INSPIRED

Tom Gullick, birdwatcher (Photo from net)

I recently saw this article about Tom Gullick. He is arguably the world's greatest bird-watcher, and he officially holds the record for the most species of birds ever seen by one person. He is an 81years old, ex-naval officer who travels the world spotting birds. Tom has been listing birds for the past 40 years. The photo above shows his latest find, bird number 9000, the Wallace's fruit dove, Ptilinopus wallacii. The bird was seen by Tom on a birding expedition to the remote Indonesian island of Yamdena.

Depending on the taxonomic list that is used there are between 8,800 and 10,200 living birds species in the world. Some people have made it a lifelong quest to see as many of these birds as possible. The list of the top bird observers is currently as follows:
                    Tom Gullick                        9,000
                    John Hornbuckle                 8,958
                    Claes-Goran Cederlund       8,943
                    Hugh Buck                          8,619
                    Philip Rostron                     8,475
                    Phoebe Snetsinger               8,400
                    Jean-Marc Thiollay             8,259
                    Peter Kaestner                     8,200
                    Pete Winter                          7,700
                   Bjorn Anderson                    7,635
                   John Danzenbaker                7,529
                   Jim Clements                        7,200
                   Richard Koeppel                   7,000
                   Harvey Gilston                     6,800
                   Robert Shore                           400 (approx)

So I have probably been bird watching since I joined the Junior Gould League and got "What Bird is That" for my birthday in 1967, but never seriously and never keeping count. Then, when I bought a camera a few years ago, birds seemed an obvious choice for a subject. So for the past few years I have been photographing birds, never seriously, but always on the look out for new ones that I haven't seen before.  I was already aware that Australia has over 800 species of birds and I guess I have been patiently, and sometimes impatiently, working to see as many of these as possible.

Tom's record is safe (well at least for the moment), however, I guess it has inspired me to at least be a little more systematic in keeping my list. It would be nice to know just how many birds I have seen, or in my case, photographed. So, inspired by Tom and his 9000 birds, this blog, fittingly called '9001 Birds' is my record or list of birds. I will number them as I go, and also keep a record of how many of these are Australian birds.