ZooChat Big Year 2015

[jbnbsn99]

437 Ross's Goose - Chen rossii
438 Eared Grebe - Podiceps nigricollis

 

[Hix]

Went down to Flying Fish Cove yesterday and snorkeled for about two hours, sighting a total of 93 species in that time. Lifers in bold.

Fish
45. Island Gregory (endemic)
46. Indian Doublebar Goatfish
47. White-tip Reef Shark
48. Crocodile Longtom
49. Bigscale Soldierfish
50. Sabre Squirrelfish
51. Trumpetfish
52. Common Lionfish
53. Peacock Grouper
54. Bigeye Trevally
55. Small-tooth Jobfish
56. Red Bass
57. Black-and-White Snapper (juvenile)
58. Bigeye Emperor
59. Yellowstripe Goatfish
60. Yellowfin Goatfish
61. Goldsaddle Goatfish
62. Copper Sweeper
63. Topsail Drummer
64. Brassy Drummer
65. Threadfin Butterflyfish
66. Lined Butterflyfish
67. Melon Butterflyfish
68. Lattice Butterflyfish
69. Singular Bannerfish
70. Horned Bannerfish
71. Whitespot Hawkfish
72. Arc-eye Hawkfish
73. Yellowtail Sergeant
74. Clarke's Anemonefish
75. Reticulated Dascyllus
76. Dick's Damselfish
77. Eclipse Pigfish
78. Tripletail Wrasse
79. Yellowtail Coris
80. Birdnose Wrasse
81. Banded Thicklips
82. Bicolor Cleaner Wrasse
83. Bluestripe Cleaner Wrasse
84. Breastspot Cleaner Wrasse
85. Redshouldered Wrasse
86. Sixbar Wrasse
87. Lunar Wrasse
88. Sunset Wrasse
89. Red-ribbon Wrasse
90. Steephead Parrotfish
91. Swarthy Parrotfish
92. Eyespot Surgeonfish
93. Yelloweyed Bristletooth
94. Lined Bristletooth
95. Humpnose Unicornfish
96. Blue Tang (Palette Tang)
97. Brushtail Tang
98. Pacific Sailfin Tang
99. Orangestriped Triggerfish
100. Scythe Triggerfish
101. Scribbled Filefish
102. Blackblotch Porcupinefish
103. Blackspotted Pufferfish

Invertebrates
2. Christmas Island Red Crab



Hix

 

[Hix]

Fish
104. Smallmouthed Squirrelfish
105. Cornetfish
106. Honeycomb Grouper
107. Banded Flagtail
108. Blue Trevally
109. Bluefin Trevally
110. Giant Trevally
111. Goldspot Emperor
112. Brown Sweetlips
113. Onespot Demoiselle
114. Yellowhead Parrotfish
115. Ovalspot Butterflyfish
116. Vagabond Butterflyfish
117. Spotted Toby



Hix

 

[Hix]

Good guess!

I thought it might take a little longer

Birds:
199. Christmas Island Frigatebird
200. Christmas Island Imperial Pigeon
201. Island Thrush
202. Glossy Swiftlet
203. White-tailed Tropicbird (both the normal and golden morph)



Hix

Birds
204. Red-tailed Tropicbird
205. Christmas Island White-eye
206. Abbott's Booby
207. Common Sandpiper

Mammals
18. Christmas Island Flying Fox



Hix

 

[lintworm]

A trip to cape Agulhas (Africa's most southern tip) gave me some nice additions for the year list:

431. Hartlaub's gull
432. African giant kingfisher
433. Southern red bishop
434. Ludwig's bustard
435. African marsh harrier
436. Jackal buzzard
437. Cape cormorant
438. Karoo prinia
439. Crowned lapwing
440. Yellow-rumped widow
441. White-fronted plover

Mammals

54. Springbok
55. Southern right whale
56. Grey rhebok

I also saw some bontebok and gemsbok, but I suspect they were not really wild animals but part of a farm, so I do not count them. I also do not count rock kestrel, which is sometimes regarded as a subspecies of the Common kestrel and it is treated like that by HBW alive, so I follow them...

I spent my last 1.5 days in S-Africa birding east of Cape Town, which gave over 20 new species for the year:

442. White-necked raven
443. Cape spurfowl
444. Familiar chat
445. Jackass penguin
446. Swift tern
447. Cape rock trush
448. Whimbrel
449. Yellow canary
450. Orange-breasted sunbird
451. Cape rockjumper
452. Cape siskin
453. Cape bunting
454. Cape batis
455. Sombre greenbul
456. Swee waxbill
457. Bar-throated apalis
458. Grey-backed cisticola
459. Bank cormorant
460. Crowned cormorant
461. Sandwich tern
462. Cape gannet

Mammals

57. Klipspringer
58. Cape grysbok
59. Cape rock hyrax
60. Small grey mongoose (Cape grey mongoose)
61. Chacma baboon
62. South African fur seal

Now on to Tanzania.

 

[Hevden]

One more yesterday after dipping on purple heron

240. Black tern

Finally managed another life tick.

241. Eurasian Crag Martin

Thats my 399th BOU UK life tick 25 years after i started birding. Would anyone like to hazard a guess at my 400th? I'm going to go out on a limb and say Black-and-white warbler (or at least another yank warbler) some time this winter.

 

[Maguari]

Finally managed another life tick.

241. Eurasian Crag Martin

Now where could you have been to see such a thing?

 

[Ituri]

270 Little Blue Heron - Egretta caerulea

271 Black-and-white Warbler - Mniotilta varia

 

[Hix]

Birds
208. Whitebreasted Waterhen


Fish
118. Peppered Moray
119. Rainbow Runner
120. Triangular Butterflyfish
121. Lemonpeel Angelfish
122. Pearlscale Angelfish
123. Emperor Angelfish
124. Freckled Hawkfish
125. Pink Anemonefish
126. Threespot Dascyllus
127. Johnston Damsel
128. Jewel Damsel
129. Speckled Wrasse
130. Spotted Unicornfish
131. Whitespotted Puffer
132. Yellow-tailed Chromis
133. White-tailed Chromis



Hix

 

[Hix]

Fish
134. Whitemouth Moray
135. Pricklefaced Hardyhead
136. White-tailed Squirrelfish
137. Thicklip Trevally
138. Midnight Snapper
139. Blue Fusilier
140. Dot-&-Dash Goatfish
141. Pennant Bannerfish
142. Blue Angelfish
143. Brighteye Damsel
144. Whitebar Gregory
145. Coral Pigfish
146. Blue-faced Goby
147. Purple Firegoby
148. Flowery Flounder
149. Greencheek Parrotfish



Hix

 

[LaughingDove]

Hmm... I wonder who's in the lead with fish

 

[nanoboy]

Ok, so here is my list as it stands. We have beaten last year's tally of 177, and the target before the end of this year is 200.

1 Australasian Darter
2 Australasian Gannet
3 Australasian Grebe
4 Australasian Pipit
5 Australasian Shoveler
6 Australian King-Parrot
7 Australian Magpie
8 Australian Owlet-nightjar
9 Australian Pelican
10 Australian Pied Oystercatcher
11 Australian Reed-Warbler
12 Australian Shelduck
13 Australian Spotted Crake
14 Australian White Ibis
15 Australian Wood Duck
16 Banded Lapwing
17 Banded Stilt
18 Black Kite
19 Black Swan
20 Black-faced Cuckoo-shrike
21 Black-fronted Dotterel
22 Black-shouldered Kite
23 Black-winged Stilt
24 Blue-billed Duck
25 Blue-faced Honeyeater
26 Blue-winged Parrot
27 Brolga
28 Brown Falcon
29 Brown Goshawk
30 Brown Quail
31 Brown Thornbill
32 Brown Treecreeper
33 Brown-headed Honeyeater
34 Cape Barren Goose
35 Chestnut Teal
36 Chestnut-rumped Thornbill
37 Cicadabird
38 Common Blackbird
39 Common Bronzewing
40 Common Greenfinch
41 Common Greenshank
42 Common Myna
43 Common Starling
44 Crested Pigeon
45 Crested Shrike-tit
46 Crested Tern
47 Crimson Rosella
48 Curlew Sandpiper
49 Diamond Firetail
50 Dusky Moorhen
51 Dusky Woodswallow
52 Eastern Great Egret
53 Eastern Osprey
54 Eastern Rosella
55 Eastern Spinebill
56 Eastern Yellow Robin
57 Eurasian Coot
58 Eurasian Skylark
59 Eurasian Tree Sparrow
60 European Goldfinch
61 Fairy Martin
62 Flame Robin
63 Freckled Duck
64 Fuscous Honeyeater
65 Galah
66 Gang-gang Cockatoo
67 Glossy Ibis
68 Golden Whistler
69 Golden-headed Cisticola
70 Great Cormorant
71 Great Crested Grebe
72 Grey Butcherbird
73 Grey Currawong
74 Grey Fantail
75 Grey Shrike-thrush
76 Grey Teal
77 Hardhead
78 Hoary-headed Grebe
79 Horsfield's Bronze-Cuckoo
80 House Sparrow
81 Inland Thornbill
82 Jacky Winter
83 Latham's Snipe
84 Little Black Cormorant
85 Little Corella
86 Little Eagle
87 Little Grassbird
88 Little Pied Cormorant
89 Little Raven
90 Little Wattlebird
91 Long-billed Corella
92 Magpie Goose
93 Magpie-lark
94 Marsh Sandpiper
95 Masked Lapwing
96 Mistletoebird
97 Musk Duck
98 Musk Lorikeet
99 Nankeen Kestrel
100 New Holland Honeyeater
101 Noisy Miner
102 Northern Mallard
103 Olive-backed Oriole
104 Pacific Black Duck
105 Pacific Gull
106 Peregrine Falcon
107 Pied Currawong
108 Pink-eared Duck
109 Powerful Owl
110 Purple Swamphen
111 Purple-crowned Lorikeet
112 Purple-gaped Honeyeater
113 Rainbow Bee-eater
114 Rainbow Lorikeet
115 Red Wattlebird
116 Red-browed Finch
117 Red-browed Treecreeper
118 Red-capped Plover
119 Red-capped Robin
120 Red-kneed Dotterel
121 Red-necked Avocet
122 Red-necked Stint
123 Red-rumped Parrot
124 Rock Dove (Feral Pigeon)
125 Royal Spoonbill
126 Rufous Bristlebird
127 Rufous Fantail
128 Rufous Whistler
129 Sacred Kingfisher
130 Satin Bowerbird
131 Scaly-breasted Lorikeet
132 Scarlet Robin
133 Sharp-tailed Sandpiper
134 Silver Gull
135 Silvereye
136 Singing Honeyeater
137 Southern Boobook
138 Spiny-cheeked Honeyeater
139 Spotless Crake
140 Spotted Dove
141 Spotted Harrier
142 Spotted Pardalote
143 Straw-necked Ibis
144 Striated Fieldwren
145 Striated Pardalote
146 Sulphur-crested Cockatoo
147 Superb Fairy-wren
148 Superb Lyrebird
149 Swamp Harrier
150 Swift Parrot
151 Tawny-crowned Honeyeater
152 Tree Martin
153 Variegated Fairy-wren
154 Wedge-tailed Eagle
155 Weebill
156 Welcome Swallow
157 Whiskered Tern
158 Whistling Kite
159 White-bellied Cuckoo-shrike
160 White-bellied Sea-Eagle
161 White-browed Babbler
162 White-browed Scrubwren
163 White-eared Honeyeater
164 White-faced Heron
165 White-fronted Chat
166 White-fronted Honeyeater
167 White-naped Honeyeater
168 White-necked Heron
169 White-plumed Honeyeater
170 White-throated Needletail
171 White-throated Treecreeper
172 White-winged Black Tern
173 White-winged Chough
174 Willie Wagtail
175 Yellow Thornbill
176 Yellow-billed Spoonbill
177 Yellow-faced Honeyeater
178 Yellow-plumed Honeyeater
179 Yellow-rumped Thornbill
180 Yellow-tailed Black-Cockatoo
181 Yellow-tufted Honeyeater
182 Zebra Finch

 

[lintworm]

I spent my last 1.5 days in S-Africa birding east of Cape Town, which gave over 20 new species for the year:

442. White-necked raven
443. Cape spurfowl
444. Familiar chat
445. Jackass penguin
446. Swift tern
447. Cape rock trush
448. Whimbrel
449. Yellow canary
450. Orange-breasted sunbird
451. Cape rockjumper
452. Cape siskin
453. Cape bunting
454. Cape batis
455. Sombre greenbul
456. Swee waxbill
457. Bar-throated apalis
458. Grey-backed cisticola
459. Bank cormorant
460. Crowned cormorant
461. Sandwich tern
462. Cape gannet

Mammals

57. Klipspringer
58. Cape grysbok
59. Cape rock hyrax
60. Small grey mongoose (Cape grey mongoose)
61. Chacma baboon
62. South African fur seal

Now on to Tanzania.

After several days in Amani in the E Usambara mountains my list has not grown very much

463. House crow
464. Spectacled weaver
465. Olive sunbird
466. Black-and-white manikin
467. Green-headed oriole
468. Square-tailed drongo
469. Blue-spotted emerald dove
470. Palm-nut vulture
471. White-eared barbet
472. Tawny-flanked prinia
473. Marico sunbird
474. Waller’s Starling
475. Tambourine dove

Mammals

63. Sykes's monkey
64. Angolan colobus

 

[lintworm]

And one of the nicest mammals of the year for me was sitting in a tree ricght next to my accomodation and did not mind torch light 1 hour long

65. Two spotted palm civet

 

[Chlidonias]

Hmm... I wonder who's in the lead with fish

I won't do a full monthly round-up until the end of November, but first places are currently:
*birds: lintworm - 475
*mammals: lintworm - 65
*herptiles: lintworm - 18
*fish: Hix - 149
*invertebrates: lintworm - 9

 

[Chlidonias]

And one of the nicest mammals of the year for me was sitting in a tree ricght next to my accomodation and did not mind torch light 1 hour long

65. Two spotted palm civet

that is one of the best mammals of the year I think.

 

[Hix]

Reptiles
11. Oceanic Gecko (Gehyra oceanica)

Fish
150. Klein's Butterflyfish
151. Yellow-margined Moray
152. Silverstreak Wrasse

Invertebrates:
3. Giant Centipede (Scolopendra morsitans)
4. Common Grapsus Crab (Grapsus tenuicrustatus)



Hix

 

[lintworm]

And one of the nicest mammals of the year for me was sitting in a tree ricght next to my accomodation and did not mind torch light 1 hour long

65. Two spotted palm civet

66. Zanj sun squirrel
67. Eastern giant pouched rat

Herptiles

19. Montane rock agama

I have been hearing Fischer's turaco and Usambara eagle owl daily, but no sightings yet....

 

[jbnbsn99]

I'm deleting a bird from my year (and life) list. Scripps's Murrelet. Going back over the data, I had made a misidentification.
However, my number will stay unchanged:

438 Common Loon - Gavia immer

 

[Hix]

I have been hearing Fischer's turaco and Usambara eagle owl daily, but no sightings yet....

Have you not gone on a night chameleon walk yet?