ZooChat Big Year 2015

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Chlidonias said:
a list of rules for this Big Year, or for official Big Years?

Regarding "heard-only" many many birders do include them in their listings. It tends to be that people who don't tick "heard-only" think those who do are strange, and vice versa. My personal opinion is I have to actually see the bird (it is bird-watching, not bird-listening) - and how do you know if the bird you think the call is from is even correct? (Not so much in your home country where you are familiar with them, but when birding overseas). I am rubbish at bird calls anyway.

For this thread, nobody is/should be counting "heard-only". Captive birds don't count. Birds have to be from an established wild population - both native and introduced count (although the official American birding organisation is so slow-moving that there are established populations which are a source of minor disagreement here and there ;)). A rescue bird in a box doesn't count, although it does once it has been released. Subspecies don't count as more than one listing. Hybrids don't count. Both the latter are interesting to mention though. The bird has to be alive!

I think that covers the thread "rules". It is all fun though so don't take it too seriously.

Oh, also made-up birds don't count. Just for anyone who is a stringer.
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Thanks for writing this out fully, I like to know all of the "rules". I personally don't count heard birds, mainly because I can't recognise the calls but also (this is my excuse for not trying to recognise calls), what if it is a lyrebird mimicking something else? (Or any other mimic for that matter.)

Is it a case of don't take it too seriously on all years or just don't take it too seriously on years when Chlidonias is stuck in New Zealand and has no chance of coming anywhere near to winning? ;):p
 
Maguari said:
IThat does mean I'm denying myself Spotted Hyaena from last year's list, though! :D
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I have a vague "heard" category on my taxonomic life lists for very special cases, but they don't contribute to the actual total. I have heard wolves howling in Mongolia and that was just too cool not to note but they won't contribute to the canid total until I see one. Same with the various kiwi species - I just noted them as heard until I actually saw them and could add them to the total list.

Not many species are of that nature for me though. I don't do it for owls or nightjars, for example. They have to be special (in an entirely personal and subjective way).
 
Chlidonias said:
A rescue bird in a box doesn't count, although it does once it has been released.
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Had a related crisis to this last year when I went along on a bat-box check. The bats were entirely wild animals, and were voluntarily in the boxes in lieu of other roosts, so I took the view that as long as I saw them in the boxes before/after they were handled for ID/monitoring they were OK - being analogous to the rescued/ringed bird being released and immediately 'counting' again. In the end the only species unique to that day was Leisler's Bat - the others were ones I'd seen out and about earlier in the year.

I also remembered it's meant to be fun, stopped worrying about it and just enjoyed the bats. :D
 
Maguari said:
Had a related crisis to this last year when I went along on a bat-box check. The bats were entirely wild animals, and were voluntarily in the boxes in lieu of other roosts, so I took the view that as long as I saw them in the boxes before/after they were handled for ID/monitoring they were OK - being analogous to the rescued/ringed bird being released and immediately 'counting' again. In the end the only species unique to that day was Leisler's Bat - the others were ones I'd seen out and about earlier in the year.

I also remembered it's meant to be fun, stopped worrying about it and just enjoyed the bats. :D
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that would be my position on the bats also. Mammal-watchers are funny creatures though. Many of them spend a lot of time live-trapping rodents and mist-netting bats and then counting them because they have them in their trap. I find it strange because I want to just see animals in the wild, not trap them so I can add numbers to a list. Each to their own I suppose.
 
LaughingDove said:
Thanks for writing this out fully, I like to know all of the "rules". I personally don't count heard birds, mainly because I can't recognise the calls but also (this is my excuse for not trying to recognise calls), what if it is a lyrebird mimicking something else? (Or any other mimic for that matter.)
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lyrebirds are easy because they imitate multiple species all at once. They sound like a swarm of birds is having some kind of fight to the death. However mimicing is a valid reason for not counting by call, in my opinion.

LaughingDove said:
Is it a case of don't take it too seriously on all years or just don't take it too seriously on years when Chlidonias is stuck in New Zealand and has no chance of coming anywhere near to winning? ;):p
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definitely the latter! :p
 
Chlidonias said:
Not many species are of that nature for me though. I don't do it for owls or nightjars, for example. They have to be special (in an entirely personal and subjective way).
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Different strokes for different folks :) what with the UK only having the one nightjar, I'd certainly count that species by call alone. That said, I've had pretty good luck in seeing actual birds in the past.
 
Chlidonias said:
that would be my position on the bats also. Mammal-watchers are funny creatures though. Many of them spend a lot of time live-trapping rodents and mist-netting bats and then counting them because they have them in their trap. I find it strange because I want to just see animals in the wild, not trap them so I can add numbers to a list. Each to their own I suppose.
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I'm quite happy to take a look at ones that are already being humanely trapped for some reason (particularly if I get to see the release afterwards!) - whether I'd set out to trap them just to see them... not sure. In principle, done well I'm not against it per se but it's not a clear-cut one. I'd much rather tag on to a 'proper' survey (as with the bat group work).
 
In the U.S., heard birds are perfectly acceptable. We only have 1 true mimic (Northern Mockingbird), so we can be fairly assured of calls.

One particular case in the U.S. is the Buff-Collared Nightjar. There is reliably a single breeding pair in the U.S. in SE Arizona. This is a heard only bird for probably 90% of the birders who have it on their list (myself included). This particular pair has just started breeding within the last year or so on this side of the border, so it is a range sensitive species. We count this one as heard only because to see it is to disturb it.
 
Also, we call it birding not bird watching. Bird watching is what your grandmother does in her backyard. Birding is what naturalists do.
 
jbnbsn99 said:
Also, we call it birding not bird watching. Bird watching is what your grandmother does in her backyard. Birding is what naturalists do.
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"we" who? Birding is just a term made up to make it sound more exciting. It is exactly the same thing as bird-watching.
 
I have heard the term Birding used by old and young in many hides over the past ten years, It does seem like the term Bird Watching relates to the old days.

Even photographers I know through Birding, call it this .

I think it's a term more widely used these days to try and bring in younger people into the hobby.

Must admit I don't really care what they call it I loved doing It!!!!!!
 
Hadn't planned on birding (or bird-watching ;) ) this weekend - the weather forecast was poor and I had other stuff to do at home. However, when the rain started clearing up a bit at lunchtime today I thought I'd just look to see if there was anything interesting within a half-hour drive or so. A very tempting report from Carr Vale seemed the best bet, and the short trip just past the M1 paid off!

115. Garganey - Anas querquedula

2. Common Toad - Bufo bufo


:)
 
I am now in Ostrava in the Czech Republic and today I was driving driving there from Warsaw so from the car and also in a woodland/lake near to the lunch stop that I stopped on the way, I saw:

187) Greater white-fronted goose
188) Northern Lapwing
189) meadow pipet
190) Raven
191) Collared Dove - actually saw this a couple of weeks ago but seeing one again today reminded me that I hadn't listed it
- Also saw a white stork which is the first one I've seen in Europe this year (saw it earlier in the year in Tanzania)

33) Hare
34) Red deer
 
LaughingDove said:
I am now in Ostrava in the Czech Republic and today I was driving driving there from Warsaw so from the car and also in a woodland/lake near to the lunch stop that I stopped on the way, I saw:

187) Greater white-fronted goose
188) Northern Lapwing
189) meadow pipet
190) Raven
191) Collared Dove - actually saw this a couple of weeks ago but seeing one again today reminded me that I hadn't listed it
- Also saw a white stork which is the first one I've seen in Europe this year (saw it earlier in the year in Tanzania)

33) Hare
34) Red deer
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Today I visited Ostrava Zoo which in my opinion is fantastic and probably lands itself in my top 5 zoos. (Stay tuned for a review of the zoo in the trip thread that I am making http://www.zoochat.com/9/laughingdoves-trip-march-april-2015-poland-403988/).

Anyway, I also saw a few more birds.


In the zoo:

192) Green Woodpecker
193) Song Thrush


In a flooded quarry that I did some birding around after the zoo (which wasn't as big as I expected, only took 5 hours to do extremely thoroughly and see everything)

194) Garganey
 
Went for a mid-afternoon visit to Abberton Reservoir today. Unfortunately, the velvet scoters and green-winged teal on the lake yesterday were hidden, but did manage to get one new lifer duck:

103. Greater scaup Aythya marila
 
BeardsleyZooFan said:
Chlidonias, on the February tally, I have two mammals, White-Tailed Deer and Eastern Gray Squirrel.
BIRDS:
7. Mourning Dove
8. Herring Gull
9. Northern Cardinal
10. Cooper's Hawk
11. Turkey Vulture
12. Black-Capped Chickadee
13. American Robin
14. House Sparrow
15. Canada Goose
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BIRDS:
16. Tufted Titmouse
17. Red-Shouldered Hawk
 
time for the monthly round-up.


BIRDS:
jbnbsn99 –245
mstickmanp – 194
LaughingDove – 194
Ituri – 164
Hevden – 154
robmv – 149
boof – 134
adrian1963 – 125
Hix – 116
Maguari – 115
DesertRhino150 – 103
nanoboy – 95
lintworm – 96
zooboy28 – 77
TeaLovingDave – 58
Chlidonias – 57
vogelcommando – 44
AverageWalrus – 21
Javan Rhino – 19
BeardsleyZooFan – 17
ThylacineAlive – 15
Pleistohorse – 12

MAMMALS:
LaughingDove – 34
Ituri – 19
jbnbsn99 – 17
Maguari – 11
zooboy28 – 9
DesertRhino150 – 9
lintworm – 9
Hix – 6
Pleistohorse – 6
ThylacineAlive – 4
AverageWalrus – 3
mstickmanp – 2
Chlidonias – 2
BeardsleyZooFan – 2

HERPTILES:
Hix – 5 Herptiles total (0 Amphibians, 5 Reptiles)
LaughingDove – 3 Herptiles total (1 Amphibian, 2 Reptiles)
Ituri – 2 Herptiles total (0 Amphibians, 2 Reptiles)
lintworm – 2 Herptiles total (1 Amphibian, 1 Reptile)
Maguari – 2 Herptiles total (2 Amphibians, 0 Reptiles)

FISH:
LaughingDove – 2
lintworm – 1

BUTTERFLIES:
lintworm – 4

SPECIAL POOTLE CATEGORY:
Pootle – 3 animals at once (blackbird, barn owl, bat)
 
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Minor point, but unless there have been dramatic taxonomic changes, my herptiles are both amphibians. ;)
 
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