation takes place at the Scout Island Nature Centre Thursday, April 24 starting at 7 p.m.