Zoochat Big Year 2022

[Dhole dude]

I'm relatively sure it was a Blue Swallow, but there is a high likelihood it wasn't. I'll just remove them from the list anyways, as I don't want to add something I'm not so sure about.


Mammals
18. African Bush Elephant (Loxodonta africana)

Birds
116. Natal Spurfowl (Pternistis natalensis)
117. European Bee-Eater (Merops apiaster)
118. Crested Barbet (Trachyphonus vaillantii)
119. Green Wood Hoopoe (Phoeniculus purpureus)
120. Chinspot Batis (Batis molitor)
121. Green-Winged Pytilia (Pytilia melba)

Reptiles
12. Variable Skink (Mabuya varia)

Amphibians
1, African Red Frog (Schismaderma carens)

Mammals: 18
Birds: 121
Reptiles: 12
Amphibians: 1
Fish: 3
Invertebrates: 1

Mammals
19. Southeast African Cheetah (Acinonyx jubatus jubatus)

Birds
122. Black-Headed Heron (Ardea melanocephala)
123. Grey Heron (Ardea cinerea)
124. African Wooly-Necked Stork (Ciconia episcopus microscelis/ Ciconia microscelis)
125. Black-Crowned Tchagra (Tchagra senegala)
126. Water Thick-Knee (Burhinus vermiculatus)
127. Lilac-Breasted Roller (Coracias caudatus)
128. Brown Snake-Eagle (Circaetus cinereus)
129. Martial Eagle (Polemaetus bellicosus)
130. Red-Breasted Swallow (Cecropis semirufa)
131. Long-Crested Eagle (Lophaetus occipitalis)

Invertebrates
2. Giant Golden Orb-Weaver Spider (Trichonephila komaci)

Mammals: 19
Birds: 131
Reptiles: 12
Amphibians: 1
Fish: 3
Invertebrates: 2

 

[DesertRhino150]

Today, I managed my first trip down to the estuary and gravel pits at Heybridge Basin. Normally, it is a great spot to take a long birding walk, but the combination of a rising high tide, low sun and masses of out-of-control dogs meant that my overall bird count was fairly low. It doesn't help that I am now probably on the tail-end of the time for winter birds but still too early for most summering species. Even so, I managed a fair haul of new species:

68. Black-tailed godwit Limosa limosa
69. Pied avocet Recurvirostra avosetta
70. Common reed bunting Emberiza schoeniclus
71. Common redshank Tringa totanus
72. Eurasian wigeon Mareca penelope
73. Ruddy turnstone Arenaria interpres

If I had more time, I could have managed a few more birds - there was a flock of greyish waders roosting but, because they were on the far bank of the river and I was being harried by a dog a the time, I didn't get to identify them. I also heard both curlews and dark-bellied brent geese and may have also seen both, but both were again on the far side of the river and in silhouette, so I cannot in all conscience count them.

Another potentially far more interesting 'one-that-got-away' was when we were on the way back home - I spotted, from the passenger seat of the car, a very large bird that appeared to be pale in colour and had a long neck being held straight out in front of it; I thought it might have been a white stork but, despite my best efforts, trying to clap binoculars on it from the wrong side of a moving car proved impossible.

I went for another walk down the river at home again today and found that, because it is probably near to a spring tide now, the brackish area where the river meets the estuary was experiencing an extreme high tide where water flows into a patch of woodland. This phenomenon does force small mammals into smaller, drier areas and after some searching I spotted a new mammal scuttling through the ivy.

7. Common shrew Sorex araneus

Finally, making it back to the house, I found a new insect feeding from the recently-opened primroses in the front garden.

13. Dark-edged beefly Bombylius major

I have not been able to update since last week, as I haven't had a laptop since Friday. Perhaps fortunately, there aren't a huge number of updates although there are a couple of new species for the year list:

Firstly, on Friday when I was coming back from the computer store, I saw one new invertebrate flying between some of the newly-opened flowers in the front garden and then later in the afternoon saw another new species from my bedroom window, investigating the eaves of the house:

14. Early bumblebee Bombus pratorum
15. Common wasp Vespula vulgaris

On Monday, I was washing up in the kitchen and, on looking out of the window, saw a female blackcap in the back garden hopping through the ivy on a dead tree. I had fully expected that I would have to go out walking to find one although I fully imagine I will see and hear a lot more of them when I start going out again.

74. Eurasian blackcap Sylvia atricapilla

I'm not sure how great the next few days are going to be for wildlife - we've had late snow showers this morning and the temperature locally is probably not going to rise above 10 degrees Celsius until Monday. I imagine some of the early-emerging invertebrates especially are going to be devastated by sudden change in weather.

 

[Mehdi]

I'm rounding up the last few pages' totals.

@Mehdi - I'm assuming you are on 128 birds?

Yes indeed, my bad!

It seems like this week, birding wise, is definitely not my lucky week...

While still in Tangier a few days ago, I received an eBird alert that a Ring-necked duck, a rare North American vagrant, was spotted at Estuaire du Tamri, which is one of the spots I regularly visit back home. I made sure to try and twitch it as soon as I'm back home and that was my goal this morning.

Unfortunately the duck was a total no-show, even if I skimmed the entire area for it. A swamphen (weirdly swimming! never seen such behaviour before) and my first blackcap of the year made up for it but the best addition by far was my lifer Wild boar. Although very common (even spotted sometimes in my city at night), it's a species I had never seen before today. Surprisingly enough, the sighting was of a sow and her piglet on the side of the road, near a packed beach!

BIRDS:
05/03/2022 (Estuaire de l'Asif n'Srou [127-128])
125 - Western swamphen, Porphyrio porphyrio
126 - Eurasian blackcap, Sylvia atricapilla

MAMMALS:
05/03/2022 (Plage d'Imi Ouaddar [3])
3 - Wild boar, Sus scrofa

A few more additions including some very interesting ones that all show spring migration is definitely underway!

BIRDS:
26/03/2022 (Embouchure de l'Oued Souss [129])
129 - Gull-billed tern, Gelochelidon nilotica
---
27/03/2022 (Oued Massa-- Champs d'Aghorimze [130-137])
130 - European bee-eater, Merops apiaster
131 - Tree pipit, Anthus trivialis
132 - Woodchat shrike, Lanius senator
133 - Willow warbler, Phylloscopus trochilus
134 - Common swift, Apus apus
135 - Iberian chiffchaff, Phylloscopus ibericus
136 - Spectacled warbler, Curruca conspicillata
137 - Western Bonelli's warbler, Phylloscopus bonelli

 

[birdsandbats]

Mammals
11. Eastern Chipmunk Tamias striatus

Yes, 94 would be right. Also:

Birds
95. Osprey Pandion haliaetus
96. Northern Shrike Lanius borealis
97. Eastern Phoebe Sayornis phoebe
98. Green-winged Teal Anas carolinensis
99. Northern Flicker Colaptes auratus
100. Blue-winged Teal Spatula discors

Birds
101. Yellow-bellied Sapsucker Sphyrapicus varius

Mammals
12. Woodchuck Marmota monax

 

[carl the birder]

28 whooper swan Cygnus cygnus
29 bean goose Anser fabalis
30 pink-footed goose Anser brachyrhynchus (miss in 2021)
31 greater white fronted goose Anser albifrons
32 greyleg goose Anser anser
33 barnical gosse Branta leucopsis
34 red brested goose Branta ruficollis
35 canda gosse Branta canadensis
36 eurasian wigeon Mareca penelope
37 gadwall Mareca strepera
38 eurasian teal Anas crecca
39 tufed duck Aythya fuligula
40 black grouse Lyrurus tetrix miss in 2021
41 grey partridge Perdix perdix miss in 2021
42 ring necked pheasant Phasianus colchicus
43 little grebe Tachybaptus ruficollis
44 great crested grebe Podiceps cristatus
45 grey heron Ardea cinerea
46 white tailed sea eagle Haliaeetus albicilla
47 northern goshawk Accipiter gentilis
48 eurasian sparow hawk Accipiter nisus
49 common buzzard Buteo buteo
50 rough legged buzzard Buteo lagopus
51 golden eagle Aquila chrysaetos miss in 2021
52 common moorhen Gallinula chloropus
53 eurasian coot Fulica atra
54 common crane Grus grus
55 eurasian oystercatcher Haematopus ostralegus
56 common ringed plover Charadrius hiaticula
57 northern lapwing Vanellus vanellus
58 common snipe Gallinago gallinago
59 black headed gull Chroicocephalus ridibundus
60 common gull Larus canus
61 feral pigeon Columba livia
62 stock dove Columba oenas
63 Common wood pigeon Columba palumbus
64 eurasian pygmy owl Glaucidium passerinum
65 grey headed woodpecker Picus canus (swedish lifer
66 green woodpecker Picus viridis
67 lesser spotted woodpecker Dryobates minor
68 euraian skylark Alauda arvensis
69 meadow pipit Anthus pratensis
70 white throated dipper Cinclus cinclus
71 eurasian robin Erithacus rubecula
72 fieldfare Turdus pilaris
73 willow tit Poecile montanus miss in 2021
74 eurasian jay Garrulus glandarius
75 siberian jay Perisoreus infaustus
76 eurasian magpie Pica pica
77 eurasian jackdraw Corvus monedula
78 common starling Sturnus vulgaris
79 house sparrow Passer domesticus
80 eurasian tree sparrow Passer montanus
81 common chaffinch Fringilla coelebs
82 Brambling Fringilla montifringilla
83 eurasian goldfinch Carduelis carduelis
84 european greenfinch Chloris chloris
85 eurasian linnet Linaria cannabina
86 twite Linaria flavirostris
87 common redpoll Acanthis flammea
88 red crossbill Loxia curvirostra
89 eurasian bullfinch Pyrrhula pyrrhula
90 yellowhammer Emberiza citrinella
91 reed bunting Emberiza citrinella
92 water rail Rallus aquaticus

herd only
boreal owl
eurasian three-toed woodpecker
urial owl
a trip up north brout me a few nice forest speices
and the red-brested gosse was a nice bucket list bird

 

[DaLilFishie]

two more from yesterday

Birds
58 - Collared Kingfisher
59 - Striated Heron

 

[boof]

1/4/2022
176. Collared sparrowhawk

 

[WalkingAgnatha]

Adding in my update which I've been procrastinating doing now that it's the first quarter of the year.
Overall I've added a lot more inverts which are basically all in chronological order and got to see some cool things, such as a kereru in my local patch of bush finally, and a cat(presumably someone's pet) carry off a mouse in it's jaws, sadly can't count it cause it's dead but it's nice to finally see a mouse without having to be alerted to some poisoned cadaver behind the fridge or whatever.
Quite surprised how I haven't seen a tree weta in I think a few years!(Could be the winged wetas...), also saw some goby/bully type fish in a really grimey pool which I expected to house no life so I'll have to try and get them id'ed if I can take some pictures of them.

Inverts.
17. White-tailed Spider (Lampona murina)
18. Cellar Spider (Pholcus phalangiodes)
19. Fungus-eating Ladybird (Illeis galbula)
20. Black Lawn Beetle (Heteronychus arator)
21. Pasture Wireworm (Conoderus exul)
22. Chorus Cicada (Amphipsalta zelandica)
23. Southern Michelin Ant (Amblyopone australis)
24. Bathroom Drain-fly (Clogmia albipunctata)
25. Black Field Cricket (Teleogryllus commodus)
26. Brown Soldier Bug (Cermatulus nasalis)
27. South African Mantis (Miomantis caffra)
28. Australasian Green Shield Bug (Glaucias amyoti)
29. Common Rough Woodlouse (Porcellio scaber)

Surprise lifer endemic mantis!
Wasn't expecting to see one after the last time I went looking for one at day yielded nothing, would never have expected to see one perched right on my balcony door, with an introduced one right beside it!

30. New Zealand Mantis (Orthodera novaezealandiae)

 

[Dhole dude]

Mammals
19. Southeast African Cheetah (Acinonyx jubatus jubatus)

Birds
122. Black-Headed Heron (Ardea melanocephala)
123. Grey Heron (Ardea cinerea)
124. African Wooly-Necked Stork (Ciconia episcopus microscelis/ Ciconia microscelis)
125. Black-Crowned Tchagra (Tchagra senegala)
126. Water Thick-Knee (Burhinus vermiculatus)
127. Lilac-Breasted Roller (Coracias caudatus)
128. Brown Snake-Eagle (Circaetus cinereus)
129. Martial Eagle (Polemaetus bellicosus)
130. Red-Breasted Swallow (Cecropis semirufa)
131. Long-Crested Eagle (Lophaetus occipitalis)

Invertebrates
2. Giant Golden Orb-Weaver Spider (Trichonephila komaci)

Mammals: 19
Birds: 131
Reptiles: 12
Amphibians: 1
Fish: 3
Invertebrates: 2

A couple more species seen in Cape Town today.

Mammals
20. Cape Fur Seal (Arctocephalus pusillus)

Birds
132. Red-Billed Firefinch (Lagonosticta senegala)
133. Cape Cormorant (Phalacrocorax capensis)
134. Bank Cormorant (Phalacrocorax neglectus)
135. Hartlaub's Gull (Chroicocephalus hartlaubii)
136. Kelp Gull (Larus dominicanus)

Mammals: 20
Birds: 136
Reptiles: 12
Amphibians: 1
Fish: 3
Invertebrates: 2

 

[birdsandbats]

Birds
101. Yellow-bellied Sapsucker Sphyrapicus varius

Mammals
12. Woodchuck Marmota monax

Birds
102. Lesser Black-backed Gull Larus fuscus
103. Pied-billed Grebe Podilymbus podiceps
104. Common Loon Gavia immer
105. White-winged Scoter Melanitta deglandi
106. Horned Grebe Podiceps auritus
107. Red-throated Loon Gavia stellata
108. Barred Owl Strix varia

 

[Great Argus]

Well nothing significant since my last update, though migration is well underway and southern migrants are arriving.

Birds:

68. Osprey (Pandion haliaetus)
69. Cackling Goose (Branta hutchinsii)
70. Say’s Phoebe (Sayornis saya)
71. Tree Swallow (Tachycineta bicolor)
72. Violet-green Swallow (Tachycineta thalassina)
73. Cliff Swallow (Petrochelidon pyrrhonota)
74. American Kestrel (Falco sparverius)

Invertebrates:

8. Road Duster (Dissosteira carolina)
9. Pipevine Swallowtail (Battus philenor)
10. Clouded Sulphur (Colias philodice)

6-74-4-0-0-10

The weather has been fairly good lately and so spring migration has been well under way the last week or so, lots of the early warblers swarming through the trees. The flycatchers and orioles have been starting to arrive as well but I haven't seen them yet. Mammals continue to prove obnoxiously tricky, having had skunks and foxes betray their presence recently without being seen. And somehow I still can't find a pesky treefrog despite hearing them almost every night for weeks!

Mammals:

7. Brown Rat (Rattus norvegicus)

Birds:

75. Rufous Hummingbird (Selasphorus rufous)
76. Phainopepla (Phainopepla nitens)
77. Barn Owl (Tyto alba)
78. Yellow-rumped Warbler (Setophaga coronata)
79. Common Yellowthroat (Geothlypis trichas)
80. Canvasback (Aythya valisneria)

Invertebrates:

11. White-lined Sphinx Moth (Hyles lineata)
12. Buckeye (Junonia coenia)
13. Painted Lady (Vanessa cardeui)
14. Cabbage White (Peiris rapae)
15. American Cockroach (Periplaneta americana)
16. Western Black Widow (Latrodecteus hesperis)
17. Widow Skimmer (Libuella luctuosa)

7-80-4-0-0-17

 

[boof]

2/4/2022
177. Little eagle

 

[carl the birder]

mammals
3 red fox Vulpes vulpes
4 eurasian red squirrel Sciurus vulgaris
5 brown rat Rattus norvegicus
6 brown hare Lepus europaeus
not the most execting list lol

 

[oflory]

A walk in glorious weather in Kensington Gardens nets me two more birds. Looking forward to next weekend, when should hopefully add more mammals and herps.

117. Tawny owl
118. Mandarin duck (fully flighted, not escapees from the St James's Park wildfowl collection...)

Not a huge amount from Rainham today, the marsh frogs appear to have gone back to sleep in this cold weather and still no seals on the Thames. However, I did have a long awaited and very exciting life tick in the form of water vole, twice! Once very briefly, flushed by a little grebe, and then excellent views of a very calm feeding vole in a ditch, for at least five or ten minutes.

Mammals
7. Water vole
8. Fallow deer (from the train)

Birds
119. Ruff

 

[DesertRhino150]

I have not been able to update since last week, as I haven't had a laptop since Friday. Perhaps fortunately, there aren't a huge number of updates although there are a couple of new species for the year list:

Firstly, on Friday when I was coming back from the computer store, I saw one new invertebrate flying between some of the newly-opened flowers in the front garden and then later in the afternoon saw another new species from my bedroom window, investigating the eaves of the house:

14. Early bumblebee Bombus pratorum
15. Common wasp Vespula vulgaris

On Monday, I was washing up in the kitchen and, on looking out of the window, saw a female blackcap in the back garden hopping through the ivy on a dead tree. I had fully expected that I would have to go out walking to find one although I fully imagine I will see and hear a lot more of them when I start going out again.

74. Eurasian blackcap Sylvia atricapilla

I'm not sure how great the next few days are going to be for wildlife - we've had late snow showers this morning and the temperature locally is probably not going to rise above 10 degrees Celsius until Monday. I imagine some of the early-emerging invertebrates especially are going to be devastated by sudden change in weather.

I went out for a walk today - it was a bit chilly but also pleasantly sunny, which meant I was able to find a new insect searching for flowers in one of the fields. I also did see a hoverfly in a patch of woodland, but it was too flighty for me to get a good view:

16. Common carder-bee Bombus pascuorum

I had hoped that I would see some spring migrants - the website for the Essex Birdwatching Society has logged sightings of sand martins and yellow wagtails not far from me, so I figured I would check the fishing lake and sheep fields for the former and latter species respectively; I saw neither. Although I saw no new bird species, the walk was far from poor.
It started with a good clear view of a male blackcap in full song, followed by a prolonged view of a kingfisher hunting at close distance on a pair of farmland ponds (hunting what, I don't know - the ponds certainly have no fish or amphibians in them) and then, perhaps most interesting of all, a group of four green woodpeckers all in close proximity in the same field as the kingfisher pond. Two of the woodpeckers were doing a ritualised 'dance' with their heads held upright and each bird moving their head from side-to-side. They hung around even when I crossed the field and only when I was walking away did they all fly off together into a dense hedgerow.

 

[Najade]

National Park Zuid Kennemerland, NL

Mammals
04. European Fallow Deer (Dama dama)

Rieselfelder Münster

Birds
17. Peregrine Falcon (Falco peregrinus)
18. Little Stint (Calidris minuta)

 

[birdsandbats]

Birds
102. Lesser Black-backed Gull Larus fuscus
103. Pied-billed Grebe Podilymbus podiceps
104. Common Loon Gavia immer
105. White-winged Scoter Melanitta deglandi
106. Horned Grebe Podiceps auritus
107. Red-throated Loon Gavia stellata
108. Barred Owl Strix varia

Birds
109. Canvasback Aythya valisineria
110. Eastern Bluebird Sialia sialis

 

[carl the birder]

93 lesser black backed gull Larus fuscus

 

[dinosauria]

The butterflies have appeared!

Inverts
26. Monarch Butterfly Danaus plexippus

27. Anise Swallowtail Papilio zelicaon

 

[Dhole dude]

A couple more species seen in Cape Town today.

Mammals
20. Cape Fur Seal (Arctocephalus pusillus)

Birds
132. Red-Billed Firefinch (Lagonosticta senegala)
133. Cape Cormorant (Phalacrocorax capensis)
134. Bank Cormorant (Phalacrocorax neglectus)
135. Hartlaub's Gull (Chroicocephalus hartlaubii)
136. Kelp Gull (Larus dominicanus)

Mammals: 20
Birds: 136
Reptiles: 12
Amphibians: 1
Fish: 3
Invertebrates: 2

More animals seen at the Cape of Good Hope yesterday.

Mammals
21. Norway Rat (Rattus norvegicus)
22. Rock Hyrax (Procavia capensis)
23. Chacma Baboon (Papio ursinus)
24. Bontebok (Damaliscus pygargus)

Birds
137. African Penguin (Spheniscus demersus)
138. Pied Avocet (Recurvirostra avosetta)
139. Caspian Tern (Hydroprogne caspia)
140. Grey-Headed Gull (Larus cirrocephalus)
141. Cape Wagtail (Motacilla capensis)
142. Common Ostrich (Struthio camelus)
143. Speckled Pigeon (Columba guinea)
144. African Darter (Anhinga rufa)

Mammals: 24
Birds: 144
Reptiles: 12
Amphibians: 1
Fish: 3
Invertebrates: 2