ZooChat Big Year 2021

[birdsandbats]

Birds
270. Wilson's Phalarope Phalaropus tricolor
271. Marbled Godwit Limosa fedoa
272. Short-billed Dowitcher Limnodromus griseus

Birds
273. Magnolia Warbler Setophaga magnolia
274. Bay-breasted Warbler Setophaga castanea
275. Cape May Warbler Setophaga tigrina
276. Canada Warbler Cardellina canadensis

 

[Maguari]

Slightly rainy day at Frampton Marsh today - my first visit of the year to what would normally be one of the first places I hit in January or February. It's always a winner - simply covered in birds every time, particularly waders and huge numbers of Brent Geese. Today was no exception! All except the partridge (roadside on the way) were Frampton - a very showy and acrobatic Little Gull, half-a-dozen spoonbills and the assorted Calidrises were the major stars (only my second time seeing Temminck's). And another Whimbrel, because after missing them altogether last year I apparently can't leave the house without seeing one this year.

Birds:
138. Red-legged Partridge - Alectoris rufa
139. Brent Goose - Branta bernicla
140. Eurasian Spoonbill - Platalea leucorodia
141. Temminck's Stint - Calidris temminckii
142. Little Gull - Hydrocoloeus minutus
143. Little Stint - Calidris minuta
144. Western Marsh Harrier - Circus aeruginosus
145. Curlew Sandpiper - Calidris ferruginea
146. Mediterranean Gull - Ichthyaetus melanocephalus

 

[Chlidonias]

You already listed the New Caledonia sea star on this page. You should be at 73 invertebrates.

But he had 57 twice, so he is still on 74.

 

[MRJ]

A couple of land invertebrates, plus another marine invertebrate.
75. American cockroach Periplaneta americana (new Family)
76. sp. land snail Figuladra mattea (new Family)
77. Spagetti worm Reteterebella quenslandia (new Order and Family)

 

[MRJ]

More from Heron Island. For those not familiar with Heron Island it is about 72km off the coast of Queensland. You get here by fast ferry from Gladstone, in under 2 hours. The island is tiny, only 18 hectares (45 acres), and is National Park. I am staying in the resort that takes up a little less than a quarter of the island, which it shares with a research centre and a ranger station. The island itself is a coral cay and has only been in existence for 6,000 years, although started to develop about 2,000,000 years ago. While it is an important bird and turtle breeding location, it is obviously the reef that surrounds it that gets the national park, and world heritage status. Heron Reef is one of the larger reefs in the Great Barrier Reef system. Being located in the southern sector of the GBR it has a different ecology to the northern part. Coral bleaching has not affected the reef round here yet so it is in pretty much pristine condition. The name comes from the large population of reef egrets that make the island home, there are no actual heron species here.

Fish
18. Blue-green chromis Chromis viridis
19. Bluespine unicornfish Naso unicornis (new Order and Family)
20. Sand goby Fusigobius neophytus (new Family)
21. Tawny nurse shark Nebrius ferrugineus (new Family)

It turns out fish are harder to identify than birds.

Invertebrates
78. Leopard sea cucumber Bohadschia argus
79. Pyramid trochid Tectus pyramis (new Order and Family)

 

[Great Argus]

It turns out fish are harder to identify than birds.

If you have any photos of fish that need identifying, I'm sure we can help with that once you have a chance to upload them. If you want, that is.

 

[Tetzoo Quizzer]

Two new lifer mammals to celebrate my birthday coming up on Monday
7 Walrus Odobenus rosmarinus
8 Greater Horseshoe Bat Rhinolophus ferrumequinum

Birds
107 Red Kite Milvus milvus
108 Dipper Cinclus cinclus
109 Guillemot Uria aalge
110 Razorbill Alca torda
111 Fulmar Fulmarus glacialis
112 Kittiwake Rissa tridactyla
113 Shag Phalacrocorax aristotelis
114 Spotted Flycatcher Muscicapa striata

Invertebrates
47 Yellow Slug Limacus flavus
48 Nurseryweb Spider Pisaura mirabilis
49 Gooden’s Nomad Bee Nomada goodeniana

 

[Tetzoo Quizzer]

Missed off bird 115 Chough Pyrrocorax pyrrocorax

 

[Coelacanth18]

Mammals
7. Northern Raccoon (Procyon lotor)

Birds
60. Canada Jay (Perisomeus canadensis)
61. House Sparrow (Passer domesticus)
62. Pileated Woodpecker (Dryocopus pileatus)
63. Common Raven (Corvus corax)

New locations, new birds. I was able to pick up a few spring/summer visitors before I left my old location, but most were not in abundance yet. No matter; I started off here with a very productive wetland trip and river walk, which included a few seasonal rarities and a few common but unexpected finds.

Birds
64. Western Osprey (Pandion haliaetus)
65. Yellow-rumped Warbler (Setophaga coronata)
66. Barn Swallow (Hirundo rustica)
67. Brown-headed Cowbird (Molothrus ater)
68. Mourning Dove (Zenaida macroura)
69. Caspian Tern (Hydroprogne caspia)

70. Turkey Vulture (Cathartes aura)
71. Brewer's Blackbird (Euphagus cynocephalus)

72. White-faced Ibis (Plegadis chihi)
73. Western Meadowlark (Sturnella neglecta)
74. Ruddy Duck (Oxyura jamaicensis)
75. Northern Mockingbird (Mimus polyglottos)
76. Great-tailed Grackle (Quiscalus mexicanus)
77. Cinnamon Teal (Spatula cyanoptera)
78. American Coot (Fulica americana)
79. Black-necked Stilt (Himantopus mexicanus)
80. Cliff Swallow (Petrochelidon pyrrhonota)
81. Great Egret (Ardea alba)
82. Redhead (Aythya americana)
83. American Avocet (Recurvirostra americana)
84. Red-necked Phalarope (Phalaropus lobatus)
85. Western Kingbird (Tyrannus verticalis)
86. Greater White-fronted Goose (Anser albifrons)
87. Killdeer (Charadrius vociferus)
88. Black Phoebe (Sayornis nigricans)

89. Wild Turkey (Meleagris gallopavo)
90. California Quail (Callipepla californica)
91. Acorn Woodpecker (Melanerpes formicivorus)

Mammals
8. Townsend's Chipmunk (Neotamias townsendii)

9. Desert Cottontail (Sylvilagus audubonii)
10. Black-tailed Jackrabbit (Lepus californicus)

11. California Ground Squirrel (Otospermophilus beecheyi)

 

[Tetzoo Quizzer]

Birds
116 Crane Grus grus
117 Short-eared Owl Asio flammeus

 

[red river hog]

Birds:

88. Blue Grosbeak (Passerina caerulea)
89. Chestnut-sided Warbler (Setophaga pensylvanica)
90. Blue-gray Gnatcatcher (Polioptila caerulea)
91. Eastern Kingbird (Tyrannus tyrannus)
92. Savannah Sparrow (Passerculus sandwichensis)

Herptiles:

9. Common Watersnake (Nerodia sipedon)
10. Common Snapping Turtle (Chelydra serpentina)

Mammals: 7
Birds: 92
Herptiles: 10
Fish: 4
Invertebrates: 23
Total: 134

 

[Maguari]

One more from Whipsnade today - always a reliable spot for these.

Birds:
147. European Green Woodpecker - Picus viridis

 

[birdsandbats]

Birds
273. Magnolia Warbler Setophaga magnolia
274. Bay-breasted Warbler Setophaga castanea
275. Cape May Warbler Setophaga tigrina
276. Canada Warbler Cardellina canadensis

Birds
277. Red-eyed Vireo Vireo olivaceus
278. Scarlet Tanager Piranga olivacea
279. Ruby-throated Hummingbird Archilochus colubris
280. Gray-cheeked Thrush Catharus minimus
281. Philadelphia Vireo Vireo philadelphicus
282. Blue-winged Warbler Vermivora cyanoptera

 

[MRJ]

Some more fish from Heron Island
22. Humphead mauri wrasse Cheilinus undulatus
23. Bluesteak cleaner wrasse Labroides dimidiatus
24. Moon wrasse Thalassoma lunare
25. Steephead parrotfinch Chlorurus microrhinos (new Family)
26. Surf parrotfish Scarus rivulatus
27. Great Barrier Reef chromis Chromis nitida
28. Black-backed butterflyfish Chaetodon melannotus
29. Moorish idol Zanclus cornutus
30. Coral rabbitfish Siganus corallinus
31. Foxtail rabbitfish Signus vulpinus
32. Trumpetfish Aulostomus chinensis (new Order and Family)

Family Scaridae, the parrotfishes, is the 300th Family I have seen and identified in the wild since starting my list. That makes an average of a fraction over 4 species per family.

And a reptile.
10. Green sea turtle Chelonia mydas

 

[MRJ]

If you have any photos of fish that need identifying, I'm sure we can help with that once you have a chance to upload them. If you want, that is.

Thanks I will. For the moment, I am enjoying learning the families. Plus the internet connection here is very poor and expensive.

 

[Fallax]

Oh, I completely forgot this one!

Birds:

30. Grey heron (Ardea cinerea)

Saw some goodies this weekend:

Mammals:
06. Red squirrel (Sciurus vulgaris)

Birds:
31. Common guillemot (Uria aalge)
32. Black-legged kittiwake (Rissa trydactyla)
33. Great black-backed gull (Larus marinus)
34. Red-billed chough (Pyrrhocorax pyrrhocorax)

 

[Maguari]

Two new lifer mammals to celebrate my birthday coming up on Monday
7 Walrus Odobenus rosmarinus
8 Greater Horseshoe Bat Rhinolophus ferrumequinum

Welcome to the Walrus club!

Jealous on the horseshoe bat - I've still never seen either British species.

 

[Tetzoo Quizzer]

Greater Horseshoe was really easy at Stackpole; 5 or more flying under the clock tower before dusk, then noted that they were flying off right; moved over to the hedge and had a hundred or more flying between me and the hedge, close enough to hear the wing beats!

 

[Ituri]

Had a nice busy weekend birding, mostly around Wichita, but I did pay a brief visit to Quivira NWR about an hour and a half away.

139 Franklin's Gull - Leucophaeus pipixcan
140 Brown Thrasher - Toxostoma rufum
141 Warbling Vireo - Vireo gilvus
142 Field Sparrow - Spizella pusilla
143 Orange-crowned Warbler - Leiothlypis celata
144 Northern Parula - Setophaga americana
145 Pectoral Sandpiper - Calidris melanotos
146 Eared Grebe - Podiceps nigricollis
147 White-faced Ibis - Plegadis chihi
148 Marsh Wren - Cistothorus palustris
149 Wilson's Phalarope - Phalaropus tricolor
150 Spotted Sandpiper - Actitis macularius

Time for an update....first for some birds seen around local Wichita hotspots.

151 Great Crested Flycatcher - Myiarchus crinitus
152 Chimney Swift - Chaetura pelagica
153 Red-eyed Vireo - Vireo olivaceus
154 House Wren - Troglodytes aedon
155 Swainson's Thrush - Catharus ustulatus
156 Baltimore Oriole - Icterus galbula
157 Barred Owl - Strix varia
158 Nashville Warbler - Leiothlypis ruficapilla
159 Western Kingbird - Tyrannus verticalis
160 Least Flycatcher - Empidonax minimus
161 Gray Catbird - Dumetella carolinensis
162 Yellow Warbler - Setophaga petechia
163 Cliff Swallow - Petrochelidon pyrrhonota
164 Eastern Kingbird - Tyrannus tyrannus
165 Mississippi Kite - Ictinia mississippiensis
166 Whimbrel - Numenius phaeopus
167 Grasshopper Sparrow - Ammodramus savannarum
168 Dickcissel - Spiza americana
169 Black-bellied Whistling-Duck - Dendrocygna autumnalis
170 Ruby-throated Hummingbird - Archilochus colubris
171 Clay-colored Sparrow - Spizella pallida
172 Wilson's Warbler - Cardellina pusilla
173 Summer Tanager - Piranga rubra
174 Cattle Egret - Bubulcus ibis
175 Red-headed Woodpecker - Melanerpes erythrocephalus
176 Scissor-tailed Flycatcher - Tyrannus forficatus
177 Common Gallinule - Gallinula galeata
178 Bell's Vireo - Vireo bellii
179 Hudsonian Godwit - Limosa haemastica
180 Black Tern - Chlidonias niger
181 Indigo Bunting - Passerina cyanea

This last weekend I went down to Cowley County, southeast of Wichita and poked around some very different habitat than we have locally. The Kentucky and Prothonotary were the first of their kind I have seen in many years and the Alder Flycatcher was a life bird.

182 Eastern Wood-Pewee - Contopus virens
183 Yellow-billed Cuckoo - Coccyzus americanus
184 Louisiana Waterthrush - Parkesia motacilla
185 Black-and-white Warbler - Mniotilta varia
186 Prothonotary Warbler - Protonotaria citrea
187 American Redstart - Setophaga ruticilla
188 Alder Flycatcher - Empidonax alnorum
189 Kentucky Warbler - Geothlypis formosa
190 Painted Bunting - Passerina ciris
191 Orchard Oriole - Icterus spurius
192 Blue Grosbeak - Passerina caerulea
193 Common Nighthawk - Chordeiles minor
194 Green Heron - Butorides virescens
195 Upland Sandpiper - Bartramia longicauda

Finally, I found a group of Willet hanging out at a lake near town.

196 Willet - Tringa semipalmata

No new additions for any other categories at the moment.

 

[red river hog]

Birds:

93. Chimney Swift (Chaetura pelagica)

Mammals: 7
Birds: 93
Herptiles: 10
Fish: 4
Invertebrates: 23
Total: 135