ZooChat Big Year 2016

[Hix]

@ Hix,
The Rose-ringed parakeets I saw for the first time in Kumasi, which is outside their natural range according to my guide book, so those could be escapees. However, later I also saw them in Mole National Park in northern Ghana, which is part of their residential range and I am fairly certain these were truly wild animals.

I've just done a bit of research (which I probably should have done in the first place). I know the species is native to Asia, and that feral populations exist quite happily in different cities around the world, hence my original question. But I was unaware (until now) that they are also native to West Africa, including Ghana.



Hix

 

[Hix]

Birds
104. Bar-tailed Godwit
105. Little Curlew

Fish
297. Harlequin Rockcod



Hix

Fish
298. Bennett's Butterflyfish



Hix

 

[jbnbsn99]

Two more. Also, I ended up deleting one bird because of a misidentification.

403 Surf Scoter - Melanitta perspicillata
404 Common Goldeneye - Bucephala clangula

 

[lintworm]

493. Grey olive greenbul
494. Olive ibis

I spent one night at the coast and I finally saw one of my most wanted birds: the crab plover. I have managed to miss them both in Madagascar and in Dar es Salaam, but last weekend I saw about 10

495. Brown-hooded parrot
496. Lizard buzzard
497. Common ringed plover
498. Greater sand plover
499. Grey plover
500. Terek sandpiper
501. Curlew sandpiper
502. Bar-tailed godwit
503. Whimbrel
504. Crab-plover
505. Sooty gull
506. Gull-billed tern
507. Lesser-crested tern
508. African green pigeon
509. Blue-cheeked bee-eater
510. Brown-breasted barbet
511. Zanzibar sombre greenbul
512. Spotted flycatcher
513. Kenrick’s starling
514. African golden weaver
515. Peter’s twinspot


Mammals:

88. Eastern giant pouched rat
89. Banded mongoose

 

[Hix]

Fish
298. Bennett's Butterflyfish

Fish
299. Tailspot Dartfish



Hix

 

[lintworm]

I spent one night at the coast and I finally saw one of my most wanted birds: the crab plover. I have managed to miss them both in Madagascar and in Dar es Salaam, but last weekend I saw about 10

495. Brown-hooded parrot
496. Lizard buzzard
497. Common ringed plover
498. Greater sand plover
499. Grey plover
500. Terek sandpiper
501. Curlew sandpiper
502. Bar-tailed godwit
503. Whimbrel
504. Crab-plover
505. Sooty gull
506. Gull-billed tern
507. Lesser-crested tern
508. African green pigeon
509. Blue-cheeked bee-eater
510. Brown-breasted barbet
511. Zanzibar sombre greenbul
512. Spotted flycatcher
513. Kenrick’s starling
514. African golden weaver
515. Peter’s twinspot


Mammals:

88. Eastern giant pouched rat
89. Banded mongoose

I picked up a very unexpected lifer in a fish pond next to one of my research plots:

516. Dwarf bittern

Only 1 bird to go to reach the same number of bird species as last year, which will be the easy part. The harder part will be to add another 85 species to reach 600

 

[lintworm]

I picked up a very unexpected lifer in a fish pond next to one of my research plots:

516. Dwarf bittern

Only 1 bird to go to reach the same number of bird species as last year, which will be the easy part. The harder part will be to add another 85 species to reach 600

517. Bohms spinetail

Mammals

90. Red-bellied bush squirrel

I now have the same number of birds as last year, so now the pigeon hunt can really start

 

[boof]

I just got back from a very quick trip to Perth. My mate had to drive a coach from Perth back to Wollongong. Didn't have time to stop apart from for fuel.Only spent the morning there on the 24/11/2016 but got a few lifers.
325. CARNABY'S BLACK COCKATOO
326. WESTERN WATTLEBIRD
327. WESTERN CORELLA
328. PURPLE CROWNED LORIKEET
329. LAUGHING DOVE.

 

[boof]

I have now bettered my previous best year by 4.

 

[lintworm]

517. Bohms spinetail

Mammals

90. Red-bellied bush squirrel

I now have the same number of birds as last year, so now the pigeon hunt can really start

518. Bateleur
519. Red-backed shrike

 

[Chlidonias]

it's been a while since I've done a round-up of everyone's totals, so with one month left in the year here they are. My totals are higher than on this round-up (currently 333 birds and 62 mammals) because I haven't posted any Sri Lankan lists yet.


BIRDS:

LaughingDove – 599
lintworm – 519 [I think should be 521? See posts 832 and 838 on page 42]
jbnbsn99 – 404
robmv – 367
Ituri – 350
Maguari – 344
boof – 329
Chlidonias – 256
Hevden – 221
TeaLovingDave – 209
KevinVar – 182
DesertRhino150 – 154
ThylacineAlive – 147
Vision – 131
Hix – 105
Macaw16 – 101
Fireplume – 76
Zoo Tycooner FR – 70
Mr. Zootycoon – 60
BeardsleyZooFan – 40
canaryboy2 – 28
zooboy28 – 25
Pleistohorse – 9


MAMMALS:

lintworm – 90
LaughingDove – 68
Maguari – 55
Chlidonias – 38
TeaLovingDave – 35
Ituri – 33
KevinVar – 29
jbnbsn99 – 23
ThylacineAlive – 23
Vision – 23
Fireplume – 22
DesertRhino150 – 22
Zoo Tycooner FR – 19
Macaw16 – 9
Mr. Zootycoon – 7
Pleistohorse – 7
BeardsleyZooFan – 7
Hix – 4
zooboy28 – 1


HERPTILES:

LaughingDove – 30 Herptiles total (22 Reptiles, 8 Amphibians)
Ituri – 29 Herptiles total (21 Reptiles, 8 Amphibians)
lintworm – 19 Herptiles total (14 Reptiles, 5 Amphibians)
ThylacineAlive – 17 Herptiles total (6 Reptiles, 11 Amphibians)
TeaLovingDave – 16 Herptiles total (6 Reptiles, 10 Amphibians)
Vision – 13 Herptiles total (10 Reptiles, 3 Amphibians)
Maguari – 13 Herptiles total (7 Reptiles, 6 Amphibians)
Fireplume – 7 Herptiles total (4 Reptiles, 3 Amphibians)
DesertRhino150 – 6 Herptiles total (3 Reptiles, 3 Amphibians)
KevinVar – 6 Herptiles total (1 Reptiles, 5 Amphibians)
Macaw16 – 5 Herptiles total (1 Reptiles, 4 Amphibians)
Hix – 3 Herptiles total (3 Reptiles, 0 Amphibians)
Mr. Zootycoon – 2 Herptiles total (2 Reptiles, 0 Amphibians)


FISH:

Hix – 299
DesertRhino150 – 11
Maguari – 9
Fireplume – 1
TeaLovingDave – 1


INVERTEBRATES:

Maguari – 96 various
Hix – 47 various
lintworm – 45 various
DesertRhino150 – 20 Butterflies, 15 Damsel/Dragonflies, 6 Bumblebees, 1 Hornet
robmv – 10 Butterflies, 6 Damsel/Dragonflies
ThylacineAlive – 3 insects

 

[lintworm]

lintworm – 519 [I think should be 521? See posts 832 and 838 on page 42]

You are indeed correct

 

[ThylacineAlive]

I have one more identified from the UK and one found outside my house this morning:

Birds
146) Little Stint Calidris minuta
147) Savannah Sparrow Passerculus sandwichensis

~Thylo

A very nice mammal addition seen crossing the road in broad daylight!

Mammals
24) Bobcat Lynx rufus

~Thylo

 

[Maguari]

An afternoon stroll along Cromford Canal (always a pleasure) has finally nudged my fish list into double-figures:

10. Northern Pike - Esox lucius

 

[Pertinax]

But I was unaware (until now) that they are also native to West Africa, including Gha



Hix

But they are regarded as two separate species I believe, Indian(Asian) Ringneck, and African Ringneck.

They seem able to flourish in temperate regions too, where feral colonies have built up as you mention- the suburbs of London have a lot nowadays and increasingly you hear them as background noise in any bits of films/ interviews etc made in the Greater London area. There are other smaller colonies outside London also.

 

[LaughingDove]

But they are regarded as two separate species I believe, Indian(Asian) Ringneck, and African Ringneck.

Not seen/read/heard anything about this, do you have any further information?
Which checklist(s) have split it?

 

[DesertRhino150]

This morning I went on a walk at Heybridge gravel pits (one of my regular haunts) in search of a lifer bird that had turned up, which I saw reasonably easily. Slightly more exciting was another scarce vagrant (not quite a lifer) that I found by myself.

153. European serin Serinus serinus
154. Tundra bean goose Anser fabalis rossicus

And with that, I have equalled my bird total for last year!

Just realised I haven't updated my list. I have seen three other birds in November, the first being a local lifer bird I accidentally flushed out of a dry ditch and the other two being seen at Abberton Reservoir:

154. Eurasian woodcock Scolopax rusticola
155. Bewick's swan Cygnus bewickii
156. Greater scaup Aythya marila

 

[LaughingDove]

I braved the cold and the snow (it's barely November and snowing already!) to go out birding today and managed to add a few species to the year-list:

597) Lesser-spotted Woodpecker
598) Brambling
599) Merlin

So close to 600...

And also a mammal:

68) Wild Boar

Yay! 600 birds!

And year bird #600 also happens to be life bird #767, so it's even better!

600) Bearded Reedling

I had actually had not-really-countable fleeting glimpses of this species before, but I managed to get a really great view of one today.

And also worth mentioning from today's birding was a flock of Eurasian Teals which are not usual at this time of year.

 

[LaughingDove]

Yay! 600 birds!

And year bird #600 also happens to be life bird #767, so it's even better!

600) Bearded Reedling

I had actually had not-really-countable fleeting glimpses of this species before, but I managed to get a really great view of one today.

And also worth mentioning from today's birding was a flock of Eurasian Teals which are not usual at this time of year.

And here are some pictures from today if anyone is interested:
Flock of Eurasian Teal (not usual at this time of year) | ZooChat
Bearded Reedling | ZooChat
Bearded Reedling | ZooChat

 

[lintworm]

518. Bateleur
519. Red-backed shrike

522. Striped kingfisher
523. Moustached green tinkerbird
524. Ayres hawk eagle
525. Eastern chanting goshawk
526. Secretary bird
527. Kori bustard
528. Black-faced sandgrouse
529. Buff-crested bustard
530. Steppe eagle.
531. Black-necked weaver
532. Hildebrandt's starling
533. Fischer's starling
534. Golden-breasted starling
535. Vulturine guineafowl
536. Southern ground hornbill
537. Temminck's courser

Mammals
91. Steenbok (subspecies naumanni)
92. Kirk's dikdik
XX. Southern lesser kudu
93. Fringe-eared oryx
94. African bush elephant
95. Dwarf mongoose

I spent the weekend in Mkomazi National Park, which is the only park in Tanzania part of the Somali arid zone (Tsavo ecosystem), so there are quite some bird species that can only be seen here for Tanzania. On both days I was the only visitor and I did not see any cars during 10 hours in the park. I saw most bird species I really wanted to see (Golden-breasted starling, vulturine guineafowl), though I missed the white-headed mousebirds. In terms of mammals I was very happy with 23 Fringe-eared oryxes, many lesser kudu, Cokes's hartebeest and masai giraffe. Unfortunately we missed the gerenuk. All in all most mammals are still very shy in this park, so I will upload some pictures later, but the quality is not too high...

Though I doubt I will reach the 600 birds this year, I am ahead of schedule for 100 mammal species this year