ZooChat Big Year 2015

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LaughingDove said:
Today I visited Ostrava Zoo which in my opinion is fantastic and probably lands itself in my top 5 zoos. (Stay tuned for a review of the zoo in the trip thread that I am making http://www.zoochat.com/9/laughingdoves-trip-march-april-2015-poland-403988/).

Anyway, I also saw a few more birds.


In the zoo:

192) Green Woodpecker
193) Song Thrush


In a flooded quarry that I did some birding around after the zoo (which wasn't as big as I expected, only took 5 hours to do extremely thoroughly and see everything)

194) Garganey
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Drive to the Tatra Mountains:

195) Black redstart European subspecies

Around where I was staying (at the edge of the Low Tatras) and a nearby lake:

196) Black Woodpecker
197) Common Crossbill
198) Shore/horned Lark
199) Black-necked Grebe
200) Chiffchaff

201) Feral Pigeon - at first I didn't realise that this was countable for this game and then when I saw other start counting it, I didn't bother doing it/remember it until now

Drive from Tatra Mountains to Budapest

202) Great Egret
203) Yellowhammer
- also saw lots of white storks and buzzards

And this point brings me to a somewhat strange position of meeting my goals of 200+ birds and 30+ mammals after a quarter of the year... This is mainly due to having much more time when I visited Tanzania earlier this year than I was expecting to bird, and also because this is the first year when I have given a serious effort to birding with previous years only recording the birds I happened to come across and not previously going on trips with the only purpose being to see birds. (And I also bought a pair of binoculars at the beginning of the year which really do help...)
 
Maguari said:
Minor point, but unless there have been dramatic taxonomic changes, my herptiles are both amphibians. ;)
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ah, well in New Zealand, mumble mumble.

What was the first one you saw? I must have put the number in the wrong column and never realised until now.
 
LaughingDove said:
And this point brings me to a somewhat strange position of meeting my goals of 200+ birds and 30+ mammals after a quarter of the year... This is mainly due to having much more time when I visited Tanzania earlier this year than I was expecting to bird, and also because this is the first year when I have given a serious effort to birding with previous years only recording the birds I happened to come across and not previously going on trips with the only purpose being to see birds. (And I also bought a pair of binoculars at the beginning of the year which really do help...)
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keep going! This year will be a race between you, lintworm and jbnbsn99.
 
mstickmanp said:
Hmm, I think you are forgetting somebody!

I haven't left my home state/country and I'm still in third place. ;) :p
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okay, a race between LaughingDove, lintworm, mstickmanp and jbnbsn99 :p

The reason I chose the three I did was because jbnbsn99 has just missed out the previous years so I expect him to be in the top three this year, and both LaughingDove and lintworm are getting/going to get a lot of world-birding this year.

2013 top three were Chlidonias, Hix, Ituri (jbnbsn99 in fourth place)
2014 top three were Hix, Chlidonias, Maguari (jbnbsn99 in fourth place again, and Ituri in fifth)

Neither Hix nor myself will be getting out of our respective countries I don't think, so it is jbnbsn99's time. Thinking further, I think the race for the top three will actually be between LaughingDove, lintworm, mstickmanp, Ituri and jbnbsn99
 
Haha, just messing with you. Last year was my first year so my goal this year is at least 300.

I live in one of the birdiest places in North America, with about 400 species reported every year in a 100 mile radius. I just wish I had the time and money to go chasing all those birds. However, my plan is to hopefully visit Arizona sometime this Spring which should add some really good birds to my life list.
 
Chlidonias said:
ah, well in New Zealand, mumble mumble.

What was the first one you saw? I must have put the number in the wrong column and never realised until now.
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First was Common Frog. I think that even in New Zealand that's not a reptile.

Second was Common Toad.

I'm very much in the area of entry-level amphibians.
 
Maguari said:
First was Common Frog. I think that even in New Zealand that's not a reptile.

Second was Common Toad.

I'm very much in the area of entry-level amphibians.
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just checking what I had done, and it was actually the toad I had put down in the reptile column (I already had you on one amphibian for the frog). Not sure why. I do know toads are amphibians. Honest.*




*although in one of my zoo reviews I did overlook that giant salamanders were amphibians for some equally inexplicable reason!
 
Well, I'm heading to High Island, Texas tomorrow, the migratory bird capital of the U.S. during prime migration season. :)

Oh, and I'll be spending 3 days there.
 
jbnbsn99 said:
Well, I'm heading to High Island, Texas tomorrow, the migratory bird capital of the U.S. during prime migration season. :)

Oh, and I'll be spending 3 days there.
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did you get the chance to go into your head office and say "I can't come into work over Easter - there's fallout!"?
 
Herptiles-
Reptiles-
1. Painted Turtle
Amphibians-
1. Spotted Salamander
2. Red-back Salamander
3. Green Frog
4. Spring Peeper
5. Red-spotted Newt
6. Jefferson's Salamander
7. Wood Frog
 
Hevden said:
Just one more today on the way to Chester

154. Mediterranean Gull
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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
 
Hevden said:
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
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Just wondering, which one is your second favorite bird in the world?
 
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. :)
 

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Also, I saw a small bat in the centre of the city of Budapest, would this definitely be a Pipistrelle or are there too many possibilities to be sure?
 
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