Your Birding Life List

A few weeks ago, I tried doing several "big days" where I tried to tally as many birds in a single day as possible. I did this 3 days in a row and got a few more each day. I even racked up 2 or 3 lifers in the process.
 
Well, its good to see such a nice turn-out on this thread ! This weekend I'm going to chase some Dickcissels, Grasshopper Sparrows and Upland Sandpiper, so those will be new for the list !
 
Well, its good to see such a nice turn-out on this thread ! This weekend I'm going to chase some Dickcissels, Grasshopper Sparrows and Upland Sandpiper, so those will be new for the list !

Get some photos, those grasshopper sparrows are so photogenic. Keep your eyes peeled for Henslow's sparrows too, usually hang around grasshoppers.
 
I found year listing to be a great boon. I'd always thought of it as a bit pointless, running around wasting money trying to see birds you've already seen hundreds of times before, but then when I started my first year list just to see what it'd be like, I discovered how great it was to do. The main satisfactions I got were firstly it actually makes you get out there looking for birds instead of watching tv, and secondly it really makes you appreciate all those common birds again, even sparrows and starlings, because they are "new" all over again. And of course its lots of fun trying to get a new highest year total, and comparing years to see what you did or didn't see, or when you saw particular species in each year.

I completly agree my British life list is 394 and best british year list was 295. When you start getting a fairly high life list new birds get harder and harder to see unless you've got an unlimited budget and lots of free time. Year listing gets you out looking for birds and keeps it interesting when you might only get a couple of lifers a year.
Not sure about my world list probably about 900ish.
Does anyone keep a captive life list? I keep meaning to do one but never seem to find time.
 
Does anyone keep a captive life list?

Again, I compiled this last year, mainly from photographs taken in zoos over the years, or notes I've made when visiting zoos and fauna parks.

Mammals 429
Birds 625
Reptiles/Amphibians/Fish 373

I know I've actually seen lots more in all three groups, but I can only list what I know I saw (from pics and notes).

:p

Hix
 
Dragged this thread up because the Big Year challenge inspired me to total the number of birds, mammals, reptiles and amphibians I have seen. The list consists of species seen in five countries:

Birds- 229 species
Mammals- At least 40, with at least 3 possible and 2 as roadkill only
Reptiles- 16 species
Amphibians- 9 species

Also did some dividing up on the life list by country (species seen in more than one country is only counted in the first country it is seen in):

United Kingdom- 30 mammals, 154 birds, 6 reptiles, 5 amphibians
Belgium- 1 bird (common sandpiper, if you must know)
Germany- 1 mammal, 4 birds, 1 amphibian
Spain-7 birds, 3 reptiles
Costa Rica-9 mammals, 59 birds, 7 reptiles, 3 amphibians (narrowly missing a fourth in the form of a caecilian- still kicking myself over that)

I'm aware the numbers (especially with birds) don't add up, but the list is frankly too long to go through again :p
 
I am not a birder, but my bird life list is about 400 species long, of which 190 are seen in southern Africa and the rest in the Netherlands and about 10 other european countries.

I am at exactly 100 mammals, 49 seen in southern Africa, 46 seen in the Netherlands and 4 species only seen in other parts of Europe.

For other groups, I have seen over 60 fish species in the Netherlands, I now only miss a few of the freshwater species (but still many sea fish), I saw 21 of 22 herpetofauna species in the Netherlands, only missing greater crested newt, but will probably see it next month :). Further I now have 35 of 42 grasshopper species in the Netherlands and over 120 butterfly species in Europe.
 
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