ZooChat Big Year 2013

Status
Not open for further replies.
Tuul River, Ulan Baatar, Mongolia

219) Azure tit Cyanistes cyanus
220) Lesser whitethroat Sylvia curruca
221) Eurasian woodcock Scolopax rusticola
 
nanoboy said:
What are you folks' thoughts on using bird calls to try to attract birds?

I have an app with the calls of all Australian birds, and I played a few calls in the zoo recently as a test. The birds immediately came to the fence, and I am thinking that this could work in the wild if I get a Bluetooth wireless speaker. What's the ethics around using playback?
Click to expand...
for myself, I never use taping to attract birds. I prefer doing it the honest way, by actually looking and using your wits (at least as much as I have left).

Taping works because the bird thinks the recording is another bird, and so it comes to (usually) drive the interloper off its territory While it is doing this, it is not feeding, incubating eggs, defending its territory against real interlopers, etc etc. It is in my opinion an immense invasion of the bird's life.

Quite often you read in trip reports a birder saying a well-known individual bird (say, a frogmouth) has been "taped out", which means that it has been harassed so often that it has either stopped responding to the tape (and therefore also to real birds of its species) or has been driven off its territory. The writer then goes on to say "but I found another responsive bird at such-and-such a location". Completely bonkers.

In real terms, a bird you tape in your backyard or many other places will never be taped by anyone else so it is effectively harmless, but in well-birded areas it can be a constant thing and (again, in my opinion) completely irresponsible.
 
nanoboy said:
What are you folks' thoughts on using bird calls to try to attract birds?

I have an app with the calls of all Australian birds, and I played a few calls in the zoo recently as a test. The birds immediately came to the fence, and I am thinking that this could work in the wild if I get a Bluetooth wireless speaker. What's the ethics around using playback?
Click to expand...

it's very popular with some bird photographers. they set up a perch and play the call so the bird will land on the perch. i wouldn't use playback for certain species though. i have used it on occasion with some species. like chlidonias has said not in breeding season.
 
Hmm... I probably won't use playback then. It is tempting to use it for nocturnal birds in my backyard though.
 
Mammals

40: Grey long eared bat (Plecotus austriacus)
41. Brown long eared bat (Plecotus auritus)

these are my favourite bats :)

Reptiles+Amphibians

28. slow worm (Anguis fragilis)
 
Ituri said:
Somehow my count got off, so I'm going to repost my entire list for birds.
1 Canada Goose
2 Mallard
3 Cinnamon Teal
4 Northern Shoveler
5 Northern Pintail
6 Green-winged Teal
7 Ring-necked Duck
8 Lesser Scaup
9 Hooded Merganser
10 Pied-billed Grebe
11 Neotropic Cormorant
12 American White Pelican
13 Great Blue Heron
14 Great Egret
15 Snowy Egret
16 Green Heron
17 Black-crowned Night-Heron
18 Osprey
19 Harris's Hawk
20 Common Gallinule
21 American Coot
22 Killdeer
23 Black-necked Stilt
24 American Avocet
25 Greater Yellowlegs
26 Least Sandpiper
27 Long-billed Dowitcher
28 Wilson's Snipe
29 Mourning Dove
30 Inca Dove
31 Anna's Hummingbird
32 Belted Kingfisher
33 Gila Woodpecker
34 Rosy-faced Lovebird
35 Black Phoebe
36 Say's Phoebe
37 Verdin
38 Marsh Wren
39 Northern Mockingbird
40 Curve-billed Thrasher
41 European Starling
42 Orange-crowned Warbler
43 Common Yellowthroat
44 Yellow-rumped Warbler
45 Abert's Towhee
46 Song Sparrow
47 White-crowned Sparrow
48 Red-winged Blackbird
49 Great-tailed Grackle
50 House Finch
51 House Sparrow
52 Rock Pigeon
53 Gadwall
54 Sharp-shinned Hawk
55 Loggerhead Shrike
56 Ruby-crowned Kinglet
57 Northern Parula
58 American Wigeon
59 Ruddy Duck
60 Gambel's Quail
61 Eared Grebe
62 Western Grebe
63 Brown Pelican
64 Cactus Wren
65 Cedar Waxwing
66 Red-tailed Hawk
67 Common Raven
68 Common Merganser
69 Sora
70 Hermit Thrush
71 Rufous-backed Robin
72 Black-billed Magpie
73 Northern Flicker
74 American Robin
75 American Kestrel
76 Dark-eyed Junco
77 American Crow
78 Eurasian Collared-Dove
79 Bohemian Waxwing
80 Brown Creeper
81 California Quail
82 Cooper's Hawk
83 Lesser Goldfinch
84 Northern Shrike
85 Rough-legged Hawk
86 Gray-crowned Rosy-Finch
87 Ring-necked Pheasant
88 Black-capped Chickadee
89 Pine Grosbeak
90 Pine Siskin
91 Mountain Chickadee
92 Red-breasted Nuthatch
93 Northern Saw-whet Owl
94 Blue Jay
95 Red Crossbill
96 Horned Lark
97 Bald Eagle
98 Hairy Woodpecker
99 Steller's Jay
100 Chestnut-backed Chickadee
101 Evening Grosbeak
102 Wild Turkey
103 Downy Woodpecker
104 White-breasted Nuthatch
105 Pygmy Nuthatch
106 American Goldfinch
107 Wood Duck
108 Eurasian Wigeon
109 Bufflehead
110 Double-crested Cormorant
111 Ring-billed Gull
112 Common Loon
113 Northern Harrier
114 Herring Gull
115 Great Horned Owl
116 Rock Wren
117 Golden-crowned Kinglet
118 Savannah Sparrow
119 Common Goldeneye
120 Horned Grebe
121 Varied Thrush
122 Merlin
123 Bewick's Wren
124 Barred Owl
125 Cackling Goose
126 White-throated Sparrow
127 Western Meadowlark
128 Common Redpoll
129 Redhead
130 Barrow's Goldeneye
131 Harris's Sparrow
132 Pileated Woodpecker
133 Pacific Wren
134 California Gull
135 Ferruginous Hawk
136 Spotted Towhee
137 Snow Goose
138 Sandhill Crane
139 Western Scrub-Jay
140 Western Gull
141 Trumpeter Swan
142 Barn Owl
143 Prairie Falcon
144 Greater White-fronted Goose
145 Ross's Goose
146 Tundra Swan
147 Canvasback
148 Gray Partridge
149 Western Bluebird
150 Townsend's Solitaire
151 American Dipper
152 Violet-green Swallow
153 Tree Swallow
154 Caspian Tern
155 Iceland Gull
156 Brewer's Blackbird
157 White-throated Swift
158 Canyon Wren
159 Golden Eagle
160 Swainson's Hawk
161 Baird's Sandpiper
162 American Pipit
163 Yellow-headed Blackbird
164 Turkey Vulture
165 Calliope Hummingbird
166 Blue-winged Teal
167 Lesser Yellowlegs
168 House Wren
169 Mountain Bluebird
170 Dusky Flycatcher
171 Nashville Warbler
172 Townsend's Warbler
173 Rufous Hummingbird
174 Semipalmated Plover
175 Chipping Sparrow
176 Barn Swallow
177 Cassin's Finch
178 White-faced Ibis
179 Western Kingbird
180 Vaux's Swift
181 Yellow Warbler
182 Spotted Sandpiper
183 Wilson's Phalarope
184 Ruffed Grouse
185 Hammond's Flycatcher
186 Willet
187 Dunlin
188 Forster's Tern
189 Northern Rough-winged Swallow
190 Brown-headed Cowbird
191 Yellow-breasted Chat
192 Wilson's Warbler
193 Red-necked Grebe
194 Western Wood-Pewee
195 Bank Swallow
196 Lark Sparrow
197 Black-headed Grosbeak
198 Lazuli Bunting
199 Bullock's Oriole
200 Western Sandpiper
201 White-winged Scoter
202 Pectoral Sandpiper
203 Cliff Swallow
204 Western Screech-Owl
205 Eastern Phoebe
206 MacGillivray's Warbler
207 Western Tanager
208 Black-chinned Hummingbird
209 Blue-gray Gnatcatcher
210 Common Nighthawk
211 Burrowing Owl
212 Eastern Kingbird
213 Brewer's Sparrow
214 Grasshopper Sparrow
215 Warbling Vireo
216 Gray Catbird
217 Willow Flycatcher
218 Cordilleran Flycatcher
219 Cassin's Vireo
220 Veery
221 Swainson's Thrush
222 Northern Waterthrush
223 Olive-sided Flycatcher
224 American Redstart
225 Bobolink
226 Short-eared Owl
227 Peregrine Falcon
228 Ash-throated Flycatcher
229 Long-billed Curlew
230 Bonaparte's Gull
231 Franklin's Gull
232 Clark's Grebe
233 Dusky Grouse
234 Williamson's Sapsucker
235 Clark's Nutcracker
236 Virginia Rail
237 Red-eyed Vireo
238 Common Poorwill
239 Red-naped Sapsucker
240 Semipalmated Sandpiper
241 Black Tern
242 Common Tern
243 Solitary Sandpiper
244 Whimbrel
245 Marbled Godwit
246 Red-necked Phalarope

1 Rock Squirrel
2 Mule Deer
3 Desert Cottontail
4 Eastern Fox Squirrel
5 Red Squirrel
6 Coyote
7 White-tailed Deer
8 Mountain Cottontail
9 House Mouse
10 California Ground Squirrel
11 Pronghorn
12 Common Muskrat
13 Piute Ground Squirrel
14 Southern Idaho Ground Squirrel
15 Eastern Gray Squirrel
16 Columbia Ground Squirrel
17 Yellow-bellied Marmot
18 Red Fox
19 Northern Raccoon
20 Black-tailed Jackrabbit
21 Yellow Pine Chipmunk
22 American Bison
23 Northern Idaho Ground Squirrel
24 Wapiti
25 Snowshoe Hare
26 Golden-mantled Ground Squirrel
27 Uinta Ground Squirrel
28 Rocky Mountain Bighorn Sheep

Reptiles:
1 Northwest Terrestrial Garter Snake
2 Great Basin Gopher Snake
3 Western Fence Lizard
4 Western Painted Turtle
5 Red-eared Slider

Amphibians:
1 Columbian Spotted Frog
2 Sierran Tree Frog
3 American Bullfrog
Click to expand...

Birds:
247 Red-headed Woodpecker
248 Red-bellied Woodpecker
249 Eastern Bluebird
250 Northern Cardinal
251 Indigo Bunting
252 Northern Bobwhite
253 Ruby-throated Hummingbird
254 Dickcissel
255 Eastern Meadowlark
256 Chimney Swift
257 Mississippi Kite
258 Common Grackle
259 Upland Sandpiper
260 Scissor-tailed Flycatcher
261 Bell's Vireo
262 Great Crested Flycatcher
263 Carolina Wren
264 Baltimore Oriole

Mammals:
29 Woodchuck
30 Franklin's Ground Squirrel

Amphibians:
4 Cricket Frog
 
Mammals
45. Plains Zebra
46. Impala
47. Dwarf Mongoose

Reptiles
11. Malabo Rock Agama
12. Blue-headed Tree Agama
13. Ruwenzori Side-striped Chameleon
14. Montane Side-striped Chameleon

:p

Hix
 
Last edited:
zooboy28 said:
Could you not number them Thylo? Would be much more interesting if you posted a numbered list - it wouldn't be that hard for you to do.
Click to expand...

Okay. I'll go back through the thread and try and find everything I posted so I can comprise a new, full list with numbers.

~Thylo:cool:
 
There was a couple of misidentifications in my last (and initial) posting of birds seen in Uganda, so I'm reposting it with the corrections (of #160 ®) and subsequent additions. Lifers are in bold.

Birds
143. Helmeted Guineafowl
144. Egyptian Goose
145. Openbill Stork
146. Marabou
147. African Sacred Ibis
148. Hadada Ibis
149. Black-headed Heron
150. Hammerkop
151. Pinkbacked Pelican
152. Longtailed Cormorant
153. African Harrier Hawk
154. Palm-nut Vulture
155. Black Kite
156. Yellowbilled Kite
157. African Fish Eagle
158. Spurwinged Lapwing
159. African Jacana
160. Ringneck Dove
161. Tambourine Dove
162. Ross' Turaco
163. Eastern Plaintain Eater
164. Barn Owl
165. Speckled Mousebird
166. Broadbilled Roller
167. Woodland Kingfisher
168. Pied Kingfisher
169. White-throated Bee-eater
170. Black-and-White Casqued Hornbill
171. Yellow-fronted Tinkerbird
172. Double-toothed Barbet
173. Black-headed Gonolek
174. Grey-backed Fiscal Shrike
175. Pied Crow
176. Common Bulbul
177. Yellow White-eye
178. Splendid Starling
180. White-browed Robin Chat
181. Red-chested Sunbird
182. Red-billed Firefinch
183. Bronze Mannakin
184. Ruppel's Longtailed Starling
185. African Thrush
186. Yellow-rumped Tinkerbird
187. Common Sandpiper
188. Black-headed Weaver
189. Holub's Golden Weaver
190. Laughing Dove
191. Pintailed Whydah
192. White-browed Coucal
193. Piapipac
194. Grey Crowned Crane
195. Abyssinian Ground Hornbill
196. Northern Red Bishop
197. Dark Chanting Goshawk
198. Red-cheeked Cordon-bleu
199. Spotted Morning-Thrush
200. Cardinal Quelea
201. African Paradise Flycatcher
202. Grey Kestrel
203. Red-billed Quelea
204. Little Bee-eater
205. Northern Carmine Bee-eater
206. Red-throated Bee-eater
207. Grey-headed Kingfisher
208. African Pygmy Kingfisher
209. Diederik Cuckoo
210. African Darter
211. African Wattled Lapwing
212. Saddlebill Stork
213. Yellowbilled Oxpecker
214. Black-headed Lapwing
215. Spurwing Goose
216. Knob-billed Duck
217. Grey Heron
218. Long-toed Lapwing
219. African Grey Hornbill
220. Wire-tailed Swallow
221. Yellowbilled Storks
222. White-faced Whistle Duck
223. African Pied Wagtail
224. Goliath Heron
225. Hooded Vulture
226. Bateleur
227. Crested Francolin
228. Sooty Chat
229. Long-crested Eagle
230. Rock Martin
231. Cardinal Woodpecker
232. Grey Woodpecker
233. Bronze Sunbird
234. African Blue-flycatcher
235. Scarlet-Chested Sunbird
236. Crowned Hornbill
237. Verreaux's Eagle Owl
238. Brimstone Canary
239. Black-crowned Waxbill
240. Veillot's Black Weaver
241. Grey-headed Sparrow
242. Yellow-bellied Waxbill
243. African Grey Parrot
244. Black-necked Weaver
245. Grey-headed Negrofinch
246. Brown-eared Woodpecker
247. Brown-crowned Tchagra
248. Common Waxbill
249. Village Indigobird
250. Dusky Blue Flycatcher
251. Green Crombec
252. Little Greenbul
253. White-chinned Prinia
254. Black-and-White Mannakin
255. Green Coucal (aka Yellowbill)
256. Purple-headed Starling
257. Green-headed Sunbird
258. Great Blue Turaco
259. Olive-bellied Sunbird
260. Black-bellied Bustard


Including a complete list of all mammals seen/identified in Uganda.

Mammals
16. Vervet Monkey
17. Guereza Colobus
18. Red-tailed Monkey
19. Striped Ground Squirrel
20. Redlegged Sun Squirrel
21. Bushbuck
22. White Rhino (C.s.simum)
23. Oribi
24. Common Duiker
25. Olive Baboon
26. Patas Monkey
27. Kob (Ugandan)
28. Warthog
29. Waterbuck
30. Bush Elephant
31. Hartebeest (A.b.lelwel)
32. Rothschild's Giraffe ***
33. Cape Buffalo
34. Hippo
35. Spotted Hyena
36. Lion
37. Chimpanzee
38. Grey-cheeked Mangabey
39. Demidoff's Bushbaby
40. Red Colobus (P.o.tephrosceles)
41. L'Hoests Monkey
42. Leopard
43. Topi
44. Mountain Gorilla
45. Plains Zebra
46. Impala
47. Dwarf Mongoose


All reptiles seen/identified in Uganda

Reptiles
9. Tropical House Gecko *
10. Nile Monitor
11. Malabo Rock Agama
12. Blue-headed Tree Agama
13. Ruwenzori Side-striped Chameleon
14. Montane Side-striped Chameleon
15. Puff Adder
16. Emerald Snake


More birds to come.
:p

Hix
 
Last edited:
Here's my revised list:

Birds-
1) Canada Goose
2) American Crow
3) Trumpeter Swan
4) Common Raven
5) Rock Pigeon
6) Black-Capped Chickadee
7) Cackling Goose
8) Mallard
9) Wood Duck
10) Northern Cardinal
11) House Sparrow
12) American Robin
13) Eastern Wild Turkey
14) Black Vulture
15) Broad-Winged Hawk
16) Common Grackle
17) Black-Crowned Night Heron
18) Red-Tailed Hawk
19) American White Ibis
20) Wood Stork
21) Laughing Gull
22) Brown Pelican
23) Great Blue Heron
24) Great Egret
25) American White Pelican
26) Cattle Egret
27) Snowy Egret
28) Reddish Egret
29) Common Ground Dove
30) Royal Tern
31) Bald Eagle

Mammals-
1) White-Tailed Deer
2) Eastern Grey Squirrel
3) House Mouse
4) Domestic Cat (Feral)
5) Eastern Chipmunk
6) Florida Manatee

Reptiles-
1) American Alligator
2) Gopher Tortoise

Amphibians-
1) American Bullfrog
2) Wood Frog

NOTE: I have a lot of unidentified bird/mammal/lizard/frog pics that I just haven't gotten to uploading on here. I'll update my list afterwards even if it's no longer 2013:p

~Thylo:cool:
 
Last edited:
Birds
261. Red-bellied Paradise-Flycatcher
262. Black-and-White Shrike-Flycatcher (aka Vanga Flycatcher)
263. White-headed Saw-wing
264. Blue spotted Wood-Dove

:p

Hix
 
What are your guys' opinions of putting bird seed or bread or something our for birds to try and get them to come out?

~Thylo:cool:
 
ThylacineAlive said:
What are your guys' opinions of putting bird seed or bread or something our for birds to try and get them to come out?

~Thylo:cool:
Click to expand...

I've never known this to be a problem, in NZ we sometimes put bread, seeds or nectar out for the birds, generally in winter. Often attracts introduced species mainly, but nectar atracts natives.

In Australia however, they seem to be quite against this idea, and we got a leaflet in our letterbox stating that feeding birds (especially large parrots) was bad, and could cause damage to the birds (becoming reliant, nuisances, etc) and property.
 
If I put out food for the birds in my backyard, I'd just see the dozen or so that I would have seen on Day 1. I much prefer to go and find them.

When travelling, like I was just recently, putting out food would be a waste of time because it isn't something that happens immediately.

Having said that, some one dropped the skin of a piece of fruit at a guesthouse I was staying at recently, and many of the birds came down to investigate, and I certainly was grateful for the opportunities it presented. This garden was literally filled with birds.

:p

Hix
 
Status
Not open for further replies.
Back
Top