I've just returned to Texas from a trip to Australia, where I did see a few birds that we see in the SWVA-ET area such as Great Egret, Rock Dove, and European Starling. However, the majority of the birds were new for me--almost 400 life birds. Although Australia is experiencing a severe drought, the birding was excellent. We did well with mammals also, but the Koala in the wild proved to be much more difficult than I antiicpated. Our big miss was not seeing the cassowary at Cassowary House (it came the next day when we were at Michaelmas Cay). The weather was excellent, the people friendly, and the food too plentiful. Now I'm trying to catch up on what's been going on in birding since I left Southwest Virginia in late September--sounds as though you've had some exciting birds. Dick Peake _________________________________________________________________ STOP MORE SPAM with the new MSN 8 and get 2 months FREE* http://join.msn.com/?page=features/junkmail ************************************************* BRISTOL BIRDS NET LIST This is a regional birding list sponsored by the Bristol Bird Club to facilitate communications between birders and bird clubs of Southwest Virginia and Northeast Tennessee. It serves the Russell County Bird Club, Herndon Chapter TOS, Chapter, Blue Ridge Birders Club, Butternut Nature Club, Buchanan County Bird Club, Bristol Bird Club, Clinch Valley Bird Club and Cumberland Nature Club. -------------------------------------------------- You are subscribed to Bristol-Birds. To post to this mailing list, simply send an email to: bristol-birds@xxxxxxxxxxxxxx To unsubscribe, send an email to bristol-birds-request@xxxxxxxxxxxxx with the one word 'unsubscribe' in the Subject field. -------------------------------------------------- Wallace Coffey, Moderator jwcoffey@xxxxxxxxxx (423)764-3958