Birds
235. Red Knot Calidris canutus
ZooChat Big Year 2020
- Thread starter Chlidonias
- Start date
235. Red Knot Calidris canutus
A 1 hour boat tour away from the coast of Agadir didn't go far enough to be able to see seabirds (shearwaters, storm-petrels, jaegers etc...) apart from a few gulls and cormorants but two of those cormorants proved out to be interesting!
28/08/2020 (1,5km off Agadir, Morocco)
BIRDS:
138 - White-breasted cormorant, Phalacrocorax lucidus
The status of White-breasted cormorant (and cormorants in general) in Morocco is complex. The majority of cormorants here are resident Great cormorants of the subspecies maroccanus, which are easily told apart from the other subspecies we get (mostly wintering but also breeding since recently), the sinensis subspecies (which is also one of the two subspecies in Europe) by its white throat.
A lot of cormorants in the south of Morocco (reaching Tamri as their northernmost limit) have all the characteristics of white-breasted cormorant though. As such you can often see full adult cormorants with full white breasts reaching their tail (like the two I saw yesterday) unlike moroccanus [sensu stricto].
Most birders here count them as White-breasted cormorant awaiting for more taxonomic research on their status and the status of Moroccan cormorants in general. That's what I do as well pending new study that would prove otherwise.
There I was minding my own business at a local park when I suddenly realised there was a bird perched on a nearby branch, staring right at me. Probably the easiest lifer I have ticked off for 2020 so far.
Birds
114. Little Wattlebird Anthochaera chrysoptera
Dannelboyz
Well-Known Member
BIRDS
276 - Horsfield's Bronze Cuckoo (Chrysococcyx basalis)
Finally got it yesterday, probably the rarest European breeding passerine! Was becoming quite a nemesis of mine after more than a few serious dips (even though I'm fairly certain I saw it two of those times, but never certain enough...), so I'm happy to clear it up! A bonus quail was nice as well, my go-to grass spot for quail during fall migration recently got cemented and turned into a giant carpark so I wasn't sure how, where and if I was going to get those this year.
BIRDS:
242) Common quail, Coturnix coturnix
243) Aquatic warbler, Acrocephalus paludicola
INVERTS:
110) Snout, Hypena proboscidalis
111) Brown house moth, Hofmannophila pseudospretella
112) Field damsel bug, Nabis ferus
Birds
236. Ruddy Turnstone Arenaria interpres
Do you often see quail? In my local patch I regularly hear them call in early summer but I've seen them only once when I accidentally flushed one.
Nope, same here, only a few odd times while accidentally flushing them! Almost always while looking for other fall migrants at the coast (so just like this time I suppose!).
A great session today at my local spot with no less than 43 species seen (a record for me there), including many fall waders and passerines:
31/08/2020 (Embouchure de l'Oued Souss, Morocco)
BIRDS:
139 - Spectacled warbler, Curruca conspicillata
140 - Black tern, Chlidonias niger
Highlights include high numbers of every common wader species (the joy of fall birding) as well as a big passage of migrating European bee-eaters (more than a hundred individuals). It was awesome to see Marbled teal and Black tern for the second time ever as well as yet another Purple heron (this year seems to be good for them).
The best of it all though was a beautiful male Spectacled warbler, one of the species I was still missing that is the most common. Certainly the best Sylviidae I've had the chance to observe!
233 Sanderling - Calidris alba
234 Black-bellied Whistling-Duck - Dendrocygna autumnalis
235 Swallow-tailed Kite - Elanoides forficatus
236 Pileated Woodpecker - Dryocopus pileatus
First day of a 4-day break, which has its accomodation situated in a forest with wid, tame Sika Deer. Day one was relatively un-eventful, as arrival days usually are. Only had a couple of hours to look for species, but it seems like my luck of seeing the same species every time won't end anytime soon! 
Mammals:
1. Sika Deer (Cervus nippon)
2. Eastern Gray Squirrel (Sciurus carolinensis)
Birds:
43. Dunnock (Prunella modularis)
Other lists about other classes throughout the year will probably be estimates.
Mammals:
1. Sika Deer (Cervus nippon)
2. Eastern Gray Squirrel (Sciurus carolinensis)
Birds:
43. Dunnock (Prunella modularis)
Other lists about other classes throughout the year will probably be estimates.
Mammals:
- Little Brown Bat
- Eastern Cottontail
- Eastern Gray Squirrel
- Groundhog
- White-tailed Deer
- Canada Goose
- Mute Swan
- Mallard
- Wild Turkey
- Rock Pigeon
- Mourning Dove
- Ruby-throated Hummingbird
- American Oystercatcher
- Semipalmated Plover
- Dunlin
- Sanderling
- Ruddy Turnstone
- Willet
- Laughing Gull
- Great Black-backed Gull
- Herring Gull
- Common Tern
- Royal Tern
- Black Skimmer
- Anhinga
- Double-crested Cormorant
- Brown Pelican
- Great Blue Heron
- Great Egret
- Snowy Egret
- Tricolored Heron
- Cattle Egret
- Green Heron
- Black-crowned Night-Heron
- Glossy Ibis
- Black Vulture
- Turkey Vulture
- Red-tailed Hawk
- Pileated Woodpecker
- American Crow
- Tree Swallow
- Barn Swallow
- Black-capped Chickadee
- American Robin
- Northern Mockingbird
- European Starling
- House Sparrow
- Northern Cardinal
- Scarlet Tanager
- Painted Turtle
- Five-lined Skink
- Eastern American Toad
- Cope's/Gray Tree Frog
Some updates from France, with all apart from the Cattle Egret seen in zoos:
184. Cattle Egret
185. Cirl Bunting (Vallee des Singes)
Mammals
25. Coypu (Branfere & Parczoo Reynou)
26. Field Vole (Zoodyssee)
And a Lizard I forgot to add from Switzerland:
9. Viviparous Lizard
Just to clarify, do we actually have to see the bird, or does it still count if we hear its song?
45. Tufted Titmouse
46. Downy Woodpecker
47. Blue Jay
48.Golden-crowned Kinglet
49. Song Sparrow
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The rules have been that you must see the animal to list it here.
I think that's always been left to the individual to decide, as some birders will count heard-only species on their lists. However, and I know @Chlidonias and others will agree with me here, it's a little silly to count species you haven't actually seen as having been seen
~Thylo
Not really trying to start a discussion here because I'm fine with only counting seen species for this thread, but I feel like your last sentence is misinterpreting birding by ear a little - people that count heard-only birds never state that they've seen those species, and their lifelist wouldn't be one of birds that they've seen, but one of birds that they've identified/observed/etc.I think that's always been left to the individual to decide, as some birders will count heard-only species on their lists. However, and I know @Chlidonias and others will agree with me here, it's a little silly to count species you haven't actually seen as having been seen
~Thylo
I personally keep seperate lists including and not including seen species, but of course I always try my best to spend as much time seeing a new species after I've heard it. It is true that seeing a species is very often a more enjoyable experience, but at the same time sound, in my opinion, is more important while birding than sight, and my hearing has probably led me to more self-found rarities than my eyes have... Definitely when you get to those species that are almost impossible to identify without sound (Common/Iberian/Siberian chiffchaffs in Europe, I believe a few of the Empidonax flycatchers and Tropical/Couch's kingbirds in North America, and many more examples throughout the world), it starts becoming sillier and sillier to discount heard-only species as valid observations in my opinion! But for a site like this where everyone should roughly attend to the same rules, I do agree that it's probably a good thing to only count birds people have actually seen.
5.Common Water Snake