ZooChat Big Year 2014

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jbnbsn99 said:
116 Common Goldeneye - Bucephala clangula
117 Horned Grebe - Podiceps auritus

Back in the lead! Woohoo!
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Maybe you spoke to soon JB :p
I think Chlidonias is going to take a bit of catching too

I can add a :rolleyes:
35 cormorant but as I don't go birding these are only species I see at work and out and about, without binoculars.

mammals
8 hedgehog
9 yellow neck wood mouse.
 
Hevden said:
  1. Mute Swan
  2. Greylag Goose
  3. Canada goose
  4. Gadwall
  5. Teal
  6. Mallard
  7. Pochard
  8. Tufted Duck
  9. Scaup
  10. Common Scoter
  11. Red-breasted merganser
  12. Goosander
  13. Pheasant
  14. Red-throated diver
  15. Fulmar
  16. Comorant
  17. Grey Heron
  18. Great-crested Grebe
  19. Buzzard
  20. Kestrel
  21. Peregrine
  22. Moorhen
  23. Coot
  24. Oystercatcher
  25. Lapwing
  26. Dunlin
  27. Redshank
  28. Turnstone
  29. Black-headed Gull
  30. Common Gull
  31. Lesser Black-backed Gull
  32. Herring Gull
  33. Guillemot
  34. Feral Pigeon
  35. Wood Pigeon
  36. Collared Dove
  37. Tawny Owl
  38. Magpie
  39. Jay
  40. Jackdaw
  41. Rook
  42. Carrion Crow
  43. Raven
  44. Goldcrest
  45. Blue Tit
  46. Great Tit
  47. Coal Tit
  48. Long-tailed Tit
  49. Nuthatch
  50. Treecreeper
  51. Wren
  52. Starling
  53. Blackbird
  54. Redwing
  55. Mistle Thrush
  56. Robin
  57. Dunnock
  58. House Sparrow
  59. Pied Wagtail
  60. Chaffinch
  61. Green finch
  62. Gold finch
  63. Linnet
  64. Two-barred crossbill
  65. Common crossbill
  66. Bullfinch
  67. Hawfinch
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68. Little egret
69. Shelduck
70. Shoveler
71. Wigeon
72. Hen harrier
73. Sparrowhawk
74. Merlin
75. Golden plover
76. Curlew
77. Stock Dove
78. Kingfisher
79. Buff-bellied pipit
80. Meadow pipit
81. Stonechat
82. Song thrush
83. Reed bunting
84. Lesser scaup
85. Brambling
86. Great spotted woodpecker
87. Mandarin

I'm hoping to make it to 100 next weekend weather permitting.
 
Did a little bit more birding today. It seems the geese are starting to move through as I saw a number of Snow and Greater White-fronted Geese.

79 Golden-crowned Sparrow
80 Ferruginous Hawk
81 Wild Turkey
82 Greater White-fronted Goose
83 Brewer's Blackbird
 
jbnbsn99 said:
I knew this day was coming. Hangs head in shame...
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Don't worry; his money will run out soon and he'll have to return to that little island with a comparatively limited nimber of species.

:p

Hix
 
Hix said:
Don't worry; his money will run out soon and he'll have to return to that little island with a comparatively limited nimber of species.

:p

Hix
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Yeah, but isn't someone else going to a place called Uganda?
 
Day trip to Wattamolla and the southern end of the Royal National Park.
117. Brown Thornbill
118. Fan-tailed Cockoo
119. Black-faced Monarch
120. Yellow-throated Scrubwren
121. Brown Gerygone
122. Noisy Friarbird
123. Sooty Oystercatcher
 
jbnbsn99 said:
Yeah, but isn't someone else going to a place called Uganda?
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Maybe. Maybe not!


~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

Seen today at Long Reef:

88. Pied Cormorant
89. Silver Gull
90. Crested Tern
91. Sooty Oystercatcher
92. Nankeen Kestrel
93. Grey-tailed Tattler

:p

Hix
 
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Birds:
94. Musk Duck
95. Red-browed Finch

:p

Hix
 
I'm on the road again. The first three birds (and the lizard) were at Western Plains Zoo, the remainder at Bourke.

Birds
96. Apostlebird
97. White-browed Babbler
98. Eastern Yellow Robin
99. Red-tailed Black Cockatoo
100. Red-winged Parrot
101. White-breasted Woodswallow
102. Blue-faced Honeyeater
103. Black Kite
104. Yellow-throated Miner

Reptiles
4. Eastern Bearded Dragon

:p

Hix
 
Figured I'd have a go this year - not kept an annual bird list before (only a life list) but this year's looking like being rather an interesting one so a good place to start!

Not the busiest birding January but got a score on the board (these are just alphabetical but will do them in sequence after this - some of these are listed to subspecies on my main list but leaving them off for the purposes of Big Year-ing):

1. Barnacle Goose -Branta leucopsis
2. Blue Tit - Cyanistes caeruleus
3. Carrion Crow - Corvus corone
4. Common Black-headed Gull - Chroiocephalus ridibundus
5. Common Buzzard - Buteo buteo
6. Common Magpie - Pica pica
7. Common Moorhen - Gallinula chloropus
8. Common Pheasant - Phasianus colchicus
9. Common Reed Bunting - Emberiza schoeniclus
10. European Starling - Sturnus vulgaris
11. Common Teal - Anas crecca
12. Common Wood Pigeon - Columba palumbus
13. Dunnock - Prunella modularis
14. Eurasian Bullfinch - Pyrrhula pyrrhula
15. European Blackbird - Turdus merula
16. European Chaffinch - Fringilla coelebs
17. European Collared Dove - Streptopelia decaocto
18. European Coot - Fulica atra
19. European Goldfinch - Carduelis carduelis
20. European Herring Gull - Larus argentatus
21. European Kestrel - Falco tinnunculus
22. European Robin - Erithacus rubecula
23. Feral Pigeon - Columba livia
24. Fieldfare - Turdus pilaris
25. Great Tit - Parus major
26. Greater Canada Goose - Branta canadensis
27. Grey Heron - Ardea cinerea
28. Grey Plover - Pluvialis squatarola
29. Greylag Goose - Anser anser
30. House Sparrow - Passer domesticus
31. Long-tailed Tit - Aegithalos caudatus
32. Mallard - Anas platyrhynchos
33. Mistle Thrush - Turdus viscivorus
34. Northern Jackdaw - Coloeus monedula
35. Northern Lapwing - Vanellus vanellus
36. Pied Wagtail - Motacilla alba
37. Red Grouse - Lagopus lagopus
38. Redwing - Turdus iliacus
39. Rook - Corvus frugilegus
40. Song Thrush - Turdus philomelos
41. Tufted Duck - Aythya fuligula



And a light dusting of mammals:

1. Brown Rat - Rattus norvegicus
2. Eastern Grey Squirrel - Sciurus carolinensis
3. European Rabbit - Oryctolagus cuniculus
4. European Red Fox - Vulpes vulpes


Got some birding planned for tomorrow so hopefully will be back soon with an update! Still quite a few very common species missing.
 
I made my first visit down to Fossil Rim in nearly 2 years today. I was able to pick up 3 year birds. One of which, Wild Turkey, I wasn't able to find at all last year.

118 Wild Turkey - Meleagris gallopavo
119 Bewick's Wren - Thryomanes bewickii
120 Vesper Sparrow - Pooecetes gramineus
 
Hix said:
I'm on the road again. The first three birds (and the lizard) were at Western Plains Zoo, the remainder at Bourke.

Birds
96. Apostlebird
97. White-browed Babbler
98. Eastern Yellow Robin
99. Red-tailed Black Cockatoo
100. Red-winged Parrot
101. White-breasted Woodswallow
102. Blue-faced Honeyeater
103. Black Kite
104. Yellow-throated Miner

Reptiles
4. Eastern Bearded Dragon

:p

Hix
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Good to see you out and about again. I love it out that way.
I go to a property at Coolibah to shoot ferals. Plenty of great birds out there. Keep your eyes open for crested bellbirds, black falcons and whitefaces. Have fun. By the way, I haven't seen red tailed black cockies out there for a few years. Is it dry out there?
 
mstickmanp said:
Got four new birds today:

64. Great Blue Heron
65. Cedar Waxwing
66. California Thrasher
67. Rufous-crowned Sparrow
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After a week of no birding I decided to visit a local restored wetland today to try to get at least 5 new waterfowl species. It didn't go as planned of course. Unfortunately I wasn't allowed inside because there was duck hunting going on, so I just birded the surrounding flooded fields which still got me some good birds. Thankfully today was the last day of duck season, so I'll try to go again this week and see if I can get some more birds inside.

68. Green-winged Teal
69. Cattle Egret
70. White-faced Ibis
71. Golden Eagle
72. Northern Harrier
73. Bald Eagle
74. Ferruginous Hawk
75. Killdeer
76. Greater Yellowlegs
77. Lesser Yellowlegs
78. Long-billed Curlew
79. American Kestrel
80. Say's Phoebe
81. Cassin's Kingbird
82. Barn Swallow
83. Cliff Swallow
84. Marsh Wren
85. Blue-gray Gnatcatcher
86. Mountain Bluebird
87. American Pipit
88. Red-winged Blackbird
89. Western Meadowlark
 
boof said:
Good to see you out and about again. I love it out that way.
I go to a property at Coolibah to shoot ferals. Plenty of great birds out there. Keep your eyes open for crested bellbirds, black falcons and whitefaces. Have fun. By the way, I haven't seen red tailed black cockies out there for a few years. Is it dry out there?
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Yup, as dry as a dead dingo's donger. I've just spent the day driving through Gundabooka and not a drop of water anywhere. All the creeks and dams are bone dry and rock hard. I'm currently at the Redbank Homestead, on the banks of the Darling and interestingly, there's plenty of water in the river.


Birds
105. Wedgetail Eagle
106. Blacktailed Native Hen
107. Australian Darter
108. Emu
109. Masked Woodswallow


Reptiles
5. Inland Bearded Dragon
6. Central Netted Dragon


Mammals
6. Feral Goat

The first four birds were seen at the Bourke Weir, as was the Beardy. The others were seen in Gundabooka.

:p

Hix
 
Maguari said:
Got some birding planned for tomorrow so hopefully will be back soon with an update! Still quite a few very common species missing.
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...and indeed here I am back again! Good day split between Carsington and Ogston reservoirs.

Carsington:

42. Mute Swan - Cygnus olor
43. Lesser Black-backed Gull - Larus fuscus
44. Great Crested Grebe - Podiceps cristata
45. Tree Sparrow - Passer montanus
46. Common Snipe - Gallinago gallinago
47. Common Redshank - Tringa totanus
48. Willow Tit - Poecile montanus
49. European Pochard - Aythya ferina
50. Great Northern Diver - Gavia immer
51. European Oystercatcher - Haematopus ostralegus
52. Eurasian Wigeon - Anas penelope
53. Great Cormorant - Phalacrocorax carbo
54. Greater Black-backed Gull - Larus marinus
55. Coal Tit - Periparus ater


Ogston:

56. Eurasian Nuthatch - Sitta europaea
57. Greater Spotted Woodpecker - Dendrocopos major
58. Little Grebe - Tachybaptus ruficollis
59. Common Linnet - Linaria cannabina
60. European Goldeneye - Bucephala clangula


One of the Coal Tits was an aberrant, leucistic individual that I will try to post a photo of once I've gone through them.

Loads of Bullfinches at Carsington - don't know if I've just been in the right place at the right time but both Reed Buntings and Bullfinches seem much easier to find this year.
 
Alright, this update comes with a little bit of a meteorology lesson. For the last couple of weeks, the area I live in has been suffering from a weather effect called an inversion.

[ame="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Inversion_%28meteorology%29"]Inversion (meteorology) - Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia[/ame]


This is when a layer of warm air sits above colder air, effectively trapping it at the ground. As a result all the air pollution sits at ground level causing the area to be surrounded in an awful smog. The sun is nowhere to be seen, just an eery gray light. People were driving to the mountain tops just to see the sun. A nearby mountain town was totally overrun with traffic last weekend. Well on Wednesday, we had a weather system move in and we got some rain and snow which broke up the inversion. I had not been out to do much birding during the inversion, but now that the sun is out I am ready to go!

So Friday, I took a good long walk along the river greenbelt where I saw plenty of bird life, but the only species which was new to me for the year was a Golden-crowned Kinglet.

Yesterday, I figured it was a good time to go try and catch the rosy-finches that roost in the upper river canyon. I had seen them back in December, but it was a new year, so time to go try and find them again. I was lucky enough to see a group of 6 rosy-finches, but I was only able to get good enough looks at 2 of them to determine the species, they were both Black Rosy-finch. We also get Gray-crowned Rosy-finches as well. Interestingly, most years the Gray-crowned are the more common species, but this year the Black are dominating.

Today I plan on getting out of the valley and heading south to try and up my waterfowl count.

84 Golden-crowned Kinglet
85 Black Rosy-finch
 
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