ZooChat Big Year 2016

[nanoboy]

That doesn't look like any aboriginal word I've seen before, and I don't think I've ever seen it on a map either - how is it pronounced?



Hix

It's pronounced "One-you". A local birder who took us to the babblers told a dad joke and said it was Australia's smallest sheep station. I said "I don't get it", he said that phonetically they spell it "one-ewe".

 

[boof]

21/4/2016
209. bassian thrush
210. beautiful firetail
211. eastern bristlebird
212. fuscous honeyeater

 

[Hix]

21/4/2016
209. bassian thrush
210. beautiful firetail
211. eastern bristlebird
212. fuscous honeyeater

Sounds like Barren Grounds?



Hix

 

[boof]

Sounds like Barren Grounds?



Hix

yep. I was there at sunset trying to spot a ground parrot. Heard them calling but I didn't get a look at one. I've seen them before but it was a long, long time ago.

 

[nanoboy]

I would very much like to see Bassian Thrush, Beautiful Firetail, and Ground Parrot. Well done!

 

[Maguari]

London Wetland Centre today:

157. Red Kite
158. Cetti's Warbler
159. Whinchat
160. Yellow Wagtail

Apologies for lack of scientific names, posting via airport wifi.

 

[LaughingDove]

294) Marsh Tit

Revision for upcoming exams has taken all of my birding time, however I did see one new summer visitor from my bedroom window:

295) Blackcap

 

[DesertRhino150]

A couple of birds and one mammal to add to the list - one of the birds was one I had neglected to put down earlier, and I wouldn't be surprised if I had actually seen one on the 1st January.

112. Common house martin Delichon urbicum
113. Lesser black-backed gull Larus fuscus - previously missed off list

Since my last update I have been able to add three new spring migrant birds to my list:

114. Cuckoo Cuculus canorus
115. Common whitethroat Sylvia communis
116. Willow warbler Phylloscopus trochilus

I have also added the turtle dove and common toad to my heard-only list.

Two new butterflies were also added:
5. Small white Pieris rapae
6. Speckled wood Pararge aegeria

And although it isn't a true bumblebee, I found it so interesting I counted this new species on that list anyway:
6. Hairy-footed flower bee Anthophora plumipes

 

[Hevden]

A nice morning in Shropshire gave me my first life tick of the year

156.Iberian Chiffchaff
157. Corn Bunting
158. White Wagtail
159. Sedge Warbler

A beautiful day on the Wirral today.

160. House Martin
161. Common Sandpiper
162. Common Whitethroat
163. Lesser Whitethroat
164. Grasshopper Warbler
165. Whimbrel
166. Hen Harrier

 

[Hix]

Fish
244. One-spot Demoiselle

Inverts
27. Purple Land Crab (Cardisoma carnifex)
28. Red-eyed Rock Crab (Eriphia sebana)



Hix

Fish
245. Blue-stripe Barracuda*
246. Giant Moray
247. Thompson Surgeonfish
248. Indian Sailfin Tang
249. Gilded Triggerfish

*Currently unidentified species.

Inverts
29. Honeybee



Hix

 

[jbnbsn99]

240 Chuck-will's-widow - Antrostomus carolinensis
241 Great Crested Flycatcher - Myiarchus crinitus
242 Brown-crested Flycatcher - Myiarchus tyrannulus
243 Great Kiskadee - Pitangus sulphuratus
244 Couch's Kingbird - Tyrannus couchii
245 White-eyed Vireo - Vireo griseus
246 Warbling Vireo - Vireo gilvus
247 Philadelphia Vireo - Vireo philadelphicus
248 Long-billed Thrasher - Toxostoma longirostre
249 Northern Rough-winged Swallow - Stelgidopteryx serripennis
250 Red-breasted Merganser - Mergus serrator

 

[Macaw16]

6/3/2016;
4. Brown Hare Lepus europaeus

Stealing food from some pheasants (24/4/2016):

5. Brown Rat Rattus norvegicus

 

[KevinVar]

68. Common Redshank (Tringa totanus)
69. Western Marsh Harrier (Circus aeruginosus)

70. Yellow-legged Gull (Larus michahellis)
71. Barn Swallow (Hirundo rustica)
72. Sedge Warbler (Acrocephalus schoenobaenus)
73. Fieldfare (Turdus pilaris)
74. European Goldfinch (Carduelis carduelis)
75. Western Yellow Wagtail (Motacilla flava)

 

[Hix]

Fish
245. Blue-stripe Barracuda*
246. Giant Moray
247. Thompson Surgeonfish
248. Indian Sailfin Tang
249. Gilded Triggerfish

*Currently unidentified species.

Inverts
29. Honeybee



Hix

Fish
250. Bicolor Angelfish
251. Whitemouth Moray
252. Ribbon Eel
253. Blue Blanquillo
254. Striped Monocle Bream
255. Eyestripe Surgeonfish
256. Onespot Snapper

Inverts
30. Eyed Sea Cucumber (Bohadschia argus)
31. Greenfish Sea Cucumber (Stichopus chloronotus)
32. Macao Paper Wasp



Hix

 

[jbnbsn99]

251 Upland Sandpiper - Bartramia longicauda
252 Western Kingbird - Tyrannus verticalis

 

[LaughingDove]

Revision for upcoming exams has taken all of my birding time, however I did see one new summer visitor from my bedroom window:

295) Blackcap

Another surprise from outside my window today (do you think this means I'm doing too much staring out of my window whilst sitting at my desk? )

296) Common Redstart

This was my first time actually seeing one within the city of Warsaw itself, and a very nice male too.

 

[boof]

26/4/2016
213. magpie goose

 

[Hix]

Reptiles
2. Green Turtle



Hix

 

[DesertRhino150]

I have realised that I haven't updated my lists here in a while - since my last update I have added three birds (seen), one mammal, one reptile and two fish:

117. Lesser whitethroat Sylvia curruca
118. Sedge warbler Acrocephalus schoenobaenus
119. Great black-backed gull Larus marinus

11. Soprano pipistrelle bat Pipistrellus pygmaeus

2. Viviparous lizard Zootoca vivipara

2. Thick-lipped grey mullet Chelon labrosus
3. Common carp Cyprinus carpio (Vu)

I also had a very pleasant heard-only surprise this morning - I went out early morning because I thought I had seen an unusual bird on a nearby fishing lake. On walking around the other side of the lake to usual, I heard a rather unusual bird call that turned out to be a grasshopper warbler. Never heard one before. Later that morning someone else visited the same area and heard two. They are, for now, my new number one target species.

 

[lintworm]

186. Common ostrich
187. Giant kingfisher
188. African spoonbill
189. Little egret
190. Pearl-spotted owlet
191. Beautiful sunbird
192. African paradise flycatcher
193. Namaqua dove
194. Spur-winged lapwing
195. Little weaver
196. Purple swamphen
197. Village weaver
198. White-fronted bee-eater
199. Red-billed oxpecker
200. Grey-backed fiscal
201. Little bee-eater
202. Grey-headed silverbill
203. Black cuckoo
204. Purple heron
205. Squacco heron
206. Glossy ibis
207. Blacksmith lapwing
208. Black-headed lapwing
209. Ruff
210. Red-cheeked cordonbleu
211. Red-billed quelea
212. Spot-flanked barbet
213. White-browed coucal
214. Pin-tailed whydah
215. Helmeted guineafowl

Mammals:
20. Vervet monkey
21. Wahlberg’s epauletted fruit bat



Herps:
8. Nile crocodile
9. Leopard tortoise
10. Nile monitor

216. Nubian woodpecker
217. Long-toed lapwing
218. Lanner falcon
219. African jacana
220. African malachite kingfisher
221. White-bellied canary
222. African grey flycatcher
223. Northern red bishop
224. Crimson-rumped waxbill
225. Grey-headed kingfisher
226. African pygmy kingfisher
227. Jacobin cuckoo
228. Slate-coloured boubou
229. Common rock thrush
230. African pygmy falcon
231. White-fronted bee-eater

The orange-bellied parrot I added 1 week ago, should off course be a Brown parrot, which does occur in Baringo, I do not know why I wrote down the wrong name...