ZooChat Big Year 2014
- Thread starter jbnbsn99
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Hevden
Well-Known Member
One more from dungeness today
214. Ruddy duck
It's nice to see they've not wiped them all out.
My feeling is that Ganges River Dolphin is probably the winning mammal bid at the moment! But there's plenty of time yet...
But you shouldn't be feeling too bad with your own list of aquatic mammals!
Birds:
1. Greater White-fronted Goose
2. Brant
3. Snow Goose
4. Cackling Goose
5. Canada Goose
6. Trumpeter Swan
7. Tundra Swan
8. American Wigeon
9. Mallard
10. Northern Shoveler
11. Northern Pintail
12. Green-winged Teal
13. Ring-necked Duck
14. Greater Scaup
15. Spectacled Eider
16. King Eider
17. Common Eider
18. Harlequin Duck
19. Surf Scoter
20. White-winged Scoter
21. Long-tailed Duck
22. Bufflehead
23. Common Goldeneye
24. Common Merganser
25. Willow Ptarmigan
26. Rock Ptarmigan
27. Pacific Loon
28. Common Loon
29. Red-necked Grebe
30. Double-crested Cormorant
31. Red-faced Cormorant
32. Pelagic Cormorant
33. Cattle Egret
34. Black-crowned Night Heron
35. Osprey
36. Northern Harrier
37. Bald Eagle
38. Red-tailed Hawk
39. Rough-legged Hawk
40. Peregrine Falcon
41. Sandhills Crane
42. American Golden Plover
43. Pacific Golden Plover
44. Black Oystercatcher
45. Solitary Sandpiper
46. Lesser Yellowlegs
47. Greater Yellowlegs
48. Sanderling
49. Red-necked Phalarope
50. Black-legged Kittiwake
51. Sabines Gull
52. Bonapartes Gull
53. Mew Gull
54. Herring Gull
55. Glaucous-winged Gull
56. Glaucous Gull
57. Arctic Tern
58. White Tern
59. Parasitic Jaeger
60. Long tailed Jaeger
61. Common Murre
62. Thick billed Murre
63. Pigeon Guillemot
64. Marbled Murrelet
65. Kittlitzs Murrelet
66. Ancient Murrelet
67. Parakeet Auklet
68. Rhinoceros Auklet
69. Tufted Puffin
70. Horned Puffin
71. Rock Pigeon
72.Spotted Dove
73. Snowy Owl
74. Short-eared Owl
75. Belted Kingfisher
More to come....
1. Greater White-fronted Goose
2. Brant
3. Snow Goose
4. Cackling Goose
5. Canada Goose
6. Trumpeter Swan
7. Tundra Swan
8. American Wigeon
9. Mallard
10. Northern Shoveler
11. Northern Pintail
12. Green-winged Teal
13. Ring-necked Duck
14. Greater Scaup
15. Spectacled Eider
16. King Eider
17. Common Eider
18. Harlequin Duck
19. Surf Scoter
20. White-winged Scoter
21. Long-tailed Duck
22. Bufflehead
23. Common Goldeneye
24. Common Merganser
25. Willow Ptarmigan
26. Rock Ptarmigan
27. Pacific Loon
28. Common Loon
29. Red-necked Grebe
30. Double-crested Cormorant
31. Red-faced Cormorant
32. Pelagic Cormorant
33. Cattle Egret
34. Black-crowned Night Heron
35. Osprey
36. Northern Harrier
37. Bald Eagle
38. Red-tailed Hawk
39. Rough-legged Hawk
40. Peregrine Falcon
41. Sandhills Crane
42. American Golden Plover
43. Pacific Golden Plover
44. Black Oystercatcher
45. Solitary Sandpiper
46. Lesser Yellowlegs
47. Greater Yellowlegs
48. Sanderling
49. Red-necked Phalarope
50. Black-legged Kittiwake
51. Sabines Gull
52. Bonapartes Gull
53. Mew Gull
54. Herring Gull
55. Glaucous-winged Gull
56. Glaucous Gull
57. Arctic Tern
58. White Tern
59. Parasitic Jaeger
60. Long tailed Jaeger
61. Common Murre
62. Thick billed Murre
63. Pigeon Guillemot
64. Marbled Murrelet
65. Kittlitzs Murrelet
66. Ancient Murrelet
67. Parakeet Auklet
68. Rhinoceros Auklet
69. Tufted Puffin
70. Horned Puffin
71. Rock Pigeon
72.Spotted Dove
73. Snowy Owl
74. Short-eared Owl
75. Belted Kingfisher
More to come....
Another evening of chiroptological wanderings with the bat group tonight. Six species of bat and a brief Tawny Owl - but one of the bats has to be recorded as 'Whiskered/Brandt's' as Myotis mystacinus and Myotis brandti are not distinguishable in flight - meaning it can't go on the list (it's very probably a Whiskered, which are rather more common in Derbyshire, but can't be sure enough for me to list it). Two new ones that are safe for the list though:
36. Common Noctule - Nyctalus noctula
37. Natterer's Bat - Myotis nattereri
36. Common Noctule - Nyctalus noctula
37. Natterer's Bat - Myotis nattereri
76. Downy Woodpecker
77. Gray Jay
78. Stellers Jay
79. Black-billed Magpie
80. Northwestern Crow
81. Common Raven
82. Tree Swallow
83. Violet-green Swallow
84. Black-capped Chickadee
85. Red-breasted Nuthatch
86. Swainsons Thrush
87. American Robin
88. European Starling
89. Bohemian Waxwing
90. Yellow Warbler
91. Yellow-rumpled Warbler
92. Dark-eyed Junco
93. Savannah Sparrow
94. Lapland Longspur
95. Snow Bunting
96. Common Redpoll
97. Hoary Redpoll
98. White-rumped Shama
99. Red Junglefowl
100. Red-billed Leiothrix
101. Rose-ringed Parakeet
102. Japanese White-eye
103. Zebra Dove
104. Red-vented Bulbul
105. Red-whiskered Bulbul
106. Common Myna
107. Northern Cardinal
108. Red-crested Cardinal
109. House Sparrow
110. House Finch
111. Common Waxbill
112. Java Sparrow
Mammals:
1. Moose
2. Caribou
3. Dall Sheep
4. Mountain Goat
5. Musk Ox
6. Northern Red-backed Vole
7. Collard Lemming
8. American Red Squirrel
9. Arctic Ground Squirrel
10. Red Fox
11. Arctic Fox
12. Brown Bear
13. Small Asian Mongoose
14. Polynesian Rat
15. Ringed Seal
16. Sea Otter
17. Harbor Seal
18. Dalls Porpoise
19. Humpback Whale
20. Fin Whale
21. Steller Sea Lion
22. North American Porcupine
23. Canada Lynx
A little additional research has turned up a misidentification on my part. Mammal #33 was actually a Townsend's Chipmunk rather than a Siskiyou Chipmunk. Still a life mammal.
Another evening of chiroptological wanderings with the bat group tonight. Six species of bat and a brief Tawny Owl - but one of the bats has to be recorded as 'Whiskered/Brandt's' as Myotis mystacinus and Myotis brandti are not distinguishable in flight - meaning it can't go on the list (it's very probably a Whiskered, which are rather more common in Derbyshire, but can't be sure enough for me to list it). Two new ones that are safe for the list though:
36. Common Noctule - Nyctalus noctula
37. Natterer's Bat - Myotis nattereri
What type of bat detector are you using? Because Natterers Bast is also very very difficult to identify using the detector and without a really good bat detector and a recorder it is impossible and you really need to analyze with BatSound.
Well, I'm using a basic entry-level heterodyne detector - but I didn't identify the Natterer's myself!
It was identified by the chair of the bat group, who has a top-of-the-range detector with recorder and 40+ years' experience of Derbyshire bats so I'm happy to trust him (there are only four Myotis in Derbyshire so it's 'only' a case of ruling out Daubenton's and 'Whiskered/Brandt's').
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Which is impossible to do for most people
But I believe you now it was a real natterers bat. It's just that you hear so many misidentifications with bat detectors that I am always interested to hear how somebody identificated a Myotis bat
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Which is impossible to do for most people
It would certainly be impossible for me!
On my own I would have got as far as 'it sounds like a Myotis and it's isn't showing classic Daubenton's behaviour' (which means nothing, of course!). And in truth, most of the Myotis we saw and heard last night went unidentified even to the experts!
But I believe you now it was a real natterers bat. It's just that you hear so many misidentifications with bat detectors that I am always interested to hear how somebody identificated a Myotis bat
No worries.
I'm an utter beginner with bat ID so all the species I've listed have only been included after corroboration from either a bat professional or someone with amateur experience measured in decades who were looking at and listening to the same bat at that same time! With a clear signal I can just about tell Pipistrellus, Myotis and Nyctalus apart at this stage, and can find the peak frequency if there's time, but if it needs anything more than that to ID the species I've very little chance of a solid ID on my own. I'm learning, but it's a very steep curve!
Yesterday went on the Wells-Walsingham miniature railway and managed to spot one new bird for the year:
110. Grey partridge
Today went to Pensthorpe where I managed to get two new species for the year list:
Birds:
111. Garden warbler
Mammals:
23: Short-tailed field vole
Hevden
Well-Known Member
two more today
215. Water rail
216. Yellow-legged gull
last chance for dungeness tomorrow morning before we move on.
nanoboy
Well-Known Member
I saw some Swift Parrots near my house last week which was surreal. I once drove 150km to see these relatively rare parrots, but I dipped. So when I read that a small flock was spotted 10mins my house last week, I simply had to try my luck. The birds were reported in the flowering gums trees in the car park of the local university! There was already a handful of birders, cameras pointed at the tree tops, when I got there, so ticking them wasn't too difficult. Cars kept slowing as they passed on the main road, probably wondering what those weirdos were looking at in the trees. One bogan driver in a stereotypical 4x4 with a huge bull-bar, spotlights, and snorkel exhaust, even asked me "is it a koala, mate?". "Nah, just some parrots" I said. He scoffed and drove off.
Swift Parrots and the even rarer Orange-Bellied Parrots, are the world's only long distance migratory parrots. Both breed on the island of Tasmania and fly 500km across the ocean (Bass Strait) to winter on the mainland. There are less than 2,000 pairs of Swift Parrots left in the wild, so to see a flock of about 20 was a memorable experience. Given that their food was so plentiful, I couldn't help but wonder why their numbers are decreasing in the wild. From what I read, it's because deforestation in Tasmania is destroying the trees that they need to breed.
"Nah, just some parrots" I said. He scoffed and drove off. Swift Parrots and the even rarer Orange-Bellied Parrots, are the world's only long distance migratory parrots. Both breed on the island of Tasmania and fly 500km across the ocean (Bass Strait) to winter on the mainland. There are less than 2,000 pairs of Swift Parrots left in the wild, so to see a flock of about 20 was a memorable experience. Given that their food was so plentiful, I couldn't help but wonder why their numbers are decreasing in the wild. From what I read, it's because deforestation in Tasmania is destroying the trees that they need to breed.
Hevden
Well-Known Member
None from dungeness but a couple from pulborough brooks RSPB on saturday
217. Black-winged Stilt
218. Pectoral Sandpiper
and one from the isle of white
219. European bee-eater
yay! Did you get good views of them, and how many did you see?
Had perhaps the most surreal sighting of the year today- was in my room with the window open and heard a vaguely familiar bird call outside. Looked out and there, flying at quite a height accompanied by three herring gulls:
112. Northern gannet
Considering this was in Essex (nowhere near their breeding range) and about 3km inland, it was rather startling. Having examined soundbites of gannet calls, looked at videos of gannets in flight and checked if they ever go inland (they do, occasionally) I feel that it was the only thing I could have seen.
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