ZooChat Big Year 2014

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just thought I'd drop this in here for any UK Zoochatter birders who were thinking about visiting the Isle Of Wight: there is currently a pair of bee-eaters nesting in the south of the island, on the grounds of the Wydcombe Estate.
 
Will hopefully be able to get the Bee-eaters, haven't seen one since the last time they bred in durham, we will also be calling into a few other zoos on the way for the zoochat challenge.
 
First stop today was the mouth of the Nene at the eastern edge of Lincolnshire, with a mammal target I eventually found feeding in the channel of the river itself:

35. Common Seal - Phoca vitulina


Then off to Frampton, with the aim of filling in some wader gaps on both my life and annual lists. Didn't do badly at all, with something of a Calidris-fest - and though there was no sign of the Lesser Yellowlegs that has been down there recently, I did see the very relaxed ibis they've had hanging around in recent weeks. Not new for the list but there were also three spoonbills and more Black-tailed Godwits than I've ever seen! The main hide was being monopolised by the 'I've put my scope here in the prime spot and it's staying put all day' brigade, but they were useful in helping me find numbers 272 and 273!

269. Dunlin - Calidris alpina
270. Brent Goose - Branta bernicla
271. Glossy Ibis - Plegadis falcinellus
272. Red Knot - Calidris canutus
273. Little Stint - Calidris minutus
274. Curlew Sandpiper - Calidris ferruginea

:)
 
These are some new species I have seen over the past week, in order.

First went to the Cotswolds where only got one new species of fish:

4. Rainbow trout

Then back at home had a new species of mammal for the year in the house (successfully caught alive and relocated):

20. House mouse

And today had the first full day in North Norfolk at Wells-Next-The-Sea, where I managed to get three new birds:

96. Ruddy turnstone
97. Little ringed plover
98. Dunlin

That means that I have now equalised last year's personal mammal record and already broken last year's personal bird record (96 birds).
 
Been a while since I updated. Summer sucks for birding in Texas. Well, unless you take a road trip that is.

362 Eastern Screech-Owl - Megascops asio
Sitting in a tree right above my car a few nights ago at my apartment.

The rest I had to get on a lovely road trip to South Texas (Rio Grande Valley). So far, this is the new stuff for day 1.

363 Fulvous Whistling-Duck - Dendrocygna bicolor
364 Plain Chachalaca - Ortalis vetula
365 Least Grebe - Tachybaptus dominicus
366 White-tipped Dove - Leptotila verreauxi
367 Groove-billed Ani - Crotophaga sulcirostris
368 Common Pauraque - Nyctidromus albicollis
369 Buff-bellied Hummingbird - Amazilia yucatanensis
370 Northern Beardless-Tyrannulet - Camptostoma imberbe
371 Great Kiskadee - Pitangus sulphuratus
372 Couch's Kingbird - Tyrannus couchii
373 Green Jay - Cyanocorax yncas
374 Clay-colored Thrush - Turdus grayi
375 Long-billed Thrasher - Toxostoma longirostre
376 Olive Sparrow - Arremonops rufivirgatus
377 Altamira Oriole - Icterus gularis
378 Least Flycatcher - Empidonax minimus
379 Gray Hawk - Buteo plagiatus
380 Tropical Kingbird - Tyrannus melancholicus
381 White-tailed Hawk - Geranoaetus albicaudatus

One more note: #331 - Clapper Rail, has been split into 3 species as of the end of July (American Ornithological Union decision). 331 is now known as Ridgway's Rail. Hopefully, this will have implications tomorrow.
 
So after I finish the day yesterday, I get an alert on Facebook that a Collared Plover has shown up 30 miles from my hotel. This is a big deal. A Collared Plover has been seen only once before in the United States back in 1990. I resolve to get up early in the morning and go get it.

I wasn't the only one who wanted that bird. Some of my birding friends from DFW wanted it too. Some left at 12:30 in the night to drive down and get it, others wanted to be there even earlier and left at 10:30 at night for the 10 hour drive. That's birding devotion my friends. I was just lucky.

By 7:30, 50 or so people were crowded on a dirt road peering through scopes looking at a tiny bird running about on the shoreline of a retention pond.

I got the bird.

The rest of the day wasn't as productive, but still some nice additions.

382 Collared Plover - Charadrius collaris ABA Code 5 Rare Bird
383 Snowy Plover - Charadrius nivosus
384 Buff-breasted Sandpiper - Calidris subruficollis
385 Aplomado Falcon - Falco femoralis
386 Black Tern - Chlidonias niger

Bird 387 is going to cause confusion on my eBird list. It's the Clapper Rail. As I mentioned in the last post, I already have Clapper Rail for the year, but the bird I got out in California is now a different species as per the AOU. It is officially a Ridgway's Rail (Rallus obsoletus), which means I needed a true Clapper for the year. Easiest place for them is South Padre Island. No where else will rails just sit there and pose for you.

387 Clapper Rail - Rallus crepitans
 
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Making another trip to the Humboldt Bay area in California. Stopped by Crater Lake, Oregon briefly on the way. No new birds but did add a year mammal.

31 Golden-mantled Ground Squirrel
 
Second full day in North Norfolk included a trip to Blakeney Point where four new birds (three lifers) and two new mammals were seen.

Birds:
99. Sandwich tern
100. Little tern
101. Arctic tern
102. Arctic skua

Mammals:
21. Atlantic grey seal
22. Common seal
 
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Birders will find this new book on the history of bird watching to be fascinating: [ame=http://www.amazon.com/gp/aw/d/1408186187?pc_redir=1407129232&robot_redir=1]A History of Birdwatching in 100 Objects:Amazon:Books[/ame]
 
DesertRhino150 said:
Second full day in North Norfolk included a trip to Blakeney Point where four new birds (three lifers) and two new mammals were seen.

Birds:
99. Sandwich tern
100. Little tern
101. Arctic tern
102. Arctic skua

Mammals:
21. Atlantic grey seal
22. Common seal
Click to expand...

A trip to Titchwell Marsh picked up another four new birds for the year list.

Birds:
103. Ruff
104. Eurasian spoonbill
105. Spotted redshank
106. Red-crested pochard
 
I've been properly organising all my lists after my Asian trip and discovered that one of the swifts I had seen in India was the same as one I'd seen earlier in the year in Burma under a different name (due to a split I had acknowledged for the Burma one but not followed through with for the India one).

Anyway, I have lost a bird and am now down to 556.
 
Hevden said:
One more from the weekend.

208. Honey Buzzard

Off on holiday for two weeks soon so hopefully will be able to add quite a few more.
Click to expand...

Year ticks from Kent so far

209. Wood sandpiper
210. Black tern
211. Yellow wagtail
212. Bonaparte's gull
213. Curlew sandpiper
 
DesertRhino150 said:
A trip to Titchwell Marsh picked up another four new birds for the year list.

Birds:
103. Ruff
104. Eurasian spoonbill
105. Spotted redshank
106. Red-crested pochard
Click to expand...

Went to Houghton Hall and Sculthorpe Moor today and managed to pick up a few new species.

Birds:
107. Common treecreeper
108. Marsh tit
109. Eurasian nuthatch

Amphibians:
2. European common toad
 
Ituri said:
Missed a new mammal from the trip

31 Douglas's Squirrel



Found another new bird recently, as well as another mammal.

272 Eastern Kingbird

32 Bushy-tailed Woodrat
Click to expand...

Making another trip to the Humboldt Bay area in California. Stopped by Crater Lake, Oregon briefly on the way. No new birds but did add a year mammal.

31 Golden-mantled Ground Squirrel
Click to expand...

Sunday night I arrived in the vicinity of Humboldt Bay. On the way in we observed a herd of Wapiti belonging to the questionable Roosevelt's subspecies. On Monday morning I visited the Arcata Marsh. Adjacent to the marsh are mudflats along Humboldt Bay. When I was there the tide was out and the flats were covered in shorebirds. Species present included Marbled Godwits, Willets, Greater Yellowlegs, Long-billed Dowitchers (actually in the outlet from the marsh to the bay), a single Short-billed Dowitcher which was a first for me, Western Sandpipers and Least Sandpipers.

273 Black Phoebe
274 Willet
275 Short-billed Dowitcher

Tuesday, I started off on the jetty adjacent to the mouth of Humboldt Bay. Heavy fog made looking for wildlife off of the coast a little challenging. I did manage a single California Sea-Lion and a couple Common Murres. However the rocks of the jetty held quite a bit of action in the form of a group of Surfbirds and Black Turnstones, both were new to me.

276 Surfbird
277 Black Turnstone

In the afternoon I went up to Trinidad Bay. While I was there several fishing boats were moored, cleaning their catch. To my astonishment I found a family of five North American River Otters swimming beneath the docks cleaning up the fishing waste.

That evening I made a return trip to Arcata Marsh. Thousands of shorebirds were gathering to roost on the islands at the marsh. I found out later that a birder I had spoken to that evening later discovered a Green Sandpiper among the shorebirds. Unfortunately I wasn't able to make a return trip after I had heard about it earlier today. I did however manage to find two more bird species that I had never before observed in the wild.

32 North American River Otter

278 Black-bellied Plover
279 American Bittern

Today, I headed home via the Oregon coast. Stopping at Cape Arago, the same spot I had seen the Steller Sea-Lions last month, I beheld an even more incredible wildlife show than last time. Western Gulls, Brown Pelicans, Common Murres, and Brandt's and Pelagic Cormorants festooned the rock outcrops. Among hundreds of Steller and California Sea-Lions and Harbor Seals were at least two young male Northern Elephant Seals. Just beyond the rocks a young Gray Whale was frequently surfacing. It was an amazing sight to behold!

33 Siskyou Chipmunk
34 Northern Elephant Seal
35 Gray Whale
 
Also, it has come to my attention that I cannot count. Golden-mantled ground squirrel should have been #33

33 Golden-mantled Ground Squirrel
34 North American River Otter
35 Northern Elephant Seal
36 Gray Whale
37 Siskyou Chipmunk
 
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