Zoochat Big Year 2023

ThylacineAlive said:
Was reviewing my big year list and updating my lifelist as we approach the end of the year and have two minor updates to my bird list: 1) was reading about camaropteras and found that the Green-Backed and Grey-Backed forms have been lumped on pretty solid grounds, so I will be removing the separate listings for them from my list; 2) I realized I counted Least Sandpiper twice, first when I was in Florida in February and again when they migrated back into the northeast. Therefore, I will need to bring my Big Year list back down to 691.

With the end of the year fast approaching, will I be able to crack 700?

~Thylo
Click to expand...

"With the end of the year fast approaching, will I be able to crack 700?"

The answer... is yes!

First off, I realized I had yet another omission from my Kenya trip. A bird my party was very confident we'd identified correctly, but I was skeptical so left off of my list intentionally until I got home and could verify. Only, when I eventually went through my photos, I'd forgotten they were for the ID purposes not just record shots and move along thinking I'd of course included the bird *facepalm*

692) Mourning Collared Dove Streptopelia decipiens

NOW this is the last of the Kenya updates (probably)

Now to (most likely) close off what has been a truly unbelievable year for me, and one I will struggle to ever top, I was gifted with one final surprise: a family vacation. Only last month, my father surprised my siblings and I with the news that he'd been saving for a couple years to take us all on possibly one last family vacation before my siblings graduate and enter the boring adult world as I have. The location he chose: the Dominican Republic.

Now, keep in mind this was primarily a family trip to a resort, so I kept my wildlife watching time restricted to birding on the grounds of the resort, one half-day outing, and a visit to the National Zoo during our day trip to Santo Domingo. So don't expect my list to look anything like @Najade's from earlier this year! I do want to thank him, though, for helping me get in touch rather last minute with a birder-friendly English speaking driver and a great bird guide in Juan Cespede for my outing. Sadly, mammal watching on this trip was kept to a single incidental sighting, with no time for bat caves or solenodons (the zoo's solenodon also died about two months back so no luck there either :( ).

All of this said, I think I did really great with my limited time here and my restrictions. In three and a half days I amassed 29 new species for my year list, 22 of which were completely new lifers for me. Technically, I do not leave until tomorrow afternoon, however I don't plan to leave the resort to go birding again and I think I've probably maxed out my species potential for the resort grounds. With that in mind, I figured in the interest of me having downtime now, I'd go ahead and post my list as I really don't expect there to be any more additions.

Afternoon birding at RIU Palace Punta Cana (Saturday, 12/16)
693) Grey Kingbird Tyrannus dominicensis
694) Palmchat Dulus dominicus
695) Greater Antillean Grackle Quiscalus niger
696) Hispaniolan Woodpecker Melanerpes striatus
697) Antillean Palm Swift Tachornis phoenicobia

Intermittent birding at RIU Palace Punta Cana (Sunday, 12/17)
698) Yellow-Throated Warbler Setophaga dominica
699) Hispaniolan Conure Psittacara chloroptera
700) Hispaniolan Amazon Amazona ventralis
701) Royal Tern Thalasseus maximus
702) Magnificent Frigatebird Fregata magnificens
703) Smooth-Billed Ani Crotophaga ani

Los Haitises National Park (Monday, 12/18)
704) Broad-Billed Tody Todus subulatus
705) Yellow-Faced Grassquit Tiaris olivaceus
706) Plain Pigeon Patagioenas inornata
707) White-Necked Crow Corvus leucognaphalus
708) Hispaniolan Mango Anthracothorax dominicus
709) Black-Crowned Palm-Tanager Phaenicophilus palmarum
710) Ridgway's Hawk Buteo ridgwayi
711) Bananaquit Coereba flaveola
712) Black-Whiskered Vireo Vireo altiloquus
713) Antillean Piculet Nesoctites micromegas
714) Cape May Warbler Setophaga tigrina
715) Stolid Flycatcher Myiarchus stolidus
716) Hispaniolan Lizard-Cuckoo Coccyzus longirostris
717) Muscovy Dove Cairina moschata
718) Mangrove Cuckoo Coccyzus minor
719) White-Crowned Pigeon Patagioenas leucocephala
720) West Indian Whistling-Duck Dendrocygna arborea

I have to say, I don't think I've ever done as intense of birding as I did on this day. The hawks proved themselves tricky to find, so my guides took me into the karst montane forests, hiking all the way up a steep muddy incline, to find a pair perched in a small tree at the very top. It's hard for me to think of a tougher (and certainly scarier) workout than ascending--and eventually descending..--that terrain. Thankfully, the tour only got easier from there, ending in a rather nice boat tour through the mangrove forest out to Bahía de San Lorenzo. Typically lots of swallows, martins, and even sometimes bats can be viewed flying from the caves along the bay. Unfortunately, yesterday was not one of those days. Cannot complain in the end, though!

National Zoological Park in Santo Domingo (Tuesday, 12/19)
721) White-Cheeked Pintail, Anas bahamensis

Mammals
152) Small Indian Mongoose Urva auropunctata

Seen on the grounds of my resort...

Reptiles
27) Hispaniolan Masked Curly-Tailed Lizard Leiocephalus personatus
28) Dominican Green Anole Anolis callainus
29) Central Antillean Slider Trachemys stejnegeri
30) North Caribbean Bark Anole Anolis distichus
31) Hispaniolan Stout Anole Anolis hispaniolae
32) Rhinoceros Iguana Cyclura cornuta

~Thylo
 
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ThylacineAlive said:
"With the end of the year fast approaching, will I be able to crack 700?"

The answer... is yes!

First off, I realized I had yet another omission from my Kenya trip. A bird my party was very confident we'd identified correctly, but I was skeptical so left off of my list intentionally until I got home and could verify. Only, when I eventually went through my photos, I'd forgotten they were for the ID purposes not just record shots and move along thinking I'd of course included the bird *facepalm*

692) Mourning Collared Dove Streptopelia decipiens

NOW this is the last of the Kenya updates (probably)

Now to (most likely) close off what has been a truly unbelievable year for me, and one I will struggle to ever top, I was gifted with one final surprise: a family vacation. Only last month, my father surprised my siblings and I with the news that he'd been saving for a couple years to take us all on possibly one last family vacation before my siblings graduate and enter the boring adult world as I have. The location he chose: the Dominican Republic.

Now, keep in mind this was primarily a family trip to a resort, so I kept my wildlife watching time restricted to birding on the grounds of the resort, one half-day outing, and a visit to the National Zoo during our day trip to Santo Domingo. So don't expect my list to look anything like @Najade's from earlier this year! I do want to thank him, though, for helping me get in touch rather last minute with a birder-friendly English speaking driver and a great bird guide in Juan Cespede for my outing. Sadly, mammal watching on this trip was kept to a single incidental sighting, with no time for bat caves or solenodons (the zoo's solenodon also died about two months back so no luck there either :( ).

All of this said, I think I did really great with my limited time here and my restrictions. In three and a half days I amassed 29 new species for my year list, 22 of which were completely new lifers for me. Technically, I do not leave until tomorrow afternoon, however I don't plan to leave the resort to go birding again and I think I've probably maxed out my species potential for the resort grounds. With that in mind, I figured in the interest of me having downtime now, I'd go ahead and post my list as I really don't expect there to be any more additions.

Afternoon birding at RIU Palace Punta Cana (Saturday, 12/16)
693) Grey Kingbird Tyrannus dominicensis
694) Palmchat Dulus dominicus
695) Greater Antillean Grackle Quiscalus niger
696) Hispaniolan Woodpecker Melanerpes striatus
697) Antillean Palm Swift Tachornis phoenicobia

Intermittent birding at RIU Palace Punta Cana (Sunday, 12/17)
698) Yellow-Throated Warbler Setophaga dominica
699) Hispaniolan Conure Psittacara chloroptera
700) Hispaniolan Amazon Amazona ventralis
701) Royal Tern Thalasseus maximus
702) Magnificent Frigatebird Fregata magnificens
703) Smooth-Billed Ani Crotophaga ani

Los Haitises National Park (Monday, 12/18)
704) Broad-Billed Tody Todus subulatus
705) Yellow-Faced Grassquit Tiaris olivaceus
706) Plain Pigeon Patagioenas inornata
707) White-Necked Crow Corvus leucognaphalus
708) Hispaniolan Mango Anthracothorax dominicus
709) Black-Crowned Palm-Tanager Phaenicophilus palmarum
710) Ridgway's Hawk Buteo ridgwayi
711) Bananaquit Coereba flaveola
712) Black-Whiskered Vireo Vireo altiloquus
713) Antillean Piculet Nesoctites micromegas
714) Cape May Warbler Setophaga tigrina
715) Stolid Flycatcher Myiarchus stolidus
716) Hispaniolan Lizard-Cuckoo Coccyzus longirostris
717) Muscovy Dove Cairina moschata
718) Mangrove Cuckoo Coccyzus minor
719) White-Crowned Pigeon Patagioenas leucocephala
720) West Indian Whistling-Duck Dendrocygna arborea

I have to say, I don't think I've ever done as intense of birding as I did on this day. The hawks proved themselves tricky to find, so my guides took me into the karst montane forests, hiking all the way up a steep muddy incline, to find a pair perched in a small tree at the very top. It's hard for me to think of a tougher (and certainly scarier) workout than ascending--and eventually descending..--that terrain. Thankfully, the tour only got easier from there, ending in a rather nice boat tour through the mangrove forest out to Bahía de San Lorenzo. Typically lots of swallows, martins, and even sometimes bats can be viewed flying from the caves along the bay. Unfortunately, yesterday was not one of those days. Cannot complain in the end, though!

National Zoological Park in Santo Domingo (Tuesday, 12/19)
721) White-Cheeked Pintail, Anas bahamensis

Mammals
152) Small Indian Mongoose Urva auropunctata

Seen on the grounds of my resort...

Reptiles
27) Hispaniolan Masked Curly-Tailed Lizard Leiocephalus personatus
28) Dominican Green Anole Anolis callainus
29) Central Antillean Slider Trachemys stejnegeri
30) North Caribbean Bark Anole Anolis distichus
31) Hispaniolan Stout Anole Anolis hispaniolae
32) Rhinoceros Iguana Cyclura cornuta

~Thylo
Click to expand...
Congrats on the lizard-cuckoo! They're a super cool species and I've heard they can be a bit tricky.
 
birdsandbats said:
Congrats on the lizard-cuckoo! They're a super cool species and I've heard they can be a bit tricky.
Click to expand...

Thank you! They were one of my top targets. I was told they're pretty skulky, but my guide has a couple spots to check for them. It seems that if you know where they like to hang out and imitate their call once, one or two nearby will just fly in to check it out.

~Thylo
 
BerdNerd said:
11/25/23

116. Black Vulture (Coragyps atratus)
Click to expand...


I just finished a quick trip to the Las Vegas area recently and although birding wasn’t my main motive or pastime of the trip, I still managed to see quite a few lifers.


12/18/23
Las Vegas, NV

117. Great-Tailed Grackle (Quiscalus mexicanus)


12/21/23
Henderson, NV

118. Anna’s Hummingbird (Calypte anna)
119. White-Crowned Sparrow (Zonotrichia leucophrys)
120. Common Gallinule (Gallinula galeata)
121. American Coot (Fulica americana)
122. Eared Grebe (Podiceps nigricollis)
123. Cinnamon Teal (Spatula cyanoptera)
124. Black-Crowned Night Heron (Nycticorax nycticorax)
125. Crissal Thrasher (Toxostoma crissale)
126. Verdin (Auriparus flaviceps)
127. Spotted Towhee (Pipilo maculatus)
128. Say’s Phoebe (Sayornis saya)
129. Prairie Falcon (Falco mexicanus)


Total:

Mammals: 15
Birds: 129
Reptiles: 10
Amphibians: 7
Fish: 4
Invertebrates: 20
 
Mr. Zootycoon said:
Birds
223. Bohemian Waxwing, Bombycilla garrulus
224. Great Northern Diver, Gavia immer
Click to expand...

Small error on my side: I counted Temmincks stint twice, but had not noted the established exotic parakeet, so:

Birds
224. Rose-ringed Parakeet, Psittacula krameri

A three-day trip to the island of Texel netted me a handful of new birds, mostly likely the last for the year. This time of year the island is populated with huge numbers of brant geese and massive flocks of plovers and lapwings on its meadows; rafts of scoters and assorted parties of coastal passerines at sea; and groups of sandpipers, snipes, wigeons and pintails at any place that holds water, fresh or salt. While december is not the month of huge numbers of species, it was great to see the island in yet another time of year.

Birds
225. European Rock Pipit, Anthus petrosus
226. Shore Lark, Eremophila alpestris
227. Velvet Scoter, Melanitta fusca
228. Merlin, Falco columbarius
229. Black-throated Diver, Gavia arctica
230. Common Guillemot, Uria aalge
231. Long-tailed Duck, Clangula hyemalis
232. European Shag, Phalacrocrax/Gulosus artistotelis
 
Had a mammal-watching treat in my backyard last night. We have a few fruit trees currently fruiting and it seems fruit bats had found them. When I went out to call the dogs in about midnight I must have caught them at it as they flew round our reasonably small yard, trying to gain height. One came within about two metres of me.

138. Grey-headed flying-fox Pteropus poliocephalus VU

Staying on the fruit bat theme, I am now confident to make an ID on the second species we saw in Bali. They were located in the roof of the meeting hall outside the temple located in the Monkey Forest in Ubud. There were a couple of options, and I made a judgment based on the structure of the group.

139. Lesser short-nosed fruit bat Cynopterus brachyotis

Finally some insects and a spider from Bali.

97. Rich spiny sugar ant Polyrhachis dives
98. Striped nomia bee Nomia strigata
99. Three-spotted grass yellow Eurema blanda
100. Striped blue crow Euploea mulciber
101. Giant tree nymph Idea lynceus
102. Australian cockroach Periplaneta australasiae
103. sp. termite Macrotermes gilvus
104. Pink jewel dragonfly Heliocypha fenestrata (new Family)
105. Black field cricket Teleogryllus commodus
106. Multi-coloured St Andrews cross spider Argiope versicolor
 
birdsandbats said:
It's been a crazy year for vagrants in Wisconsin this year. Flame-colored Tanager, Roseate Spoonbill, Anna's Hummingbird, American Flamingo, and now:

Birds
261. Ancient Murrelet Synthliboramphus antiquus
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After what is by quite some margin the most strenuous and difficult birding hike I have ever done, I was rewarded with a very nice Western vagrant and one of the most difficult regularly occurring birds in the state. Ample rewards, of course, but boy am I exhausted.

Birds
262. Gray-crowned Rosy-Finch Leucosticte tephrocotis
263. Townsend's Solitare Myadestes townsendi
 
Thrilled by two new bird guides that arrived in my Christmas presents:
  • Tits, Boobies and Loons and other birds named by people who clearly hate birds.
  • The Field Guide to Dumb Birds of the Whole Stupid World.
Not sure of the taxonomies but been laughing all morning.
 
Christmas Eve provided a variety of sightings. Visiting my family in Auburn, I was immediately struck by the absolutely huge committee of Black Vultures. Seeing Black Vultures in Alabama isn't entirely uncommon, but Turkey Vultures are far more numerous and will generally be the "buzzard" most often seen soaring above highways looking for roadkill. This flock consisted of at least 150+ birds settled on a row of 3 houses, with a large kettle soaring above as well and more roosting in adjacent pines. Most often, I see vultures in mixed-species flocks in Alabama, but there was not a single Turkey Vulture among them. I am still a bit confused as to why this massive flock was so localized - the only thing I could think would be that some northern birds migrated down to join the southern residents. Very bizarre, but this is the closest I have gotten to any vultures in the wild. Hopefully the home owners don't do anything drastic to shoo off the birds, since their feces and vomit are very acidic. In the shrubbery near one of the houses, I also saw a Cooper's Hawk - again, not necessarily uncommon, but this is only the second time I've seen one in Alabama.

Finally, on the return trip, I had to swerve to avoid a Common Gray Fox. Thankfully, it made it across the two lanes on my side, and I hope it was patient and speedy enough to cross the other two lanes of the highway. This is a lifer for me - of the two species, I've always found Gray Foxes rarer than Red Foxes. I've had some crazy luck seeing carnivores on road trips this year, between the fox and the Bobcat. Just hope that they all stayed safe from cars.

This won't be the last update of the year hopefully - Kentucky cave kayaking coming up soon.


Mammals:
22. Common Gray Fox (Urocyon cinereoargenteus cinereoargenteus) – 12/24/23
 
WalkingAgnatha said:
Another collation of a few random trips over the past few months, it’s all quite lengthy, I was intending to get this out before my Tutukaka pelagic but that’s since passed, so I’ll post the write-up for that and a few of my other trips this month, as soon as possible.

First two trips were in late August after my mock exams, where I went out to Ambury and Tiritiri respectively. Whilst I didn’t get anything ‘new’ at Ambury it was still a good day, had some nice views of skylarks sulking around in the grass, and one of them taking a sand bath. Although I did see banded dotterels at the site for the first time (a good sized flock all in breeding plumage), as well as good views (or at least better, as all the birds were scurrying around on the peninsula which is fenced off) of the wrybills, so overall a nice day and a good break.

After my mocks ended I finally took another trip to Tiritiri, the day started off well, with a juvenile hihi flying right into my face! Hovering in front of me, perching on the boardwalk, then buzzing off back into the undergrowth. Nothing else much notable happened during the day, with me walking down to Hobb’s Beach at dusk to have another shot at petrels. Walked up and down the beach (from the Kawerau Track to the Wharf) a couple times, not seeing much except penguins scuttling in from the sea to their burrows. Until as I rounded a bend my torchlight caught a small black shape, with blue feet!!! Now if you didn’t know there’s 2 main nesting petrels on Tiritiri, one of them the oi (grey-faced petrel), is a larger bird with as you can tell from the english name a grey face and the other the common diving petrel a tiny football shaped bird, notably having vividly blue foot! As I enjoy tiny cute little birds, the diving was my main target, and also the one I was expecting least, so I was very excited to say the least. It scurried further into a burrow as I approached, so I turned off my light and sat outside hoping to get some more views of the wee thing, but I only heard wings flapping and then it was gone. The burrow it had been in was really small, and more like a tunnel than a burrow, so I assume the petrel was only prospecting or something. Didn’t see much else that night, although a wetapunga pair in the same manuka/kanuka strand I had seen one in last time was neat. Didn’t get on to oi or any other targets that night. Next day I decided to try and find a spotless crake, although I've ‘seen’ it this year, I'll be honest the view was borderline tickable, also I still haven’t even seen them all that well which is something I must remedy by the end of this year.. As you can tell I did not get on to them with this trip either, after maybe an hour or so of waiting I got distracted by some large swarms of backswimmers on the edge of the pond (The one down by the bunkhouse). Not remember having ever seen them before, I took out my phone to take some photos (to serve as a record and to upload on iNaturalist), the photos came out awful though, so I inched closer to get some better ones, which ended up in me precariously holding my phone over the pond, and with a single twitch, plop it went, tumbling into the murky abyss. Thankfully although the pool is a deep brown colour the bottom near shore wasn’t all too deep, so after throwing aside my bag and binocs, I went a noodling in the pond, thankfully dredging out my phone and it worked just fine after! Nothing else much happened on the island and I left with diving petrel as my only new addition.

After that I’ve taken 2 trips out to Mangere/Ambury, one before my finals and the other after I’d done most of them, (I’m taking this trip whilst I still have 2 exams left as I have a really large gap [not till mid nov]). The first one I went birding with a guy called Jackson, he was an American tourist only a year or so older than me that I met online, they’re travelling around the country for a couple of months before going off to Aus. It was great to bird and talk with someone with the same/similar interests as me, although we didn’t pick up any bird lifers (well for myself, it was one of his first days in NZ so he picked up quite a few), a lot of scanning up and down the waterwork canal we believed had payed off with a ‘pure enough’ looking grey duck, but after reviewing the face pattern was too muddled and it had to remain at hybrid level. We also had a hybrid pied x black stilt, which aren’t all too uncommon around there. I did pick up some neat inverts as we did a bit of flipping so the day was still quite good.

Second trip I did was also quite nice, again nothing new for the year/life but some good views of birds I don’t see too often and picked up some birds I hadn’t seen at Mangere/my jurisdiction on eBird before. Again (but not on the trip with Jackson unfortunately as the tides were too low I think) picked out some wrybills and a singleton banded dotterel on the peninsula. After that did some aimless wandering and scanning around trying to find a pair of tattlers (grey-tailed, they’ve been summering here for at least a couple years I believe but I’m still yet to see them) which turned out fruitless, as all bird shapes were lost in the grey blob of non-descript godwits roosting far off. A yellowhammer off to the side of the trail was nice, as I see those very uncommonly and it allowed me to get my first photos of one, as I was deciding to head off to the waterworks I came across a dead seabird with it’s head missing for some reason which was pretty surprising, after some examination (super long legs, greyish colouration, wee sized thing, black-band on tail tip) and photos I determined it was a white-faced storm petrel. After sifting some debris and giving it a small very makeshift grave, I started heading back thinking I’d give the water treatment plant a look as I was more likely to pick up at least a few new birds there when suddenly the roosting shore-birds finally began too move due to the receding tide, flocking out on the mudflats, and conveniently some were actually quite close! I had my first group of ruddy turnstones for this locality assembling on the rocks near to the path, climbing down and standing on the margin of the rocks to scan the mudflats and the now writhing brown mass of shorebirds I still could not pick out a tattler. There were some wrybills in front, large numbers of knots and godwits but sadly nothing new, although it’s still an amazing spectacle to be confronted with such a large number of birds. After that I headed home, stopping at a small wetland reserve on my way where I again searched for spotless crake, but I again wasn’t able to see one.

Birds:
112. Common Diving-Petrel ! (Pelecanoides urinatrix)

INVERT TALLY: 50
Arachnids:
4. Bronze Hopper (Helpis minitabunda) [Garden]
5. White-banded House Jumper (Maratus griseus) [Garden]
6. Silver Orb Spider (Leucauge dromedaria) [Garden]
Insects:
33. Garden soldier fly (Exaireta spinigera) [Garden]
34. Steel blue ladybird (Halmus chalybeus) [Garden]
35. Swamp crane fly (Zealandotipula novarae) [Garden]
36. Acantholybas brunneus (Hemipteran) [Garden]

Platyhelminthes:
1. Blue garden flatworm (Caenoplana coerulea) [Mangere WTP]

Molluscs:
4. Leathery Sea slug (Onchidella nigricansis) [Shore next to Mangere WTP]
Click to expand...

I’ve delayed this write-up for faaar too long, so I’m collating my pelagic write-up with all the other trips I’ve done around NZ this November, although I’m also still working on a write-up of my 4 day trip to Australia (specifically just around Sydney), which I should hopefully get out soon enough, and as it was a short time-frame I’ll just post it in this thread [tho I’ll prob split it into multiple posts and maybe include the text as spoilers if it seems too long]. (Also the ‘WFSP’ body from earlier turned out to be a Prion..) [Stuff seen & id'd in bold]



Left Auckland at around noon on the 3rd, heading straight up north for the pelagic trip. Of course I was still doing a bit of birding along the way, although time restraints meant I only had 2 stops, one at Waipu Rivermouth Refuge, where I once again dipped on Fairy Tern, and the second at a little city pond in Whangarei. The reason for stopping at such a seemingly boring site for birding is actually because this random little pond houses a sizable group of Australasian Grebes! Australasian Grebes are a fairly recent coloniser to NZ, having only really established in the northern-most state of the country (as Kiwis are a bright and creative bunch this state is of course known as Northland), although not being listed as a rarity/unusual bird in north of Hamilton (a city that’s a tad south of Auckland) anymore they’re still pretty sparse on the ground. Though it has been a rather good year for them, or at least for their vagrancy in NZ as quite a few have popped up much further south (eg. the one Chlidonias saw and a couple in the South Island). So I was very happy when I showed up to the pond and was immediately looking at the grebes, a nice and easy twitch : ) There were around 10-12 of them crammed into the small pond, all paired up and a few already leading around chicks. Later that night on the advice of a few other people I had been talking to, I also checked out Old Mill Lane, a small patch of wetlands and forest home to Bitterns and Kiwi. Although I didn’t see much, only a few fish and a ridiculous amount of Knobbled Orbweavers, I did at least get to hear what I’m pretty sure was a bittern booming so it was alright.

After that, I headed back to Tutukaka for my pelagic trip the following morning. Just as some background, the pelagic trip I would be doing was run by The Petrel Station, you can check out their website here: The Petrel Station - Pelagic Seabird Birding Tours & Research - Tutukaka, New Zealand , it’s one of those ‘proper’ all day long pelagic trips that I’d been yearning to do. The boat leaves Tutukaka (a small town up north of Auckland) early in the morning, heading out, past the Poor Knights [a small island group which serves as a major breeding spot for seabirds, {Buller’s Shearwaters breed solely on these isles!}], to an underwater trench, where the boat stops, chum is thrown and seabirds come pouring in. Of course this trip I’d be getting different seabirds compared to my last trip down south in Kaikoura, due to locale and time of year, mid/late Spring (when I was visiting), seems to be one of the best times to do one of these Tutukaka trips,with migration happening, as summer residents (such as NZ Storm Petrel) return from their winter wanderings in full force, whilst others, such as southern seabirds head further south to breed, only loitering around for spring, and one of the best specialties, Chatham Mollymawk! I believe these trips are the only ones out of mainland NZ to get these birds ‘regularly’ and only in this narrow timeframe of the year. As well as the ever present opportunity of occurring something rare on pelagic trips (the one a couple days before had the first live NZ record of Streaked Shearwater!). So heading onto the boat I was extremely excited.

After maybe half an hour we ran into our first seabird ‘raft’. These are absolutely gigantic flocks of seabirds all in a ‘feeding workup’, usually made near exclusively of one of two species (at least around the Poor Knights), either Buller’s Shearwaters or Fairy Prions [although the 2 flocks do mix], it’s a genuinely bewildering amount of birds that not even photos do justice! Our first raft was a huge flock of Buller’s, but there were some Fluttering Shearwaters, Flesh-footed Shearwaters (new for the year), and my first Fairy Prion all hanging around the peripheries. After some time viewing this amazing phenomenon, we powered on to our next stop, a couple rock stacks to the south of the Poor Knights Islands proper, these were impressive spires of rock which jutted out from the all encompassing blue around them. Once again the biomass here was stunning, endless waves of sea and bird, as giant flocks of now mainly Fairy Prions worked the waves, swarming around the boat, as if we were in a bird maelstrom. A large frothing patch of water also caught my eye, the birds clearly avoided it but I couldn’t quite make out what the cause was, until I realised that they were fish! (More specifically, a huge school of Silver Trevally), rising up and down with their mouths agape, presumably feeding similarly to the seabirds. I was very happy with seeing this workup of trevally, as they were also displayed on the website and was something that I had really wanted to witness, as well as finally adding to my salt-water ray finned fish list! The rocks are also home to a regular breeding colony of Grey Ternlets but it was too early in the season for those too appear, so after some more loitering around we headed off and too the trench spot, where we would spend the next few hours chumming for some spectacular seabirds. As we powered on to the trench I ‘saw’ a Little Shearwater, (a guy pointed out to me a distant silhouette which was barely enough to recognise as a bird, unfortunately I never got tickable views of these guys), much better was seeing a flying-fish do a small skip out the water fully displaying its’ signature ‘wings’, but I didn’t get a photo as we were speeding on and it’d probably be unidentifiable anyways but still a nice thing to see.

Arriving at the trench spot I instantly got my first Cook’s Petrel, a sleek bird barreling down and across the bow. Finally, the engine was cut, and trailing cages of chum were tossed overboard, let to trail off the boat, and big blocks of chum, hacked and also tossed into the sea. It wasn’t long before the first seabirds started accumulating, dark silhouettes converged upon the horizon, what I'd imagine what one could call the vultures/ravens of the sea, Flesh-footed Shearwaters. My first experience with this species last year was similar, with hordes descending upon and surrounding the fishing boat, so it came as no real surprise that they acted the same, being loud and boisterous milling around the boat, then screeching and clamouring whenever a morsel comes their way (thankfully they couldn’t be caught on any fishing lines this time!). Although a nice pickup within the hordes were my first Taikos/Black Petrels! They’re extremely similar to the Westland Petrels I had seen earlier in the year, although they differ in size and proportion (being smaller and ‘cuter’ as well as more northern, go figure), they did act the same as the flesh-footed shearwaters though.
Soon more birds started appearing, as dancing and skittering around the trailing cages of chum were storm-petrels!! Very pleased as they were one of the driving forces which made me want to go on this pelagic (them and Chatham Mollymawk), out at this spot NZ Storm Petrels are actually quite common, outnumbering the few White-faced Storm-Petrels also zooming around the boat. They’re gorgeous dark little birds absolutely brimming with personality, and it’s always fun to remember that just 2 decades ago (I wonder how old this makes some forum members feel :p) they were thought to be completely extinct! More excitement brewed with Mottled Petrel being yelled out, these are absolutely gorgeous petrels, which amazingly are transequatorial migrants dispersing all the way up to the Aleutians(island chain off Alaska) and breeding in the Subantarctics! I rushed up to meet it as it came round the bow, it bowed up and went straight across the bow revealing its grey stomach and black flashes on the underwing, a stunning bird. The lifers kept on flowing, with a Wilson’s Storm-Petrel (looking very similar to the NZ Storm-Petrels, but having all black ‘trousers’ and underwings compared to NZ Storm-Petrels which have white on the underwing and white ‘trousers’ with a variable amount of brown streaks), and Oi [Grey-faced Petrel[, which is a bird I’ve dipped a few times on at Tiritiri so it was nice to finally see them, one or two would occasionally make quick passes over the boat. The surrounding seas were also rich in albatross, with two Wandering Albatrosses (Antipodean Albatross post-split, of the ssp. gibsoni, which I’d seen down south) milling around the back of the boat, later on in the day there were also a few Northern Royal Albatrosses which would flyby in the distant but I had also already seen those down south, but the mollymawks is where it gets especially interesting. A few White-capped Mollymawk would occasionally pass through and also one or two Salvin’s Mollymawk would make an appearance, but after around an hour since arriving at the trench spot the call came, Chatham Mollymawk!! If you hadn’t already searched these birds up, they’re truly fantastic albatrosses, a mollymawk with a dark slaty gray head and an absolutely stunning yellow bill (which has led to them being nicknamed ‘bananna bill’), they’re also quite rare currently only breeding on a small rockstack known as ‘The Pyramid’ in the Chathams. The first individual we had was banded (a first for the Petrel Station), and through some photos that other birders had taken of the band, the bird was deemed to be an individual named Snowball who was transplanted as a chick to a site on the main Chatham Islands in the hopes of establishing a new breeding location which is all very cool. Snowball hung around the back of the boat having a go at the chum before departing southwards. Later on we had a second! Chatham Mollymawk though this individual was only passing through, but later on we had another sighting of one!! Whether these were the same individuals or represented different ones I don’t know, but they both lacked bands. Final lifer of the day was another mollymawk, this time my first Campbell Mollymawk, just a singleton which streamed right over the boat and was confirmed as such by a photo someone had taken on board which apparently showed a bronzey eye. Still not too sure on the taxonomy of Black-browed Mollymawk & Campbell, eBird currently lumps them but I haven’t seen anything more recent or anything, and I know other taxonomies split them, so far it doesn’t matter for me anyways as this was the first and only individual of the pair I’ve seen so far. Heading back in we had one last stop to watch the feeding workups still milling around the Poor Knights, where I saw some large densities of salps around the boat (I suspect the seabirds would probably be feeding on these) before we made the rather uneventful journey back to the wharf, though there were impressive numbers of Common Diving-Petrels, absolutely precious little things, like a flying football constantly flapping its wings as if it’s barely keeping itself airbound with all it’s might lol.



Later on the 7th, headed back up north to do some shore birding and the like, main targets being a recently reported Great Knot on Manakapua and visiting any sites to try for Fairy Tern. Unfortunately my visit to Manakapua coincided with a low tide, thus the birding definitely did not feel as good as I remembered it being in February, with there seeming to be less birds and more thinly spread out, I was unable to find any unusual shorebirds (not even the flock of whimbrels that’d also been reported..) or terns (excluding caspian ones of course) for the 2 hours or so I searched, but I did at least encounter a pair of pipits up close which was very nice and had my lifer Black Shag/Great Cormorant which was frustratingly a brief flyover. I did pay at least a bit of attention as I walked along the ‘sandflats’, which had large channels and grooves of water flowing in them where I found a couple of whelk species (funnily a native and an invasive side by side), glass shrimp (apparently here in NZ we only really get one species in coastal habitats), and NZ Sentinel Crabs, the latter being an especially nice lifer as they have these ridiculous stalk eyes which make them look cartoonish in a way.

I decided to head to Waipu next to give a crack at Fairy Tern, but again no dice, trying to get a better view of a sandbank by walking down a jetty didn’t provide anything, but flipping a few rocks did reveal quite a few big female false-widow spiders, but unfortunately at the stage I saw them where they’ve lost their markings and instead appear jet black they’re no longer idable. Thus I decided the next spot I’d head to was Mangawhai, as there also had been Fairy Tern reported here, and finally I got so frustratingly close. After a bit of waiting, scoping out a distant sandbank as the tide receded, finally a pair of Sternula terns came in, problem was, they were too far away!! Although this pair would make short sorties and I got to watch amazing behaviour, [one would hover and dive for fish, where I could make out a clear orangey-yellow bill and a smart black and white head], I decided that from the head pattern I saw I technically didn’t have enough evidence to rule out Little Tern(although I don’t believe any Little Terns would be in similar plumage at this time of the year, as well as Fairy Terns have definitely been reported here and it’s almost certain that any Sternula there would be Fairy, and I may’ve? seen coloured bands on its legs), but honestly the viewing really did feel quite untickable and I feel I have a solid enough chance to always try for them at another date…. Anyways I stayed till sunset trying to get a better view but the terns never came closer.



On the 9th I went out on another trip with someone I’d met online, this time a guy called Saryu, who was basically the same age as me which was neat, we were heading to Rangitoto/Motutapu (the two islands are basically conjoined by both a small causeway and naturally at lower tide levels) in search of Shore Plover. Shore Plovers really don’t seem to be doing the best (especially after all the reintroduced ones had to be recaptured after a stoat swam onto the islands around 2021, and really it seems only one site on Motutapu Island does one stand a decent chance of finding one, thus that was our destination. Yet, I decided that we should head down a nicer more meandering trail as I thought we’d still be able to get there in time, but we weren’t really able to, we also got distracted quite a bit ‘inatting’ (so observing and taking photos of everything, not just sole-focused birding or anything), but Saryu is really knowledgeable on invertebrates, [he identified the whelks and shrimp and a lot more stuff later down the line] and knows his plants (at least compared to me!), so I was still able to get a good kick out of it, learning about stuff I wouldn’t really have paid attention to before [plants and lichen]. Nicest find was a small flightless grasshopper which would blend really well into the volcanic rock trail we were walking on. Considering we were a bit late and that my right shoe had just fallen apart (I could still walk alright although), we decided to just hang around the causeway and look for the banded rail, thankfully this time it was really showy, even more than when I’d first seen it there! For a nice 20 or so minutes we enjoyed it actively foraging just on the fringes of the mangrove, which was also great for Saryu considering it was a lifer for him. We did some flipping of some coastal rocks before leaving, revealing this tiny adorable little translucent snail, and an endemic coastal soil centipede. On the bus back home I also had a random tiny weevil land on me which I managed to get id’d later.



Last birding outing I did on the 25th, before my quick jaunt in Sydney, was a full day birding out at Mangere. The first half of the day was spent at the Shellbanks where I didn’t get onto any new birds (although I nearly lost my phone, twice!), waiting through all of high tide and most of the receding tide scanning for anything new didn't result in anything, thus I decided to head to the water treatment plant/canal. I hadn’t been in a while, as they’ve closed the walkway between Ambury and the canal for renovations, so I haven’t been all too bothered to walk the way around to the canals since, but there was still a good enough list of possible lifers and enough time in the day that I decided to head there, passing by a possible gerygone nest on my way. Arriving at the canal I instantly see a man holding binoculars and what looks to be a pure Grey Duck!! (or Pacific Black Duck for the rest of the world). In case one was unaware, Grey Ducks of course used to be prevalent all across the country, but ever since the introduction of the Mallard to New Zealand, they’ve been rapidly hybridised to near extinction (basically being ranked critically endangered here in NZ), thus finding a ‘pure’ one is quite difficult, and many plumage features need to be examined. Luckily there were 3-4 around just this entry bit of the canal which seemed to match nigh perfectly (I say nigh as one can never really know, and I’m personally fine with that, gene-flow between species is natural after all), yet they definitely fit the bill for ‘pure’ grey duck, having 2 clear well defined facial stripes, lacking any of the smudges or other irregularities you’d expect to see in hybrids (which is probably the best way to go about identifying them), as well as possessing green speculums which lacked any white borders (large white borders above the speculum being a sign of Mallard ancestry) and greenish-yellow legs rather than the bright orange which Mallards have. One of the birds also had a plain metal ring which I found odd, (the other birder speculated it was a DOC band? I doubt it’d be an avicultrist’s duck anyways). I birded with him a tad more before he had to leave, so I headed back along the canal in hopes of refinding a Black Shag [Great Cormorant], and finally I had one right at the entrance!! It was perched on a plank, staring at me for a few seconds before taking flight, but at least I’d finally gotten a nice view of possibly my most embarrassing ‘nemesis bird’, [although they really aren’t all too common in Auckland..].

Australia write-ups hopefully coming out before the 31st, as well as me hopefully seeing another Spotless Crake, Whimbrel or Reef Heron before this year's end.


Birds:
113. Australasian Grebe (Tachybaptus novaehollandiae)
114. Flesh-footed Shearwater (Ardenna carneipes)
115. Fairy Prion (Pachyptila turtur)
116. Cook’s Petrel (Pterodroma cookii)
117. Taiko [Black Petrel] (Procellaria parkinsoni)
118. NZ Storm-Petrel ! (Fregetta maoriana)
119. White-faced Storm-Petrel (Pelagodroma marina)
120. Mottled Petrel ! (Pterodroma inexpectata)
121. Wilson’s Storm-Petrel (Oceanites oceanicus)
122. Chatham Mollymawk !! (Thalassarche eremita)
123. Grey-faced Petrel [Oi] (Pterodroma gouldi)
124. Campbell Mollymawk (Thalassarche impavida)
125. Black Shag [Great Cormorant] (Phalacrocorax carbo)
126. Grey Duck [Pacific Black Duck] (Anas superciliosa)
-- Terns, Sternula sp.

“FISH” TALLY: 5
Ray-finned Fish:
4. Silver Trevally (Pseudocaranx georgianus)
-- Flying Fish, Exocoetidae sp.
(The trevally seems to have some dispute over it's taxonomy, but for groups outside of mammals&birds I jus follow inaturalist taxonomy which splits it so..)

INVERT TALLY: 59
Arachnids:
7. Knobbled Orbweaver (Socca pustulosa) [Ngunruru marsh]
Myriapods:
1. Tuoba xylophaga (Coastal Soil-Centipede) [Motutapu]
Insects:
37. NZ Grasshopper (Phaulacridium marginale) [Rangitoto]
38. Mecinus pascuorum (Tiny Weevil) [Bus]
39. Cabbage Tree Moth (Epiphryne verriculata) [House]
40. Sarisophora leucoscia (Weird Moth) [House]
Crustaceans:
2. NZ Sentinel Crab (Hemiplax hirtipes) [Manakapua]
3. Palaemon affinis (Glass Shrimp) [Manakapua]
Molluscs:
5. Buchard’s Dog Whelk (Tritia burchardi) [Manakapua]
6. Mud Whelk (Cominella glandiformis) [Manakapua]
7. Leuconopsis obsoleta (Translucent Snail) [Motutapu]
 
Here's my last update...

Mammals
Fort Canning Park
17. Plantain Squirrel
Mandai WR
18. Brown Rat
19. Crab-Eating Macaque
20. Lesser Short-Nosed Fruit-Bat
Lorong Halus Wetland
21. Feral Dog
Central Catchment Reserve
22. Lesser Mouse-Deer
23. Slender Squirrel

Birds
Nambucca Heads
189. White-Bellied Cuckoo-Shrike
Gold Coast
190. Australian King-Parrot
191. Black Kite
192. Buff-Banded Rail
193. Eastern Koel
194. Long-Billed Corella
195. Plumed Whistling-Duck
196. Striated Pardalote
Cedar Grove
197. Banded Lapwing
198. Great Cormorant
199. Spangled Drongo
200. White-Winged Triller
Plunkett CP
201. Red-Backed Fairywren
202. Speckled Warbler
203. Variegated Fairywren
Tinchi Tamba Wetlands
204. Brahminy Kite
205. Fan-Tailed Cuckoo
206. White-Throated Honeyeater
Greenfield Turf Farm
207. Grey Goshawk
208. Little Curlew
Kumbartcho Sanctuary
209. Nankeen Night-Heron
210. Powerful Owl
Brisbane
211. Brown Goshawk
Sandy Camp Rd Wetlands
212. Australian Painted-Snipe
Clarke Quay
213. Eurasian Tree-Sparrow
214. House Crow
215. Javan Mynah
216. Rose-Ringed Parakeet
217. Yellow-Vented Bulbul
Fort Canning Park
218. Asian Glossy-Starling
219. Asian Koel
220. Black-Naped Oriole
221. Common Tailorbird
222. Crested Goshawk
223. Pink-Necked Green-Pigeon
224. Red Junglefowl
225. White-Breasted Waterhen
Sentosa Island
226. Green Peafowl
227. Ornate Sunbird
228. Zebra Dove
Mandai WR
229. Crimson Sunbird
230. Medium Egret
231. Milky Stork
232. Olive-Winged Bulbul
Lorong Halus Wetland
233. Blue-Tailed Bee-Eater
234. Collared Kingfisher
235. Little Bronze-Cuckoo
Central Catchment Reserve
236. Arctic Warbler
237. Asian Brown-Flycatcher
238. Blue-Crowned Hanging-Parrot
239. Greater Racket-Tailed Drongo
240. Orange-Bellied Flowerpecker
241. Red-Breasted Parakeet
Gardens by the Bay
242. Purple Heron
243. Yellow Bittern
Hindhede NP
244. Common Flameback
245. Common Hill-Mynah
Jurong Lake Gardens
246. Common Iora
247. Dark-Necked Tailorbird
248. Grey Heron
249. Javan Munia
250. Lesser Coucal
251. Oriental Pied-Hornbill
252. Pallas's Grasshopper-Warbler
253. Red-Wattled Lapwing
254. White-Throated Kingfisher
Sungei Buloh WR
255. Asian Openbill
256. Black-Crowned Night-Heron
257. Common Redshank
258. Great-Billed Heron
259. Painted Stork
North Stradbroke Island
260. Beach Stone-Curlew
261. Eastern Osprey
262. Red-Capped Plover
Redlands
263. Bar-Tailed Godwit
264. Whimbrel

Reptiles
Fort Canning Park
15. Asian Water-Monitor
Pasir Ris Park
16. Mangrove Pit-Viper
17. Red-Eared Slider
Sungei Buloh WR
18. Saltwater Crocodile
North Stradbroke Island
19. Lace Monitor

Amphibians
Gold Coast
5. Desert Tree-Frog
6. Striped Rocket-Frog

Fish
Kingscliff
1. Long-Spine Porcupinefish
Gold Coast
2. Dusky Flathead
3. Eastern Jumping-Blenny
4. Eastern Mosquitofish
5. Mozambique Tilapia
6. Sand Whiting
7. Sea Mullet
8. Smooth Toadfish
9. Short-Finned Eel
10. Speckled Longfin-Eel
11. Yellowfin Bream
Redlands
12. Bearded Mudskipper
13. Eurasian Carp
14. Firetail Gudgeon
Moreton Island
15. Black Rabbitfish
16. Blue-Barred Parrotfish
17. Schooling Bannerfish
18. Silver Moony
19. Stripey
Sungei Buloh WR
20. Banded Archerfish
North Stradbroke Island
21. Eastern Shovelnose-Ray
 
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birdsandbats said:
After what is by quite some margin the most strenuous and difficult birding hike I have ever done, I was rewarded with a very nice Western vagrant and one of the most difficult regularly occurring birds in the state. Ample rewards, of course, but boy am I exhausted.

Birds
262. Gray-crowned Rosy-Finch Leucosticte tephrocotis
263. Townsend's Solitare Myadestes townsendi
Click to expand...
Thylo isn't the only one of us to cram in a last minute trip! This isn't a wildlife-focused trip either, but I should have plenty of time to look for wildlife while I'm here. To start off:

Birds
264. Great-tailed Grackle Quiscalus mexicanus
265. White-winged Dove Zenaida asiatica
266. Great Kiskadee Pitangus sulphuratus
267. Blue-and-white Swallow Pygochelidon cyanoleuca
268. Tropical Kingbird Tyrannus melancholicus
269. Blue-gray Tanager Thraupis episcopus
270. Social Flycatcher Myiozetetes similis
280. Crested Caracara Caracara plancus
281. Rufous-collared Sparrow Zonotrichia capensis
282. Crimson-fronted Parakeet Psittacara finschi
283. Red-billed Pigeon Patagioenas flavirostris
284. Rufous-tailed Hummingbird Amazilia tzacatl
285. Clay-colored Thrush Turdus grayi
286. Inca Dove Columbina inca
287. Rufous-naped Wren Campylorhynchus rufinucha
 
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I guess I’m joining the last minute trippers because I’m currently in Florida and my first day already got me 14 new birds! That’s right, I’m not done yet :D. I’ll be staying in Fort Myers for the next seven days, during which I’ll be doing a lot more wildlife related things, so hopefully that number will rise.

Birds

132. Common grackle, Quiscalus quiscula 27/12/23
133. Loggerhead shrike, Lanius ludovicianus 27/12/23
134. Palm warbler, Setophaga palmarum 27/12/23
135. Mourning dove, Zenaida macroura 27/12/23
136. White ibis, Edocimus albus 27/12/23
137. Northern mockingbird, Mimus polyglottos 27/12/23
138. Boat-billed grackle, Quiscalus major 27/12/23
139. Fish crow, Corvus ossigalus 27/12/23
140. Little blue heron, Egretta caerulea 27/12/23
141. Mottled duck, Anas fulvigula 27/12/23
142. Ring-billed gull, Larus delawarensis 27/12/23
143. Turkey vulture, Catharthes aura 27/12/23
144. Double-crested cormorant, Phalacrocorax auritus 27/12/23
145. Muscovy duck, Cairina moschata 27/12/23
 
Platypusboy said:
I guess I’m joining the last minute trippers because I’m currently in Florida and my first day already got me 14 new birds! That’s right, I’m not done yet :D. I’ll be staying in Fort Myers for the next seven days, during which I’ll be doing a lot more wildlife related things, so hopefully that number will rise.

Birds

132. Common grackle, Quiscalus quiscula 27/12/23
133. Loggerhead shrike, Lanius ludovicianus 27/12/23
134. Palm warbler, Setophaga palmarum 27/12/23
135. Mourning dove, Zenaida macroura 27/12/23
136. White ibis, Edocimus albus 27/12/23
137. Northern mockingbird, Mimus polyglottos 27/12/23
138. Boat-billed grackle, Quiscalus major 27/12/23
139. Fish crow, Corvus ossigalus 27/12/23
140. Little blue heron, Egretta caerulea 27/12/23
141. Mottled duck, Anas fulvigula 27/12/23
142. Ring-billed gull, Larus delawarensis 27/12/23
143. Turkey vulture, Catharthes aura 27/12/23
144. Double-crested cormorant, Phalacrocorax auritus 27/12/23
145. Muscovy duck, Cairina moschata 27/12/23
Click to expand...

Don't forget to recount all these birds once the new year starts! :D

~Thylo
 
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