ZooChat Big Year 2014

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These bank holidays are proving very useful:

147. Whimbrel (Numenius phaeopus)
148. Black Guillemot (Cepphus grylle)
149. Sandwich Tern (Sterna sandvicensis)
150. Common Tern (Sterna hirundo)
151. Arctic Tern (Sterna paradisaea)
152. Mediterranean Gull (Larus melanocephalus)
153. Swift (Apus apus)
154. Golden Oriole (Oriolus oriolus) - LIFER
155. Chough (Pyrrhocorax pyrrhocorax)
156. House Martin (Delichon urbicum)

(the numbering went a bit astray somewhere in my earlier posts: 156 is correct)
 
A week off work and a trip to Scotland along with the long awaited arrival of migrants has actually boosted my year list to 166 one being a life tick.

136. Swallow
137. Sand Martin
138. Willow Warbler
139. Blackcap
140. Marsh Tit
141. Gannet
142. Kittiwake
143. Grey Plover
144. Velvet Scoter
145. American Coot
146. Golden Eagle
147. Osprey
148. Red Grouse
149. Wheatear
150. Capercaillie
151. Crested Tit
152. Hooded Crow
153. Twite
154. Black-throated Diver
155. Black Grouse
156. Scottish Crossbill
157. Ptarmigan
158. Gargany
159. Avocet
160. House Martin
161. Reed Warbler
162. Hoopoe
163. Ring Ouzel
164. Little Ringed Plover
165. Common Sandpiper
166. Whimbrel

After a trip down south

167. Dartford Warbler
168. Tree Pipit
169. Whitethroat
170. Ringed Plover
171. Kentish Plover
172. Cirl Bunting
173. Sedge Warbler
174. Cuckoo
175. Hobby
176. Garden Warbler
177. Swift
178. Great White Egret
 
These bank holidays are proving very useful:

Yes, seems to have been a few of us out today! Can I ask, where did you see the Black Guillemot? Always been a bogey species for me!


My additions from Bempton Cliffs and Blacktoft Sands:

230. Red-legged Partridge - Alectoris rufa
231. Northern Gannet - Morus bassanus
232. Razorbill - Alca torda
233. Atlantic Puffin - Fratercula arctica
234. Black-legged Kittiwake - Rissa tridactyla
235. Northern Fulmar - Fulmarus glacialis
236. Common Guillemot - Uria aalge
237. European Shag - Phalacrocorax aristotelis
238. Corn Bunting - Miliaria calandra
239. Common Whitethroat - Sylvia communis
240. Blackcap - Sylvia atricapilla
241. Pied Avocet - Recurvirostra avosetta
242. Sedge Warbler - Acrocephalus schoenobaenus

A note on the lifers - I don't genuinely think that's my first Corn Bunting but it wasn't on my list and I honestly can't specifically remember seeing it so a lifer it will be! Sedge Warbler I have heard many times but only seen for the first time today.
 
The Black Guillemots (x4) were in Holyhead harbour which has always been a pretty reliable site for me (although anywhere along the north coast of Anglesey is good).

I missed out on puffins and kittiwakes today: apparently everything is running about three weeks late at South Stack this year.
 
The Black Guillemots (x4) were in Holyhead harbour which has always been a pretty reliable site for me (although anywhere along the north coast of Anglesey is good).

I missed out on puffins and kittiwakes today: apparently everything is running about three weeks late at South Stack this year.

Thanks - had a feeling you'd say that! Looked for them there on several occasions but no joy. Next time I'm back in Bangor I'll have to take another look. I'll outwit them eventually! :D
 
Birds:
1 Little Raven Corvus mellori
2 Sulphur-crested Cockatoo Cacatua galerita
3 Pacific Black Duck Anas superciliosa
4 Crested Pigeon Ocyphaps lophotes
5 Noisy Miner Manorina melanocephala
6 Rainbow Lorikeet Trichoglossus haematodus
7 Australian Magpie Gymnorhina tibicen
8 Indian Myna Acridotheres tristis
9 Wood Duck Chenonetta jubata
10 Buff-banded Rail Gallirallus philippensis
11 Dusky Moorhen Gallinula tenebrosa
12 Australasian Coot Fulica atra australis
13 Magpie Lark Grallina cyanoleuca
14 Feral Pigeon Columba livia
15 Spotted Turtle Dove Spilopelia chinensis
16 House Sparrow Passer domesticus
17 Little Corella Cacatua sanguinea
18 Red Wattlebird Anthochaera carunculata
19 Silver Gull Chroicocephalus novehollandiae
20 Masked Lapwing Vanellus miles
21 Purple Swamphen Porphyrio porphyrio
22 Eastern Yellow Robin Eopsaltria australis
23 Australian White Ibis Threskiornis molucca
24 Pink-eared Duck Malacorhynchus membranaceus
25 Australian Shoveller Anas rhynchotis
26 Pied Cormorant Phalacrocorax varius
27 Great Cormorant Phalacrocorax carbo
28 Great Egret Ardea modesta
29 Welcome Swallow Hirundo neoxena
30 Chestnut Teal Anas castanea
31 Hoary-headed Grebe Poliocephalus poliocephalus
32 Grey Teal Anas gracilis
33 Superb Fairy-wren Malurus cyaneus
34 Rufous Bristlebird Dasyornis broadbenti
35 Common Blackbird Turdus merula
36 Crimson Rosella Platycercus elegans
37 Common Starling Sturnus vulgaris
38 Hardhead Aythya australis
39 Bell Miner Manorina melanophrys
40 Little Pied Cormorant Microcarbo melanoleucos
41 White-plumed Honeyeater Lichenostomus penicillatus
42 Nankeen Night-Heron Nycticorax caledonicus
43 Grey Fantail Rhipidura albiscapa
44 Laughing Kookaburra Dacelo novaeguineae
45 Superb Lyrebird Menura novaehollandiae

These have all been seen in Victoria, in Melbourne City, or on day trips to the Mornington Peninsula, Great Ocean Road and Dandenong Ranges.

Mammals:
1 Brushtail Possum Trichosurus vulpecula
2 European Rabbit Oryctolagus cuniculus
3 Australian Fur Seal Arctocephalus pusillus
4 Koala Phascolarctos cinereus
5 Grey-headed Flying-fox Pteropus poliocephalus

I realised I haven't updated my list for over four months, but I haven't seen much in that time as I haven't really done any birding. My new house is near a large wetland and river, so I have seen quite a few waterbirds there, which is very cool. I also had a trip to Outback South Australia, but unfortunately it was mostly bad weather, I was with non-birders, and there was lots of water about so there were no congregations, so I didn't see many species there (emu were the highlight, awesome to see in the wild).

This time last year I was on 77 birds, but that included NZ and Australian birds, so I'm kind-of ahead at present. My trip to America should add a few lifers!

Birds:
46 New Holland Honeyeater Phylidonyris novaehollandiae
47 Song Thrush Turdus philomelas
48 White-headed Stilt Himantopus leucocephalus
49 Red-browed Finch Neochmia temporalis
50 Galah Eolophus roseicapillus
51 Yellow-tailed Black Cockatoo Calyptorhynchus funereus
52 Eastern Spinebill Acanthorhynchus tenuirostris
53 Common Bronzewing Phaps chalcoptera
54 Australasian Darter Anhinga novaehollandiae
55 Willie Wagtail Rhipidura leucophrys
56 Cape Barren Goose Cereopsis novaehollandiae
57 Black-fronted Dotteral Elseyornis melanops
58 Pacific Gull Larus pacificus
59 Australian Pelican Pelecanus conspicillatus
60 Pied Currawong Strepera graculina
61 Grey Butcherbird Cracticus torquatus
62 Crested Tern Thalasseus bergii
63 Emu Dromaius novaehollandiae

64 Zebra Finch Taeniopygia guttata
65 Red-necked Avocet Recurvirostra novaehollandiae
66 Cattle Egret Ardea ibis
67 Black Swan Cygnus atratus
68 Black-shouldered Kite Elanus axillaris
69 Royal Spoonbill Platalea regia
70 Intermediate Egret Ardea intermedia
71 White-faced Heron Egretta novaehollandiae
72 Little Black Cormorant Phalacrocorax sulcirostris

Mammals:
6 House Mouse Mus domesticus
7 Dingo Canis dingo
8 Eastern Grey Kangaroo Macropus giganteus
 
Birds
23) Tree Swallow Tachycineta bicolor

Birds
24) Chimney Swift Chaetura pelagica
25) Grey Catbird Dumetella carolinensis
26) Tufted Titmouse Baeolophus bicolor
27) Red-Winged Blackbird Agelaius phoeniceus
28) Black-and-White Warbler Mniotilta varia
29) Great Blue Heron Ardea herodias
30) Wood Thrush Hylocichla mustelina
31) Chestnut-Sided Warbler Setophaga pensylvanica

~Thylo:cool:
 
Some new sightings from the last couple of days-

Birds:
65. Barn swallow

Mammals:
12. Eurasian badger
13. Red fox

Reptiles:
2. Slow worm

The badger and fox are the best sighting of the year hands-down; the fox chasing the badger in the open and in broad daylight right past where I was standing.

Been able to see a few migrants since my last update:

Birds:
66. European bullfinch
67. Common house martin
68. Sedge warbler
69. Eurasian linnet
70. Common reed warbler
71. Common whitethroat
72. Eurasian hobby

Fish:
2. Eurasian minnow
3. Three-spined stickleback

The hobbies are likely the bird highlight of the year- no less than half a dozen of them chasing house martins under the sunset in the middle of Cambridge. It's not very often you see a lifer from an urban block of student flats.
 
MT. KINABALU (BORNEO):

BIRDS:

416) Chestnut-crowned erpornis (yuhina) Erpornis everetti
417) Temminck's sunbird Aethopyga temminckii
418) White-bellied erpornis (yuhina) Erpornis zantholeuca
419) Chestnut-hooded laughing thrush Garrulax treacheri
420) Bornean whistler Pachycephala hypoxantha
421) Indigo flycatcher Eumyias indigo
422) Bornean (Bald-headed) laughing thrush Garrulax calvus
423) Bornean treepie Dendrocitta cinerascens
424) Mountain black-eye Zosterops emiliae
425) Short-tailed green magpie Cissa thalassina
426) Whitehead's broadbill Calyptomena whiteheadi
427) Sunda laughing thrush Garrulax palliatus
428) Black-capped white-eye Zosterops atricapilla
429) White-breasted woodswallow Artamus leucorynchus
430) Everett's thrush Zoothera everetti
431) Sunda bush-warbler Cettia vulcania
432) Bornean whistling thrush Myophonus borneensis
433) Bornean montane forktail Enicurus borneensis
434) Golden-naped barbet Megalaima pulcherrima
435) Mountain wren-babbler Napothera crassa


MAMMALS:

54) Bornean black-banded squirrel Callosciurus orestes
55) Long-tailed giant rat Leopoldamys sabanus
56) Small-toothed palm civet Arctogalidia trivirgata
57) Jentink's squirrel Sundasciurus jentinki
58) Mountain ground squirrel Dremomys everetti
59) Mountain tree-shrew Tupaia montana
 
Birds
176. Southern Emuwren
177. White-cheeked Honeyeater
178. Yellow-throated Scrubwren

:p

Hix

179. Black-shouldered Kite

:p

Hix
 
So today I joined the local Audubon society on a trip to the Big Morongo Canyon Preserve, which is a riparian and marsh oasis in the middle of the desert that attracts many local and migrating species. Overall it was a great day for me getting 12 new species.

184. Gambel's Quail
185. White-winged Dove
186. Ladder-backed Woodpecker
187. Western Wood-Pewee
188. Hammond's Flycatcher
189. Brown-crested Flycatcher
190. Bell's Vireo
191. Cassin's Vireo
192. Verdin
193. Summer Tanager
194. Gray Flycatcher
195. Vermilion Flycatcher


It was a good day for Flycatchers and my group still missed Ash-throated, Willow, Pacific-slope, and Olive-sided Flycatchers seen by other birders!

I can add two more flycatchers to my list after birding at my alma mater today.

196. Olive-sided Flycatcher
197. Dusky Flycatcher
 
180. Varied Sitella
181. Red-capped Robin
182. Striped Honeyeater
183. Spotted Pardalote

:p

Hix
 
Last edited:
I can add two more flycatchers to my list after birding at my alma mater today.

196. Olive-sided Flycatcher
197. Dusky Flycatcher

Went birding before work today and got two more birds!

198. Hermit Warbler
199. Warbling Vireo


At the beginning of the year my goal was to hopefully see 100 birds for my first year of birding. When I reached that goal I changed it to 200. Now I'm only one bird away, so my new goal is 250.
 
Laying in my parent's back yard, eating homemade ice cream, and counting birds.

271 Mississippi Kite - Ictinia mississippiensis
272 Bank Swallow - Riparia riparia
 
180 Chipping Sparrow
181 Caspian Tern
182 Blue-gray Gnatcatcher
183 Lazuli Bunting
184 Bullock's Oriole
185 Dusky Flycatcher
186 Cassin's Vireo
187 Yellow-breasted Chat
188 Virginia's Warbler
 
180. Varied Sitella
181. Red-capped Robin
182. Striped Honeyeater
183. Spotted Pardalote

:p

Hix

184. Lyrebird

:p

Hix
 
A post of three phases coming up!


Firstly, a species I came across in my Costa Rica photos (from La Fortuna/Arenal) that had somehow slipped the note-net (so technically all the ones after Greyish Saltator shift up one!):

243. Golden-hooded Tanager - Tangara larvata


Secondly, pedantry forces me to note that after going through the nomenclature of my Costa Rica list a few taxa have changed species assignation (none affect count of either total species or lifers):

Orange-bellied Trogon is now treated as a subspecies of Collared Trogon (Trogon collaris)
Blue-crowned Motmot has been split and CR birds are now Blue-diademed Motmot (Momotus lessonii)
Chestnut-mandibled Toucan is now treated as a subspecies of Black-mandibled Toucan (Ramphastos ambiguus)
Variable Seedeater has been split and CR birds are now Variable Seedeater (Sporophila corvina)

Quite a few species has also moved genus without the species delineation changing, but that isn't as relevant. All this comes from putting my list together using the field guide's (outdated) taxonomy! The above changes bring the list into line with IOC World Bird List .


Thirdly, new additions from Avenue Washlands today:

244. Stock Dove - Columba oenas
245. Common Swift - Apus apus
246. Willow Warbler - Phylloscopus trochilus

The last is again a 'technical' lifer - a victim of my former failure to record LBJs! :D
 
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