ZooChat Big Year 2014

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Birds
142. Brush Turkey
143. Powerful Owl
144. Chestnut Teal
145. Lewin's Honeyeater

:p

Hix
 
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Another trip to north wales at the weekend added a few more to my yearlist and exceptional views of at least five adult male surf scoter.

114. Great northern diver
115. Slavonian grebe
116. Shag
117. Surf scoter
118. Bittern
119. Snipe

I managed another six today although it's getting more difficult to get new birds now, and white winged gulls are doing an exceptional job of evading me. Luckily the migrants should start moving sometime next month.

120. Sanderling
121. Purple sandpiper
122. Knot
123. Brent goose
124. Little grebe
125. Fieldfare
 
I just booked my trip to Idaho and Utah for spring break to pick up some of the endemic Mountain Interior birds. 11 days and I'll be getting loads more new birds.
 
Just back from Berlin - as would probably be expected a very busy zoo weekend (2 days at Tierpark and 1.5 at Zoo) but I do have a small number of wild additions:

Birds:

74. Hooded Crow - Corvus cornix
75. European Green Woodpecker - Picus viridis


Mammals:

5. European Red Squirrel - Sciurus vulgaris
6. Brown Hare - Lepus europaeus



Still not sure I believe Hooded Crows are a valid species but for all my lists I take bird taxonomy from IOC World Bird List - and on there it is a species, so on my list it is a species!

EDIT: just remembered I have a photo to check an ID on, so may have another bird to add from Berlin yet. Or not. We will see...
 
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EDIT: just remembered I have a photo to check an ID on, so may have another bird to add from Berlin yet. Or not. We will see...

And once I see the photo on a proper screen, indeed I do have another species to add. And, to the best of my knowledge/memory, a lifer (first of the year).

76. Middle Spotted Woodpecker - Dendrocopos medius
 

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Birds
146. Whitebreasted Sea Eagle
147. Australian Shoveller
148. Hoary-headed Grebe
149. Pied (Blackwinged) Stilt
150. Pink-eared Duck
151. Swamp Harrier
152. Chestnut-breasted Mannikin
153. Royal Spoonbill

:p

Hix
 
Where you been hix? ( I'm guessing hexham for that list but could be anywhere.) I havent been out for over a week. I'm off to Darwin soon but. I'm hoping to come home up around 200.
 
just seen your list.pitt town. I've never been there. We might need to meet up in a few months and check mulgoa for swift parrots.
 
Floodwaters were going down in the fields around our house yesterday when I took a walk down there. Today, went to Abbott's Hall Farm reserve for a brief walk and managed to see these species today and yesterday:

Birds:
50. Green woodpecker
51. Red-legged partridge
52. Eurasian curlew
53. Western marsh harrier

Mammals:
3. Eastern grey squirrel

Been insanely busy since the last birdwatching session- only seen four species of bird and one mammal in the intervening period.

54. Fieldfare
55. Grey heron
56. Canada goose
57. Greylag goose

4. European fallow deer
 
So this is my first year birding and im having a blast!!! thks to a couple of other zoochatters!!!
Yesterday i got my 72nd bird. Wood Duck. Alot of top birders in my area (including the top birder of the state of pennsylvania and founder of Allegheny Trust Wingfield Pines) told me for a first time birder 72 birds within 2 months is not bad. BTW FYI Cool Fact. Theres a area ive been going to called Wingfield Pines. I am now a member of the 3 rivers bird club because im the first person ever to record a sighting of a red breasted merganser in those ponds.
 
Where you been hix? ( I'm guessing hexham for that list but could be anywhere.) I havent been out for over a week. I'm off to Darwin soon but. I'm hoping to come home up around 200.

Shouldn't be too hard, 90% of the birds up there should be different to what we get down here!

Pitt Town Lagoon now has a hide, which is better than standing in the sun. It's not much good for the non-waterbirds (like the Mannikins) but it's great for everything on the lagoon.

:p

Hix
 
Further to my list so far - posted here to ensure no duplicates - I have done a fair bit of birding in the past month, but have been delaying any updates due to the desire to check one or two photograph identifications. Having done so, and having got a decent haul at the weekend when I visited WWT Slimbridge with zoogiraffe, here is the list so far, followed by the updated additions.

TeaLovingDave said:
Current Bird Total: 72

1) Common Chaffinch (Fringilla coelebs gengleri)
2) Blue Tit (Cyanistes caeruleus obscurus)
3) Coal Tit (Periparus ater britannicus)
4) Great Tit (Parus major newtoni)
5) Great Spotted Woodpecker (Dendrocopos major anglicus)
6) European Goldfinch (Carduelis carduelis britannica)
7) European Greenfinch (Carduelis chloris harrisoni)
8) Eurasian Siskin (Carduelis spinus)
9) European Robin (Erithacus rubecula melophilus)
10) Common Blackbird (Turdus merula merula)
11) Dunnock (Prunella modularis occidentalis)
12) Common Starling (Sturnus vulgaris vulgaris)
13) Common Magpie (Pica pica pica)
14) Fieldfare (Turdus pilaris)
15) Eurasian Sparrowhawk (Accipiter nisus nisus)
16) Brambling (Fringilla montifringilla)
17) Ring-necked Pheasant (Phasianus colchicus)
18) Red-legged Partridge (Alectoris rufa)
19) Grey Partridge (Perdix perdix perdix)
20) Marsh Tit (Poecile palustris dresseri)
21) Eurasian Nuthatch (Sitta europaea caesia)
22) Feral Pigeon (Columba livia)
23) Common Woodpigeon (Columba palumbus palumbus)
24) Eurasian Jackdaw (Corvus monedula spermologus)
25) Carrion Crow (Corvus corone corone)
26) Mallard (Anas platyrhynchos)
27) Mute Swan (Cygnus olor)
28) Greylag Goose (Anser anser anser)
29) Canada Goose (Branta canadensis)
30) Eurasian Wigeon (Anas penelope)
31) Common Teal (Anas crecca crecca)
32) Common Pochard (Aythya farina)
33) Goosander (Mergus merganser merganser)
34) Dabchick (Tachybaptus ruficollis ruficollis)
35) Great Cormorant (Phalacrocorax carbo carbo)
36) Grey Heron (Ardea cinerea cinera)
37) Common Moorhen (Gallinula chloropus chloropus)
38) Common Coot (Fulica atra atra)
39) Black-headed Gull (Chroicocephalus ridibundus)
40) European Herring Gull (Larus argentatus argentatus)
41) Common Gull (Larus canus canus)
42) Lesser Black-backed Gull (Larus fuscus intermedius)
43) Great Black-backed Gull (Larus marinus)
44) Pied Wagtail (Motacilla alba yarrellii )
45) Eurasian Wren (Troglodytes troglodytes indigenus)
46) Goldcrest (Regulus regulus regulus)
47) Long-tailed Tit (Aegithalos caudatus rosaceus)
48) Eurasian Treecreeper (Certhia familiaris britannica)
49) Rook (Corvus frugilegus frugilegus)
50) House Sparrow (Passer domesticus domesticus)
51) Eurasian Tree Sparrow (Passer montanus montanus)
52) Tawny Owl (Strix aluco sylvatica)
53) Eurasian Black Grouse (Tetrao tetrix britannicus)
54) Common Kestrel (Falco tinnunculus tinnunculus)
55) Eurasian Buzzard (Buteo buteo buteo)
56) Eurasian Curlew (Numenius arquata arquata)
57) Mediterranean Gull (Larus melanocephalus)
58) Purple Sandpiper (Calidris maritime)
59) Bar-tailed godwit (Limosa lapponica lapponica)
60) Dunlin (Calidris alpine alpina)
61) Grey Phalarope (Phalaropus fulicarius)
62) Common Redshank (Tringa tetanus robusta)
63) Sanderling (Calidris alba)
64) Turnstone (Arenaria interpres interpres)
65) Eurasian Golden Plover (Pluvialis apricaria apricaria)
66) Grey Plover (Pluvialis squatarola)
67) Ringed Plover (Charadrius hiaticula)
68) Eurasian Oystercatcher (Haematopus ostralegus ostralegus)
69) Snow Bunting (Plectrophenax nivalis nivalis)
70) European Eider (Somateria mollissima mollissima)
71) Greater Scaup (Aythya marila marila)
72) Glaucous Gull (Larus hyperboreus leuceretes)

Current Bird Total:

73) Common Goldeneye (Bucephala clangula clangula)
74) Whooper Swan (Cygnus cygnus)
75) Gadwall (Anas strepera)
76) Great Skua (Catharacta skua)
77) Arctic Skua (Stercorarius parasiticus)
78) Iceland Gull (Larus glaucoides glaucoides)
79) Northern Fulmar (Fulmarus glacialis audoboni)
80) Grey Wagtail (Motacilla cinerea cinerea)
81) European Shag (Phalacrocorax aristotelis aristotelis)
82) Eurasian Bullfinch (Pyrrhula pyrrhula pileata)
83) Tundra Bean Goose (Anser fabalis rossicus)
84) Northern Pintail (Anas acuta acuta)
85) Greater White-fronted Goose (Anser albifrons albifrons)
86) Dark-bellied Brent Goose (Branta bernicla bernicla)

87) Bewick's Swan (Cygnus columbianus bewickii)
88) Pied Avocet (Recurvirostra avosetta)
89) Yellow-legged Gull (Larus cachinnans michahellis)
90) European Cormorant (Phalacrocorax carbo sinensis)
91) Eurasian Crane (Grus grus)

All lifeticks above are wild lifeticks, with the exception of the Iceland Gull which was a lifetick full stop. Another wild lifetick which I picked up at Slimbridge, and was a lifetick full stop - but which I do not think will count for the purposes of this thread - was a hybrid gull which the regular birders there had identified as Larus fuscus x argentatus.
 
Just remembered I should also have added:

Birds:

77. Eurasian Sparrowhawk - Accipiter nisus


Mammals:

7. House Mouse - Mus musculus

:p

I also saw an Apodemus mouse in Berlin but far too briefly to even attempt a more specific ID.
 
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Mammals
2) White-Tailed Deer Odocoileus virginianus

Twice last night small groups of deer passed my window.

~Thylo:cool:

Mammals
3) Bobcat Lynx rufus

A highlight for the year so far and my first wild Bobcat. Some animal near my house was making a noise and when I grabbed a flashlight to try and spot it I found a Bobcat coming down to investigate. Wasn't positive at first but about 45 minutes or so later the animal came back.

~Thylo:cool:
 
Mammals
3) Bobcat Lynx rufus

A highlight for the year so far and my first wild Bobcat. Some animal near my house was making a noise and when I grabbed a flashlight to try and spot it I found a Bobcat coming down to investigate. Wasn't positive at first but about 45 minutes or so later the animal came back.

~Thylo:cool:

Is there snow on the ground? Did you get any pics?
 
Is there snow on the ground? Did you get any pics?

Yes there's a lot of snow but it hasn't snowed in a few weeks so it's been melting quite a bit. Where I saw the Bobcat had been worn down by all the deer. As for pics, it was too dark and the cat was too far away and was up on a hill and kinda covered. I more or less just got the face just long enough for me to realize what it was.

~Thylo:cool:
 
Birds
154. Brown Goshawk

:p

Hix
 
I'm on 146. This time last year I was on 142. I'm 4 in front. My best year is 2012 when I got 259. I'm aiming for 270 -280 this year if all goes well.
 
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