ZooChat Big Year 2015

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Today I visited the Hungarian countryside and lake Balaton with the main aim of birding and saw some more birds including quite a few lifers:

204) House Martin
205) Goldfinch
206) Pygmy cormorant - was very pleased to see this species!
207) Common redstart
208) Whinchat - technically a lifer, I think I've seen this species before but don't have it recorded
209) Peregrine falcon


I have attached a photo of a bird on lake Balaton that I think is a Slavonian Grebe (part-way through moult from winter to summer plumage).It was sitting with a group of 6 garganeys very far away so this photo is a very heavy crop from a photo that I took with 30x zoom (the max for my lens). I'm not completely confident with the ID of a Slavonian grebe so would like another opinion to be sure. :)

Its certainly not a grebe but I cant see the photo properly on my phone looks more like goldeneye from what I can see
 
Its certainly not a grebe but I cant see the photo properly on my phone looks more like goldeneye from what I can see
I can't get goldeneye from that photo at all!

I did have a look at it but it is too poor to ID for me. I can see how it could be a Slavonian grebe, with the head turned back so the bill is tucked into the back and the head stripe showing.

However my best guess would be a male wigeon, which would give you the dark face, paler head-stripe and pinky wash on the breast. But the photo is very poor.
 
I can't get goldeneye from that photo at all!

I did have a look at it but it is too poor to ID for me. I can see how it could be a Slavonian grebe, with the head turned back so the bill is tucked into the back and the head stripe showing.

However my best guess would be a male wigeon, which would give you the dark face, paler head-stripe and pinky wash on the breast. But the photo is very poor.

I see what you mean with the wigeon but I agree about the photo being too poor, thanks for trying though :). It was really too far away too see properly and even through binoculars (10x42) I couldn't see it properly. Probably shouldn't have bothered asking but worth a try :p
 
Birds (26)-
Dark-eyed junco
White-throated sparrow
Northern cardinal
Tufted titmouse
Black-capped chickadee
White-breasted nuthatch
Downy woodpecker
Coopers hawk
Canada goose
House finch
Ring-billed gull
Ringnecked duck
Redwinged blackbird
Red-bellied woodpecker
Peregrine falcon
American coot
Turkey vulture
American crow
American robin
Mourning dove
Red-tailed hawk (guaraguao)
Song sparrow
Mallard
Wood duck
Bald eagle
Barred owl
Mammals (5)-
Eastern gray squirrel
Eastern chipmunk
Red squirrel
Whitetail deer
Cottontail rabbit
 
I see what you mean with the wigeon but I agree about the photo being too poor, thanks for trying though :). It was really too far away too see properly and even through binoculars (10x42) I couldn't see it properly. Probably shouldn't have bothered asking but worth a try :p

Not grebe, goldeneye, or wigeon...male garganey.
 
165 Long-billed Curlew
166 Wilson's Snipe
167 Tree Swallow
168 Swainson's Hawk

169 Cinnamon Teal
170 Black-necked Stilt
171 American Avocet
172 Sagebrush Sparrow
 
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A few more from the drive down to Kent yesterday and some from Dungeness today including my second favourite bird in the world.

155. Ring-necked parakeet
156. White wagtail
157. Willow warbler
158. Swallow
159. Tree sparrow
160. Firecrest
161. Cattle egret

162. Egyptian goose
163. Sedge warbler
 
I've now realised that I missed the best bird of the day from yesterday's list!

210) White-tailed Eagle

Drive from Budapest to Vienna (including a stop in a National Park on the banks of the Danube where I had a couple of hours to bird):

211) Red-footed Falcon
212) Tree Sparrow
213) Blackcap
214) Black Kite - there was a pair soaring around above where I think their nest was and calling, very impressive and exciting :D
215) Mistle Thrush
216) Common Nightingale
217) Willow Warbler

36) Rabbit
37) Common Pipistrelle bat

3) Trout
 
One added from my parents' garden this afternoon:

3. Smooth Newt - Lissotriton vulgaris

:)
 
A weekend away for work to the NSW city of Griffith.
135. Apostlebird
136. Blue-faced Honeyeater
137. White-plumed Honeyeater
138. Little Crow
139. White-breasted Woodswallow
140. Austraian Ringneck (mallee ringneck)
141.White-winged Chough
142. Brown Falcon
 
Mammal update

19. Swamp Rabbit
20. Striped Skunk
21. Eastern Gray Squirrel
 
Spring migration has started

246 Black Rail - Laterallus jamaicensis
247 American Golden-Plover - Pluvialis dominica
248 Wilson's Plover - Charadrius wilsonia
249 Semipalmated Plover - Charadrius semipalmatus
250 Least Tern - Sternula antillarum
251 Chimney Swift - Chaetura pelagica
252 Fulvous Whistling-Duck - Dendrocygna bicolor
253 Glossy Ibis - Plegadis falcinellus
254 Black-necked Stilt - Himantopus mexicanus
255 Pectoral Sandpiper - Calidris melanotos
256 Long-billed Dowitcher - Limnodromus scolopaceus
257 Eastern Kingbird - Tyrannus tyrannus
258 Common Tern - Sterna hirundo
259 Sandwich Tern - Thalasseus sandvicensis
260 Snowy Plover - Charadrius nivosus
261 Semipalmated Sandpiper - Calidris pusilla
263 Cattle Egret - Bubulcus ibis
264 Great Crested Flycatcher - Myiarchus crinitus
265 White-eyed Vireo - Vireo griseus
266 Louisiana Waterthrush - Parkesia motacilla
267 Hooded Warbler - Setophaga citrina
268 Northern Parula - Setophaga americana
269 Yellow-throated Warbler - Setophaga dominica
270 Indigo Bunting - Passerina cyanea
271 Ruby-throated Hummingbird - Archilochus colubris
272 Red-eyed Vireo - Vireo olivaceus
273 Prothonotary Warbler - Protonotaria citrea
274 Little Gull - Hydrocoloeus minutus
275 Black Tern - Chlidonias niger
276 Ovenbird - Seiurus aurocapilla
277 Worm-eating Warbler - Helmitheros vermivorum

278 Swainson's Warbler - Limnothlypis swainsonii
279 Palm Warbler - Setophaga palmarum
 
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