ZooChat Big Year 2016

Status
Not open for further replies.
Species that have been IDed:

219) Grey-backed Camaroptera
220) Green-backed Camaroptera
221) Grassland Pipit

222) Common Sandpiper

2) Agama lionotus

Wild in Nairobi Safari Walk:

223) Yellow-rumped Tinkerbird
224) Amethyst Sunbird
225) Black Sparrowhawk

#219 should actually be a Grey-capped Warbler (Eminia lepida)

And one newly IDed Bird:
242) Winding Cisticola
 
And another late update from Kenya:

243) Rock Martin

I will hopefully have some updates from Poland soon!

I've just been doing a bit of research (and by that I mean googling :p) and it looks like the Great Cormorants that I saw in Kenya (in Naivasha and Nakuru) are commonly considered to be a separate species to the European ones and are Phalacrocorax lucidus. They did look very different to the ones that I have seen in Europe so I am going to count them, unless anyone has any recent taxonomic information that says otherwise?

244) White-breasted Cormorant
 
I've just been doing a bit of research (and by that I mean googling :p) and it looks like the Great Cormorants that I saw in Kenya (in Naivasha and Nakuru) are commonly considered to be a separate species to the European ones and are Phalacrocorax lucidus. They did look very different to the ones that I have seen in Europe so I am going to count them, unless anyone has any recent taxonomic information that says otherwise?

244) White-breasted Cormorant

I'd certainly count them separately (and did, in 2014!) - the IOC lists them separately: Hamerkop, Shoebill, pelicans, boobies & cormorants IOC World Bird List
 
That raises several questions. If some people are using one checklist while others are using another, we're going to have discrepancies in our numbers.
 
That raises several questions. If some people are using one checklist while others are using another, we're going to have discrepancies in our numbers.

But we do anyway. I think it works itself out in the wash for the most part - it's usually only going to be the odd species here and there at most, and I've no real interest in policing others' lists, unless possibly if I think they've made a mistake by their own criteria.

I know for a fact that at least one thread participant only lists UK birds on here, and disregards anything overseas for the purposes of the thread, but that's their loss! :D

For the record, my taxonomy for my bird list is all as per the IOC - which at least ensures I'm consistent country to country!
 
A walk around the bird garden at Lotherton Hall (actually an excellent place for spotting wild passerines) gave me a bird which is common in some parts, but not mine:

58. Eurasian Siskin Spinus spinus

I forgot all about updating the thread at the time! A wander by the Tyne, and some cracking views of Gulls flying by from the fifth floor of the Baltic Gallery, got me these two for the year (20/2/2016):

59. Black-legged Kittiwake Rissa tridactyla
60. Common Gull Larus canus
 
Last edited:
BIRDS:
1 Common Raven - Corvus corax
2 Red-tailed Hawk - Buteo jamaicensis
3 Rock Pigeon - Columba livia
4 Black-billed Magpie - Pica hudsonia
5 American Coot - Fulica americana
6 House Finch - Haemorhous mexicanus
7 House Sparrow - Passer domesticus
8 Canada Goose - Branta canadensis
9 Ring-necked Pheasant - Phasianus colchicus
10 Sharp-tailed Grouse - Tympanuchus phasianellus
11 Northern Flicker - Colaptes auratus
12 Northern Shrike - Lanius excubitor
13 Horned Lark - Eremophila alpestris
14 Black-capped Chickadee - Poecile atricapillus
15 Juniper Titmouse - Baeolophus ridgwayi
16 Bewick's Wren - Thryomanes bewickii
17 European Starling - Sturnus vulgaris
18 Common Redpoll - Acanthis flammea
19 Trumpeter Swan - Cygnus buccinator
20 Mallard - Anas platyrhynchos
21 Common Goldeneye - Bucephala clangula
22 Mountain Chickadee - Poecile gambeli
23 Red-breasted Nuthatch - Sitta canadensis
24 American Crow - Corvus brachyrhynchos
25 Rough-legged Hawk - Buteo lagopus
26 Long-eared Owl - Asio otus
27 Dark-eyed Junco - Junco hyemalis
28 Common Loon - Gavia immer
29 Golden-crowned Kinglet - Regulus satrapa
30 Red Crossbill - Loxia curvirostra
31 American Kestrel - Falco sparverius
32 Hairy Woodpecker - Picoides villosus
33 Townsend's Solitaire - Myadestes townsendi
34 American Goldfinch - Spinus tristis
35 Song Sparrow - Melospiza melodia
36 Mute Swan - Cygnus olor
37 Wood Duck - Aix sponsa
38 American Wigeon - Anas americana
39 Ring-necked Duck - Aythya collaris
40 Bufflehead - Bucephala albeola
41 Hooded Merganser - Lophodytes cucullatus
42 Great Blue Heron - Ardea herodias
43 Mourning Dove - Zenaida macroura
44 Red-breasted Sapsucker - Sphyrapicus ruber
45 Brown Creeper - Certhia americana
46 Gadwall - Anas strepera
47 Northern Shoveler - Anas clypeata
48 Redhead - Aythya americana
49 American Robin - Turdus migratorius
50 Merlin - Falco columbarius
51 Eurasian Collared-Dove - Streptopelia decaocto
52 White-crowned Sparrow - Zonotrichia leucophrys
53 Red-winged Blackbird - Agelaius phoeniceus
54 Northern Harrier - Circus cyaneus
55 Brewer's Blackbird - Euphagus cyanocephalus
56 Ring-billed Gull - Larus delawarensis
57 American Pipit - Anthus rubescens
58 Western Meadowlark - Sturnella neglecta
59 Lesser Scaup - Aythya affinis
60 Common Merganser - Mergus merganser
61 Pied-billed Grebe - Podilymbus podiceps
62 Double-crested Cormorant - Phalacrocorax auritus
63 American White Pelican - Pelecanus erythrorhynchos
64 Bald Eagle - Haliaeetus leucocephalus
65 Belted Kingfisher - Megaceryle alcyon
66 White-breasted Nuthatch - Sitta carolinensis
67 Golden Eagle - Aquila chrysaetos
68 Downy Woodpecker - Picoides pubescens
69 Rock Wren - Salpinctes obsoletus
70 Canyon Wren - Catherpes mexicanus
71 Ruby-crowned Kinglet - Regulus calendula
72 Swamp Sparrow - Melospiza georgiana
73 Spotted Towhee - Pipilo maculatus
74 Prairie Falcon - Falco mexicanus
75 Ferruginous Hawk - Buteo regalis
76 Yellow-rumped Warbler - Setophaga coronata
77 Pine Siskin - Spinus pinus
78 Lesser Goldfinch - Spinus psaltria
79 Ross's Goose - Chen rossii
80 Cackling Goose - Branta hutchinsii
81 Sharp-shinned Hawk - Accipiter striatus
82 California Quail - Callipepla californica
83 Bohemian Waxwing - Bombycilla garrulus
84 Cedar Waxwing - Bombycilla cedrorum
85 Wilson's Snipe - Gallinago delicata
86 Hermit Thrush - Catharus guttatus
87 Purple Finch - Haemorhous purpureus
88 Western Screech-Owl - Megascops kennicottii
89 Great Horned Owl - Bubo virginianus
90 Northern Saw-whet Owl - Aegolius acadicus
91 Red-breasted Merganser - Mergus serrator
92 Pine Grosbeak - Pinicola enucleator
93 Northern Goshawk - Accipiter gentilis
94 Evening Grosbeak - Coccothraustes vespertinus
95 Barrow's Goldeneye - Bucephala islandica
96 Great Egret - Ardea alba
97 Green-winged Teal - Anas crecca
98 Virginia Rail - Rallus limicola
99 Harris's Sparrow - Zonotrichia querula
100 Cooper's Hawk - Accipiter cooperii
101 Steller's Jay - Cyanocitta stelleri
102 Dunlin - Calidris alpina
103 Snow Goose - Chen caerulescens
104 White-throated Sparrow - Zonotrichia albicollis
105 American Tree Sparrow - Spizelloides arborea
106 Ruffed Grouse - Bonasa umbellus
107 Gray Partridge - Perdix perdix
108 Snow Bunting - Plectrophenax nivalis
109 Gray-crowned Rosy-Finch - Leucosticte tephrocotis
110 Black Rosy-Finch - Leucosticte atrata
111 Wild Turkey - Meleagris gallopavo
112 Northern Pygmy-Owl - Glaucidium gnoma
113 American Dipper - Cinclus mexicanus
114 Greater White-fronted Goose - Anser albifrons
115 Northern Pintail - Anas acuta
116 California Gull - Larus californicus
117 Great-tailed Grackle - Quiscalus mexicanus
118 Chukar - Alectoris chukar
119 Tundra Swan - Cygnus columbianus

120 Herring Gull - Larus argentatus
121 Killdeer - Charadrius vociferus
122 Marsh Wren - Cistothorus palustris

MAMMALS:
1 Mountain Cottontail - Sylvilagus nuttallii
2 Eastern Fox Squirrel - Sciurus niger
3 Common Muskrat - Ondatra zibethicus
4 House Mouse - Mus musculus
5 Yellow-bellied Marmot - Marmota flaviventris
6 Piute Ground Squirrel - Spermophilus mollis
7 Coyote - Canis latrans
8 Moose - Alces americanus
9 White-tailed Deer - Odocoileus virginianus
10 North American Porcupine - Erethizon dorsatum

11 Mule Deer - Odocoileus hemionus
12 Wapiti - Cervus canadensis
 
45. Crested tit
46. Long-tailed tit
47. Coal tit
48. Fieldfare
49. Mistle trush
50. Egyptian goose
51. Treecreeper
52. Common pheasant

Mammals

2. Alpine chamois

53. Marsh tit
54. Red-crested pochard

Butterflies:
1. Common brimstone
 
A trip out to both Shut Heath Wood and a return visit to Heybridge Basin allowed me to add another five birds to my year list:

85. Red-legged partridge Alectoris rufa
86. Eurasian nuthatch Sitta europaea
87. Short-eared owl Asio flammeus
88. Red knot Calidris canutus (Nt)
89. European golden plover Pluvialis apricaria

Just realised I haven't updated my list on here for a few weeks. My ninetieth bird was seen along the motorway on the way back from a uni reunion in Cambridge:

90. Red kite Milvus milvus (Nt)

The next was on a very poor visit to Abberton Reservoir:

91. Egyptian goose Alopochen aegyptiacus

But had a very good visit to Old Hall Marshes RSPB reserve this morning, with six new species for the year list:

92. Northern pintail Anas acuta
93. Rock pipit Anthus petrosus
94. Common linnet Linaria cannabina
95. Barn owl Tyto alba
96. Ruff Philomachus pugnax
97. Western marsh harrier Circus aeruginosus

I have now seen 10 out of Britain's 22 bird species that are classified as being above 'Least Concern' on the IUCN Red List.

Another update was my fourth mammal:

4. Red fox Vulpes vulpes

And my first two species of bumblebee this year:

1. Buff-tailed bumblebee Bombus terrestris
2. Tree bumblebee Bombus hypnorum
 
32. Barnacle Goose (Branta leucopsis)
33. Long-tailed Tit (Aegithalos caudatus)
34. Eurasian Blue Tit (Cyanistes caeruleus)
35. Eurasian Siskin (Spinus spinus)
36. Common Gull (Larus canus)
37. Eurasian Jay (Garrulus glandarius)
School outing to a nearby national park.

38. Rook (Corvus frugilegus)
39. Eurasian Teal (Anas crecca)
40. Common Goosander (Mergus merganser)
41. Meadow Pipit (Anthus pratensis)
42. Northern Goshawk (Accipiter gentilis)
43. Common Kestrel (Falco tinnunculus)
44. Common Reed Bunting (Emberiza schoeniclus)
45. Eurasian Wigeon (Anas penelope)
46. Common Raven (Corvus corax)
47. Greater White-fronted Goose (Anser albifrons)
 
Last edited:
I've just been doing a bit of research (and by that I mean googling :p) and it looks like the Great Cormorants that I saw in Kenya (in Naivasha and Nakuru) are commonly considered to be a separate species to the European ones and are Phalacrocorax lucidus. They did look very different to the ones that I have seen in Europe so I am going to count them, unless anyone has any recent taxonomic information that says otherwise?

244) White-breasted Cormorant

Another one that I missed off from Kenya:
245) Lesser Striped Swallow

And finally something from Poland (from Friday):
246) Common Pheasant
 
38. Rook (Corvus frugilegus)
39. Eurasian Teal (Anas crecca)
40. Common Goosander (Mergus merganser)
41. Meadow Pipit (Anthus pratensis)
42. Northern Goshawk (Accipiter gentilis)
43. Common Kestrel (Falco tinnunculus)
44. Common Reed Bunting (Emberiza schoeniclus)
45. Eurasian Wigeon (Anas penelope)
46. Common Raven (Corvus corax)
47. Greater White-fronted Goose (Anser albifrons)

1. Brown Rat (Rattus norvegicus)
2. European Rabbit (Oryctolagus cuniculus)
3. European Hare (Lepus europaeus)

48. European Green Woodpecker (Picus viridis)
49. Dunnock (Prunella modularis)
50. Eurasian Wren (Troglodytes troglodytes)

4. House Mouse (Mus musculus)
 
Fish
206. Elegant Unicornfish
207. Peppered Moray
208. Blue Trevally
209. Reef-flat Cardinalfish
210. Ambon Toby

Invertebrates
19. Rock-boring Urchin
20. Flat Rock Crab (Percnon planissimum)

:p

Hix

Fish
211. Reticulated Humbug
212. Zigzag Wrasse
213. Bluestreaked Goby
214. Wolf Cardinalfish
215. Dusky Chromis
216. Speckled Wrasse

Invertebrates
21. Flame Fireclam (Ctenoides ales)
22. Pineapple Sea Cucumber


:p

Hix
 
48. European Green Woodpecker (Picus viridis)
49. Dunnock (Prunella modularis)
50. Eurasian Wren (Troglodytes troglodytes)

4. House Mouse (Mus musculus)

51. Great Spotted Woodpecker (Dendrocopos major)

5. European Roe Deer (Capreolus capreolus)
 
Status
Not open for further replies.
Back
Top