ZooChat Big Year 2020

[Vision]

For my perspective twitching a White-throated Sparrow sounds very silly. It isn't unusual for me to see over 50 in a single day in fall migration.

Well, yes, but then almost all twitches would be silly, as most migrants likely to end up in the WP or ABA as vagrants are common somewhere...

Amazing twitch today, only the second Wisconsin record!:

Birds
121. Tufted Duck Aythya fuligula

...This being an example, of which I see a lot more than 50 every day I go birding.

 

[Maguari]

...This being an example, of which I see a lot more than 50 every day I go birding.

Same here!

I'm also reminded of the Great Beijing Zoo European Robin Twitch - here European Robin is much more likely to be an annoying just-about-generic-enough-passerine-that-you-have-to-check-it distraction while you're looking for the actual thing you're twitching..!

 

[animal_expert01]

Mammals:
10. Rakali (Hydromys chrysogaster)
11. Platypus (Ornithorhynchus anatinus)

Birds:
127. White Browed Scrub Wren (Sericornis frontalis)
128. Superb Fairy Wren (Malurus cyaneus)


Both the platypus and rakali were amazing to see. I had previously thought I had seen platypus in the wild but after seeing how easy it is to misidentify species such as rakali for platypus I have decided to just list both rakali and platypus as lifers.

Mammals:
12. Humpback Whale (Megaptera novaeangliae)
13. Pretty-faced Wallaby (Macropus parryi)
14. Red Fox (Vulpes vulpes)

Birds:
128. Brown Quail (Coturnix ypsilophora)
129. European Starling (Sturnus vulgaris)

Reptiles:
11. Three-clawed Worm-skink (Anomalopus verreauxii)

Amphibians:
7. Desert Tree Frog (Litoria rubella)

I have seen some awesome species lately. Went for a day trip up north to go whale watching and on the way saw the red fox as well as a juvenile jabiru. The fox was especially exciting as I hadn't seen a fox for 6 or 7 years before this.

The whales were absolutely incredible. In several hours whale watching I saw at last 30 whales including some that were breaching, tail slapping, pectoral slapping, spy hopping and the highlight, 12 male whales fighting for the right to mate with a female whale. Many of the male whales were head butting each other and partially breaching on to each other. Many had their tubercles on there head torn off resulting in their heads being covered in blood. I could only feel for the mother and calf as the males battled all around them. The pretty-faced wallabies were seen on the way back, a mother and joey which was great as this was the first time I had seen the species since 2017.

The three-clawed worm-skink were presumably a mating pair which were found under some corrugated iron. These were exciting as I had never seen a legless lizard before. I am also counting bird number 128 twice as I have decided to remove little eagle, a species counted earlier on the list as the bird I saw was in fact a whistling kite.

 

[Maguari]

This evening's addition from Woodhead Reservoir was the weirdest addition to my home county list for... well, ever.

It's believed to be a vagrant youngster hatched wild in the reintroduced population in the Alps - which is not considered self-sustaining by the gatekeepers of the official lists, so this bird won't be going on the main section of the official British List, for example. However my policy for my own list is that I do count birds from reintroduced populations if the population is known to have started breeding. This was mainly concocted to sanely deal with the complications around Common Cranes in the UK - but as time's gone on I more and more like it for the fact that it avoids the habit of birders de-legitimising or marginalising important reintroduced populations as 'not wild (enough)'. So, unless the bird is later proven to be from a different source to that currently believed, it goes on my list.

And somehow, my Derbyshire list now includes:

Birds:
189. Bearded Vulture - Gypaetus barbatus

Just to round off this bizarre story - thanks to genetic analysis of its feathers, the vulture, named Vigo by the Derbyshire Wildlife Trust, has now been confirmed as a female 2019-bred bird from the Alpine population as suspected: Bearded vulture in the UK: Speculations are over as genetic analysis reveals origin and gender

The bird has since left Derbyshire but is still in the UK - most recently she has been hanging around near the RSPB HQ in Bedfordshire, presumably sensing birders.

 

[MRJ]

the vulture, named Vigo by the Derbyshire Wildlife Trust, The bird has since left Derbyshire but is still in the UK - most recently she has been hanging around near the RSPB HQ in Bedfordshire, presumably sensing birders.

Not waiting for said birders to keel over, is she?

 

[Maguari]

Not waiting for said birders to keel over, is she?

Well, one hopes not...

 

[Yoshistar888]

Don't even need to leave the house to see new inverts.

Invertebrates

116. Greenhouse Whitefly (Trialeurodes vaporariorum)
117. English Wasp (Vespula vulgaris)

 

[Yoshistar888]

Don't even need to leave the house to see new inverts.

Invertebrates

116. Greenhouse Whitefly (Trialeurodes vaporariorum)
117. English Wasp (Vespula vulgaris)

It’s amazing how high moth biodiversity is basically anywhere in the world.

118. Marbled Halone (Halone consolatrix)

 

[MRJ]

Gordon Rolfe Reserve

Mammals

40. Australian swamp rat Rattus lutreolus

 

[Yoshistar888]

It’s amazing how high moth biodiversity is basically anywhere in the world.

118. Marbled Halone (Halone consolatrix)

If you told me I’d see a bird lifer in my street I’d call you crazy but here we are.

Birds

115. Eurasian Skylark (Alauda arvensis)

Invertebrates

119. Grey Planthopper (Anzora unicolor)

 

[Yoshistar888]

If you told me I’d see a bird lifer in my street I’d call you crazy but here we are.

Birds

115. Eurasian Skylark (Alauda arvensis)

Invertebrates

119. Grey Planthopper (Anzora unicolor)

Got an ID on a hunstman I saw.

120. Isopedella pessleri

 

[MRJ]

Moonlit Sanctuary

Reptiles

19. Common garden skink Lampropholis guichenoti

Inverts

25. Common grass-blue Zizina labradus

 

[Yoshistar888]

Moonlit Sanctuary

Reptiles

19. Common garden skink Eutropis multifasciata

Inverts

25. Common grass-blue Zizina labradus

I assume the skink is from your Sri Lanka trip. Also congrats on your first grass blue.

 

[MRJ]

I assume the skink is from your Sri Lanka trip. Also congrats on your first grass blue.

Well spotted, No I copy and paste scientific names from my list and mistakenly copied the species name above. Corrected now.

 

[birdsandbats]

So I did. I'm at 247 species then.

Birds
248. Surf Scoter Melanitta perspicillata

 

[Coelacanth18]

A few more updates:

Birds
109. Canada Jay (Perisoreus canadensis)
110. Acorn Woodpecker (Melanerpes formicivorus)
111. Anna’s Hummingbird (Calypte anna)
112. Bewick’s Wren (Thryomanes bewickii)
113. California Towhee (Melozone crissalis)
114. Oak Titmouse (Baeolophus inornatus)

Mammals
22. Fox Squirrel (Sciurus niger)
23. Black-tailed Jackrabbit (Lepus californicus)

More updates from a trip to a wetland area with a fellow birder, without whom I probably would have nabbed only half or less of these:

Birds
115. Wood Duck (Aix sponsa)
116. American Wigeon (Mareca americana)
117. Virginia Rail (Rallus limicola)
118. Sora (Porzana carolina)
119. Common Gallinule (Gallinula galeata)
120. American Coot (Fulica americana)
121. Wilson’s Snipe (Gallinago delicata)
122. Belted Kingfisher (Megaceryle alcyon)
123. Lewis’s Woodpecker (Melanerpes lewis)
124. House Wren (Troglodytes aedon)
125. Lincoln’s Sparrow (Melospiza lincolnii)
126. Common Yellowthroat (Geothlypis trichas)

 

[MRJ]

Moonlit Sanctuary

Invert

26. Australian painted lady Vanessa kershawi

 

[Yoshistar888]

Fishing at Coburg lake didn’t end well with a snag ending my day only half an hour in, although I did pick up some handy year ticks and a lifer although it wasn’t particularly as I had seen it’s American counterpart.

Birds

116. Australasian Darter (Anhinga novaehollandiae)
117. Mallard* (Anas platyrhynchos)

Note: All Mallards in Australia do have a domestic origin, although this one was very distant as noted by its colouring (it was a male in full breeding plumage).

Fish

14. Common Carp (Cyprinus carpio)*

 

[birdsandbats]

I'm going to redo my mammal list, it was a little screwy:

Mammals
1. Eastern Gray Squirrel Sciurus carolinensis
2. American Red Squirrel Tamiasciurus hudsonicus
3. White-tailed Deer Odocoileus virginianus
4. Northern Raccoon Procyon lotor
5. Eastern Cottontail Sylvilagus floridanus
6. Meadow Vole Microtus pennsylvanicus
7. Eastern Chipmunk Tamias striatus
8. Common Muskrat Ondatra zibethicus
9. Southern Red-backed Vole Myodes gapperi
10. Thirteen-lined Ground Squirrel Ictidomys tridecemlineatus
11. Woodchuck Marmota monax
12. Bobcat Lynx rufus
13. Red Fox Vulpes vulpes
14. American Mink Neovison vison
15. Virginia Opossum Didelphis virginiana
16. Fox Squirrel Sciurus niger

Mammals
17. North American River Otter Lontra canadensis

 

[Dannelboyz]

Some bloody rippers in the last week working around East Gippy! A couple of birds and a mammal I had only seen once before, plus two reptile lifers Admittedly, I've almost certainly seen a highlands copperhead before but I've never had a good enough view of the head.

BIRDS
283 - Pallid Cuckoo (Cacomantis pallidus)
284 - Black-faced Monarch (Monarcha melanopsis)
285 - Channel-billed Cuckoo (Scythrops novaehollandiae)

MAMMALS
38 - Southern Brown Bandicoot (Isoodon obesulus)

REPTILES
19 - White's Skink (Liopholis whitii)
20 - Swamp Skink (Lissolepis coventryi)
21 - Highlands Copperhead (Australeps ramsayi)

This week's been alright!! Howe Flat, Victoria.

BIRDS
286 - Common Sandpiper (Actitis hypoleucos)
287 - Eastern Bristlebird (Dasyurus brachypterus)
288 - Brush Cuckoo (Cacomantis variolosus)
289 - White-throated Nightjar (Eurostopodus mystacalis)
290 - Eastern Ground Parrot (Pezoporus wallicus)