ZooChat Big Year 2020

A jaunt to get my flu shot ended up with two rare birds one of which new for the year.

90. Silvereye

The other species was funnily enough new Holland honeyeaters so it looks like none for 4 years then one in the Otways and 6 months later I’m seeing New Holland Honeyeaters all over the place.
Birds are like that. They can be common in an area then disappear them come back a couple of years later. At the moment I can’t find Eastern yellow robins anywhere.
 
So obviously I haven't really been participating this year but I went birding for the first time today so figured I'd share my results, as well as one special vagrant I twitched a few weeks ago (along with an obvious vagrant I got today):

Birds
1) Sandhill Crane Antigone canadensis

2) American Herring Gull Larus smithsonianus
3) Tree Swallow Tachycineta bicolor
4) Purple Martin Progne subis
5) Mute Swan Cygnus olor
6) Double-Crested Cormorant Phalacrocorax auritus
7) Grey Catbird Dumetella carolinensis
8) Barn Swallow Hirundo rustica
9) Western Osprey Pandion haliaetus
10) Glossy Ibis Plegadis falcinellus
11) Little Blue Heron Egretta caerulea
12) Spotted Sandpiper Actitis macularius
13) Lesser Yellowlegs Tringa flavipes
14) Red-Bellied Woodpecker Melanerpes carolinus
15) Boat-Tailed Grackle Quiscalus major
16) Common Tern Sterna hirundo
17) Great Black-Backed Gull Larus marinus
18) Brant Goose Branta bernicla
19) Black-Bellied Plover Pluvialis squatarola
20) Semipalmated Sandpiper Calidris pusilla
21) Ruddy Turnstone Arenaria interpres
22) Dunlin Calidris alpina
23) Common Loon Gavia immer
24) Savannah Sparrow Passerculus sandwichensis
25) Field Sparrow Spizella pusilla
26) Clapper Rail Rallus crepitans
27) Wilson's Phalarope Phalaropus tricolor
28) Least Sandpiper Calidris minutilla
29) Great Egret Ardea alba

~Thylo

Ah I also forgot #30, #31, & #32! Killdeer, Willet, and Fish Crow!

~Thylo
 
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Birds
184. Pine Siskin Spinus pinus
Birds
185. Blackburnian Warbler Setophaga fusca
186. Cape May Warbler Setophaga tigrina
187. Tennessee Warbler Leiothlypis peregrina
188. Canada Warbler Cardellina canadensis
189. Eastern Kingbird Tyrannus tyrannus
 
So obviously I haven't really been participating this year but I went birding for the first time today so figured I'd share my results, as well as one special vagrant I twitched a few weeks ago (along with an obvious vagrant I got today):

Birds
1) Sandhill Crane Antigone canadensis

2) American Herring Gull Larus smithsonianus
3) Tree Swallow Tachycineta bicolor
4) Purple Martin Progne subis
5) Mute Swan Cygnus olor
6) Double-Crested Cormorant Phalacrocorax auritus
7) Grey Catbird Dumetella carolinensis
8) Barn Swallow Hirundo rustica
9) Western Osprey Pandion haliaetus
10) Glossy Ibis Plegadis falcinellus
11) Little Blue Heron Egretta caerulea
12) Spotted Sandpiper Actitis macularius
13) Lesser Yellowlegs Tringa flavipes
14) Red-Bellied Woodpecker Melanerpes carolinus
15) Boat-Tailed Grackle Quiscalus major
16) Common Tern Sterna hirundo
17) Great Black-Backed Gull Larus marinus
18) Brant Goose Branta bernicla
19) Black-Bellied Plover Pluvialis squatarola
20) Semipalmated Plover Charadrius semipalmatus
21) Ruddy Turnstone Arenaria interpres
22) Dunlin Calidris alpina
23) Common Loon Gavia immer
24) Savannah Sparrow Passerculus sandwichensis
25) Field Sparrow Spizella pusilla
26) Clapper Rail Rallus crepitans
27) Wilson's Phalarope Phalaropus tricolor
28) Least Sandpiper Calidris minutilla
29) Great Egret Ardea alba

~Thylo

Alright fine I'll do all my birds.

Birds
30) Killdeer Charadrius vociferus
31) Willet Tringa semipalmata
32) Fish Crow Corvus ossifragus

33) Red-Winged Blackbird Agelaius phoeniceus
34) Blue Jay Cyanocitta cristata
35) Common Grackle Quiscalus quiscula
36) House Sparrow Passer domesticus
37) Mourning Dove Zenaida macroura
38) American Crow Corvus brachyrhynchos
39) Wild Turkey Meleagris gallopavo
40) Dark-Eyed Junco Junco hyemalis
41) American Robin Turdus migratorius
42) Red-Tailed Hawk Buteo jamaicensis
43) Mallard Anas platyrhynchos
44) Canada Goose Branta canadensis
45) Great Blue Heron Ardea herodias
46) Common Starling Sturnus vulgaris

~Thylo
 
Birds
185. Blackburnian Warbler Setophaga fusca
186. Cape May Warbler Setophaga tigrina
187. Tennessee Warbler Leiothlypis peregrina
188. Canada Warbler Cardellina canadensis
189. Eastern Kingbird Tyrannus tyrannus
Forgot one, also from today:

Birds
190. Solitary Sandpiper Tringa solitaria
 
More spring arrivals! School is keeping me very busy at the moment so unfortunately I haven't had much time to enjoy the spring much, but a report of a pallid harrier nearby did get me to go outside again. No harrier (or well, no pallid...) but I did get a few other goodies. It's fun to see stilts becoming more and more regular in my area over the past few years! These were three pairs, of which two were already building nests.

BIRDS:
178) Ruddy shelduck, Tadorna ferruginea
179) Wood sandpiper, Tringa glareola
180) Black-winged stilt, Himantopus himantopus
More quality birding today! Definitely happy with Temminck's, that's pretty much always a species I have to specifically go looking for.

BIRDS:
181) Temminck's stint, Calidris temminckii
182) Eurasian hobby, Falco subbuteo
 
Had a late start for work today so got in a couple of early hours at Avenue Washlands this morning, with pleasing results:

Birds:
155. Little Ringed Plover - Charadrius dubius
156. Sand Martin - Riparia riparia
157. Sedge Warbler - Acrocephalus schoenobaenus

Mammals:
18. Western Roe Deer - Capreolus capreolus

Fishes:
4. Three-spined Stickleback - Gasterosteus aculeatus

Lockdown rules have changed this week in England and we are now theoretically free to drive to anywhere in England that is outdoors and open access as long as we don't stay overnight, which opens up a lot more wildlife options - though in practice I'll still be staying pretty close to home for now. I will be hoping to cover a bit more of NE Derbyshire and into N Notts and possibly S Yorks though, rather than just the western fringes of Chesterfield..! I've a week off work in the first week of June when I hope to do a couple of slightly longer day trips if conditions are heading the right way.
 
Lockdown rules have changed this week in England and we are now theoretically free to drive to anywhere in England...
In New Zealand we have also been allowed free to range the country since this week. During lockdown I saw sixteen species of birds in total (thirteen from my window, one extra while going to the supermarket, and two more extra while going to work), which is over a quarter of all the species I'd already seen this year. New Zealand isn't the best country for seeing a lot of birds in.

Birds seen from my window: Paradise Duck, Black-backed Gull, Red-billed Gull, Kaka, Eastern Rosella, Feral Pigeon, European Blackbird, NZ Fantail, Chaffinch, House Sparrow, Tui, Common Starling, Australian Magpie.

One extra while going to the supermarket: Song Thrush.

Two more extra while going to work: European Goldfinch, and a surprise NZ Falcon.

Heard-only: Pukeko, Morepork.



Today I went to the Waikanae estuary which takes me about three hours to get to on public transport due to changeovers, but all the buses and trains are free at the moment so that's okay. I (eventually) saw one species I didn't already have on the year list, so not really worth the effort:

55) Grey Teal Anas gracilis
 
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And here I am excited by bulbuls outside my window:(

Technically lockdown is still on I believe although everybody is roaming about like usual, so I decided to go with my father to his workplace where he had a five minute job to pick up birds on the way and I got a pleasant surprise in the form of a Shikra sitting on a power line six roads down from my house, clearest I have ever seen the species. Sorry if I am filling the thread with irrelevant stuff.
 
BIRDS
222 - Noisy Friarbird (Philemon corniculatus)
223 - Yellow-tufted Honeyeater (Lichenostomus melanops)
In recent weeks, a few Glossy Black Cockatoos have been recorded in Melbourne. This is several hundred kilometres outside their normal range and likely represents a few fire refugees, considering most of their habitat in eastern Victoria has been burnt.

BIRDS
224 - Glossy Black Cockatoo (Calyptorhynchus lathami)
 
In New Zealand we have also been allowed free to range the country since this week. During lockdown I saw sixteen species of birds in total (thirteen from my window, one extra while going to the supermarket, and two more extra while going to work), which is over a quarter of all the species I'd already seen this year. New Zealand isn't the best country for seeing a lot of birds in.

Just had a quick count-up and I reckon I saw 75 bird species during the strictest lockdown period (24th March-12th May) - helped by being 5 minutes walk from the very edge of town (and therefore farmland, with a bit of woodland and even the edge of the moors not far beyond), by our reasonably relaxed daily exercise rules, and by the timing, just as summer migrants are arriving - which both directly contributed species and also ensured I was checking everything I saw! So around half the bird species I've seen in the year, to my surprise!

If you include the trips to Avenue yesterday and to Idle Valley today (which will posted here once I've done some invert IDing) that were undertaken under the new, looser lockdown it brings it up to 93 - I'd been starved of wetland!

The two weirdest omissions from the list of 75 are both common species I saw today for the first time in nearly two months - Little Grebe and Black-headed Gull. The former is never common around Chesterfield, and the latter is mainly off at its breeding sites now I guess.
 
Forgot one, also from today:

Birds
190. Solitary Sandpiper Tringa solitaria
Amazing 100 species birding day today! I wasn't even trying to do a big day! Of these 100 species, 23 were warblers. And just one more species before I get to 200 this year!

Birds
191. Chestnut-sided Warbler Setophaga pensylvanica
192. Black-throated Blue Warbler Setophaga caerulescens
193. Wilson's Warbler Cardellina pusilla
194. Blue-winged Warbler Vermivora cyanoptera
195. Red-eyed Vireo Vireo olivaceus
196. Scarlet Tanager Piranga olivacea
197. Golden-winged Warbler Vermivora chrysoptera
198. Eastern Wood-Pewee Contopus virens
199. Olive-sided Flycatcher Contopus cooperi
 
I went for a walk today along the coast to the local winter haulout for fur seals, and saw the birds I expected to see along the way.

Today I also realised, while adding them to my year list, that the Grey Teal I saw yesterday were the first new year birds I had seen since January...



56) Australasian Gannet Morus serrator
57) New Zealand Pipit Anthus novaeseelandiae
58) Black Shag (Great Cormorant) Phalacrocorax carbo


2) New Zealand Fur Seal Arctocephalus forsteri
 
Yesterday another rarity - and a lifer! - popped up in my local patch, a Corn Bunting. Still widespread in the Netherlands a few decades ago, they're currently down to a handfull of pairs at most, so I was definately glad that one landed close-by!

Birds
186. Eurasian Hobby, Falco subbuteo
187. Corn Bunting, Emberiza calandra

Herptiles
5. Common Toad, Bufo bufo
6. Alpine Newt, Ichthyosaura alpestris

Invertebrates
54. Common Ground Grasshopper, Tetrix undulata
 
As foreshadowed, here are the additions from a lovely, long, sunny, socially-distanced walk at Idle Valley NR yesterday.

Birds:
158. Common Tern - Sterna hirundo
159. Western Yellow Wagtail - Motacilla flava
160. Eurasian Reed Warbler - Acrocephalus scirpaceus
161. Garden Warbler - Sylvia borin

Invertebrates:
21. Banded Demoiselle - Calopteryx splendens
22. Brown-lipped Banded Snail - Cepaea nemoralis
23. Common Shiny Woodlouse - Onsicus asellus
24. White-legged Snake Millipede - Tachypodoiulus niger
25. Garden Tiger (caterpillar) - Arctia caja
26. Brimstone Moth - Opisthograptis luteolata
27. Azure Damselfly - Coenagrion luteolata
28. Seven-spot Ladybird - Coccinella septempunctata
29. Brown Argus - Aricia agestis
30. Common Blue - Polyommatus icarus

:)
 
Amazing 100 species birding day today! I wasn't even trying to do a big day! Of these 100 species, 23 were warblers. And just one more species before I get to 200 this year!

Birds
191. Chestnut-sided Warbler Setophaga pensylvanica
192. Black-throated Blue Warbler Setophaga caerulescens
193. Wilson's Warbler Cardellina pusilla
194. Blue-winged Warbler Vermivora cyanoptera
195. Red-eyed Vireo Vireo olivaceus
196. Scarlet Tanager Piranga olivacea
197. Golden-winged Warbler Vermivora chrysoptera
198. Eastern Wood-Pewee Contopus virens
199. Olive-sided Flycatcher Contopus cooperi
Birds
200. Prairie Warbler Setophaga discolor
 
nice wekend
friday
235. short-eared owl
236. great snipe
i stod in wind and rain for 3,5 hours wating to see the snipe. in the end i saw a head for maby 3 seconds. on the way home i had good look at a european moose
saturday
237. eurasian hobby
238. spotted redshank
239. temminck´s stint(misst in 2019)
 
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More quality birding today! Definitely happy with Temminck's, that's pretty much always a species I have to specifically go looking for.

BIRDS:
181) Temminck's stint, Calidris temminckii
182) Eurasian hobby, Falco subbuteo

A quick walk in a new area targetting a zitting cisticola went well, heard it immediately as I arrived and it only took a few minutes of waiting for it to perform its cool song-flight. While 2020 is definitely going slower than the last few years, I'm glad that there's enough scarcities in my area to keep me busy!

BIRDS:
183) Zitting cisticola, Cisticola juncidis

INVERTS:
18) Blue-tailed damselfly, Ischnura elegans
19) Common blue, Polyommatus icarus
 
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