ZooChat Big Year 2013

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I've got a bunch more to add after a productive trip to south Texas last weekend. i just need to input the data into eBird.
 
198 Yellow Warbler - Setophaga petechia
199 Plain Chachalaca - Ortalis vetula
200 Harris's Hawk - Parabuteo unicinctus
201 Caspian Tern - Hydroprogne caspia
202 Common Ground-Dove - Columbina passerina
203 Ruby-throated Hummingbird - Archilochus colubris
204 Golden-fronted Woodpecker - Melanerpes aurifrons
205 Ash-throated Flycatcher - Myiarchus cinerascens
206 Great Kiskadee - Pitangus sulphuratus
207 Couch's Kingbird - Tyrannus couchii
208 Green Jay - Cyanocorax yncas
209 Verdin - Auriparus flaviceps
210 Long-billed Thrasher - Toxostoma longirostre
211 Olive Sparrow - Arremonops rufivirgatus
212 Bronzed Cowbird - Molothrus aeneus
213 Altamira Oriole - Icterus gularis
214 Wood Stork - Mycteria americana
215 Reddish Egret - Egretta rufescens
216 Clapper Rail - Rallus longirostris
217 Least Grebe - Tachybaptus dominicus
218 White-tipped Dove - Leptotila verreauxi
219 Common Pauraque - Nyctidromus albicollis
220 Buff-bellied Hummingbird - Amazilia yucatanensis
221 Ringed Kingfisher - Megaceryle torquata
222 Green Kingfisher - Chloroceryle americana
223 Black-crested Titmouse - Baeolophus atricristatus
224 Clay-colored Thrush - Turdus grayi
225 Hooded Oriole - Icterus cucullatus
 
I don't think I'm going to see anything else around the Suzhou/Shanghai area before I head out, so:

BIRDS:

247) Vega gull Larus vegae
248) Tufted duck Aythya fuliginosa
249) Oriental magpie-robin Copsychus saularis
250) Yellow-browed bunting Emberiza chrysophrys
251) Blue and white flycatcher Cyanoptila cyanomelana
252) Siberian blue robin Luscinia cyane
253) Red-flanked bluetail Luscinia cyanura
254) Swinhoe's (Rufous-tailed) robin Luscinia sibilans
255) Scaly thrush Zoothera dauma
256) Striated heron Butorides striata
257) Richard's pipit Anthus richardi
258) Far-eastern curlew Numenius madagascariensis
259) Spotted redshank Tringa erythropus

MAMMALS:

22) Pallas' (Red-bellied) squirrel Callosciurus erythraeus
23) Raccoon dog Nyctereutes procyonoides
 
So you got to see Racoon Dogs!

Why is this not in your blog?

:p

Hix
 
Hix said:
So you got to see Racoon Dogs!

Why is this not in your blog?
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I did! I was most pleased. However the place I saw them is a "secret" location known to the local birders and they don't want it being broadcast on the internet in case the dogs get persecuted (i.e. hunted). So I am going to put a photo or two in the China Wildlife gallery with a little bloggy bit attached, but I wasn't sure how to fit it in the actual blog without giving away details. I don't normally like suppression but I also don't want the animals being killed, obviously.
 
Chlidonias said:
I did! I was most pleased. However the place I saw them is a "secret" location known to the local birders and they don't want it being broadcast on the internet in case the dogs get persecuted (i.e. hunted). So I am going to put a photo or two in the China Wildlife gallery with a little bloggy bit attached, but I wasn't sure how to fit it in the actual blog without giving away details. I don't normally like suppression but I also don't want the animals being killed, obviously.
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Very very cool. In a side note, how did you make contact with local birders? Is there a website or forum or something?
 
nanoboy said:
Very very cool. In a side note, how did you make contact with local birders? Is there a website or forum or something?
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there are always local forums, but in this case it was Birdforum which as you know is international (local forums are often in the local language of course, which makes them inconvenient for foreign visitors). When I say "local birder" in this case I mean an ex-UK birder who has been living there for 20-something years now.
 
Chlidonias said:
there are always local forums, but in this case it was Birdforum which as you know is international (local forums are often in the local language of course, which makes them inconvenient for foreign visitors). When I say "local birder" in this case I mean an ex-UK birder who has been living there for 20-something years now.
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Ah ok ok. I think I posted once on that forum and didn't return much since. I was wondering how you linked up with an English speaker.
 
nanoboy said:
Ah ok ok. I think I posted once on that forum and didn't return much since. I was wondering how you linked up with an English speaker.
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yes Birdforum is top-heavy with European and American birders, quite a few ex-pats in Asia, barely anyone from Australia or NZ (there's only one regular NZ poster, and that's me).

p.s. there's a Cape gannet been seen the other day at Point Danger in Victoria if you're interested in seeing an African bird without leaving Australia! (I don't know how far that is from Melbourne though).
 
Chlidonias said:
yes Birdforum is top-heavy with European and American birders, quite a few ex-pats in Asia, barely anyone from Australia or NZ (there's only one regular NZ poster, and that's me).

p.s. there's a Cape gannet been seen the other day at Point Danger in Victoria if you're interested in seeing an African bird without leaving Australia! (I don't know how far that is from Melbourne though).
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I saw that on eramaea. I couldn't tell the difference between it an an Australian gannet. :D According to google, Point Danger is in Torquay on the Great Ocean Road.
 
nanoboy said:
I saw that on eramaea. I couldn't tell the difference between it an an Australian gannet. :D According to google, Point Danger is in Torquay on the Great Ocean Road.
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I don't think I'd be able to tell unless it was very very close.

:p

Hix
 
nanoboy said:
134. Striated pardalote
135. White-eared honeyeater

Both ticked at Pound Bend, Warrandyte Park.
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136. Striated Thornbill
137. Gang-gang Cockatoo

Both ticked at the Toolangi State Forest near Healesville. It's some fairly remote cool, wet, temperate forest that isn't great for 'bird watching', but is fantastic for 'bird listening' due to the very thick undergrowth. Although I was extremely pleased to have finally seen a male pink robin, I was disappointed that I could only hear the calls of (but not actually see) the pilotbird and eastern whipbird.
 
Whipbirds are always difficult to see. You'll see one some day.

:p

Hix
 
Hix said:
Whipbirds are always difficult to see. You'll see one some day.
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there's one place I found them really easy to see....I can't recall where off the top of my head, I think it may have been Lamington National Park outside Brisbane. Otherwise extremely difficult to see.
 
The call of a whipbird sounds, as the name suggests, like the crack of a whip. It's a fantastically loud call that echoes through the forest, and pinpointing their location was next to impossible in thick undergrowth off the path. Tantalising is how I would describe the experience. Frustrating is another word I could use, but as Hix said, one day.
 
The really frustrating thing is that after the whip crack there is often a four note whistle. This four note whistle sounds like part of the call, but it's actually made by the female and she times it so you can't tell it's two different calls. Not knowing this makes zeroing in on the bird hard because the first part of the call might start to the left of you and it finishes on the right!

:p

Hix
 
Hix said:
The really frustrating thing is that after the whip crack there is often a four note whistle. This four note whistle sounds like part of the call, but it's actually made by the female and she times it so you can't tell it's two different calls. Not knowing this makes zeroing in on the bird hard because the first part of the call might start to the left of you and it finishes on the right!

:p

Hix
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Oh really? Well that makes a lot of sense now then.

For any other readers out there, this trip was to a forest of Mountain Ash. This tree is the tallest flowering plant in the world, and there has been/is an ongoing feud over whether the tallest tree in the world really was/is California redwoods. Even in second place, Mountain Ash are a sight to behold. My camera couldn't capture the scale, but I will try to post a pic later.
 
Chengdu (Sichuan, China):

260) White-browed laughing thrush Garrulax sannio
261) Black-fronted tit Aegithalos concinnus
262) Green-backed tit Parus monticolus
 
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