ZooChat Big Year 2020

Yoshistar888 said:
Finally identified the local hover fly’s

82. Hoverfly (Melangyna damastor)
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A great walk down the Merri Creek produced easily one of the best birding days of the year.

Birds

111. Weebill (Smicrornis brevirostris)
112. Jacky Winter (Microeca fascinans)
113. Red Browed Finch (Neochmia temporalis)

Invertebrates

83.Common Grass Blue (Zizina labradus)
84. Argentine Ant (Linepithema humile)*
85. Small Grass Yellow (Eurema smilax)

 
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During my online class I received a cup with a moth inside from my fam, so, after spending a couple minutes identifying the moth I got a new species for my list, as well as a nice lifer species.

Inverts:
77 - Lesser yellow underwing (Noctua comes)
 
Mehdi said:
What. A. Day.

When the plan of going birding not once but twice on Saturday was coming closer to fruition, including at a spot at which I've never been before but looked interesting, it seemed like I could potentially get one or two nice species for the year list, and boy did it not disappoint:

26/09/2020 (Ifentar, Morocco)
BIRDS:
149 - Sand martin, Riparia riparia
150 - Moustached warbler, Acrocephalus melanopogon
151 - European pied flycatcher, Ficedula hypoleuca
152 - Western subalpine warbler, Curruca iberiae
153 - Northern wheatear, Oenanthe oenanthe

INVERTS:
14 - Speckled wood, Pararge aegeria

---

(Embouchure de l'Oued Souss, Morocco)
BIRDS:
154 - Common kingfisher, Alcedo atthis ssp. atthis
155 - Eleonora's falcon, Falco eleonorae

Many things to be excited about, namely beating my record of bird species seen in a single day (71 now) without truly trying to do so, passing the 150th bird species seen mark which was my goal for the end of the year, as well as beating once again my personal record of species seen at my local spot (now at 47)

Species-wise, the Moustached warbler and a beautiful dark-morph Eleonora's falcon chasing one of three Bonelli's eagles seen at my local spot were probably the two best species today. These latter are especially tricky to get if you're not in one of their two breeding grounds in Morocco (Essaouira and Salé) so getting this one as a passage migrant was unexpected and welcomed!

The pied flycatcher was a long-awaited lifer as well as it's supposedly a common species during migration and finally getting kingfisher in Morocco was awesome as well. Other highlights include a group of about 20 Spanish pond turtles, 3 Bonelli's eagles as said before but also a Great spotted cuckoo, many Cetti's warblers, 4 tern species as well as 5 swallow species and many others...

All-in-all, probably one of my best day birding!
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Got to identify a beautiful moth I saw that day as well as notice I had totally forgotten to check a few pictures which turned out to be a new species for the year:

26/09/2020 (Ifentar, Morocco)
BIRDS:
152 - Common redstart, Phoenicurus phoenicurus

INVERTS:
15 - Crimson-speckled flunkey, Utetheisa pulchella

This puts me at 156 species of birds for the year and adds one species to my "record" day, thus putting it at 72 species of birds seen that day.
 
mammals
41 red dear Cervus elaphus a lifer as the red dear i saw in mongolia are now coninderd wapiti dears
42 amerikan mink Neovison vison
herps
10 common frog (Rana temporaria)
 
MRJ said:
Not if it is on the dinnerplate, but if alive in the wild and part of a wild population, yes.
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I think his apprehension comes from the fact that the Edible Frog is a known natural hybrid between the Pool Frog and Marsh Frog, but is capable of reproducing both with either parent species as well as independently. It's a real messy taxon.

~Thylo
 
ThylacineAlive said:
I think his apprehension comes from the fact that the Edible Frog is a known natural hybrid between the Pool Frog and Marsh Frog, but is capable of reproducing both with either parent species as well as independently. It's a real messy taxon.

~Thylo
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Really? How fascinating. I would think so, in that this is a naturally occuring fertile hybrid. Scientifically it is acknowledged as an unique organism, and has a scientific name so has been described. Otherwise I will have to watch the smartars# answers.
 
Yoshistar888 said:
A great walk down the Merri Creek produced easily one of the best birding days of the year.

Birds

111. Weebill (Smicrornis brevirostris)
112. Jacky Winter (Microeca fascinans)
113. Red Browed Finch (Neochmia temporalis)

Invertebrates

83.Common Grass Blue (Zizina labradus)
84. Argentine Ant (Linepithema humile)*
85. Small Grass Yellow (Eurema smilax)
Click to expand...

Invertebrates

Identification of another jumping spider, that brings up the backyard Salctidae tally up to 5.

86. White Striped Ocrisiona (Ocrisiona leucocomis)

Also if there was a separate category for arachnids I think I’d be in front.

 
carl the birder said:
also can i count edble frog one this list?
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MRJ said:
Really? How fascinating. I would think so, in that this is a naturally occuring fertile hybrid. Scientifically it is acknowledged as an unique organism, and has a scientific name so has been described. Otherwise I will have to watch the smartars# answers.
Click to expand...

I count it - for exactly the reasons you state. I did hybridogenetic water frogs as a topic for a literature review project at Uni and it's a really fascinating area.
 
29/9/2020
174. PAINTED HONEYEATER*
Another lifer. Only lifer 2 for the year but with the way things are, it's two more than I expected for the year
 
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lintworm said:
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
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Maguari said:
Mammals:
23. European Souslik - Spermophilus citellus
24. European Hamster - Cricetus cricetus


:)
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Sounds familiar somehow...

27. European Souslik (Spermophilus citellus)
28. European Hamster (Cricetus cricetus)

I had seen the souslik before in Bulgaria, but that was from quite a distance. The souslik near Vienna only proved slightly less shy, great for observing them, less great for photography.

When I went to Vienna in 2018, I visited at the end of winter so only the bravest of hamsters were out yet (and the Meidling graveyard had ungenerous opening hours). So I only managed to see two hamsters near a playground... This year I saw dozens on the Meidling graveyard and it is an extremely bizarre sight. They are everywhere!

This BBC video shows the bizarreness of it:
 
Yoshistar888 said:
Invertebrates

Identification of another jumping spider, that brings up the backyard Salctidae tally up to 5.

86. White Striped Ocrisiona (Ocrisiona leucocomis)

Also if there was a separate category for arachnids I think I’d be in front.
Click to expand...

More ID’s

Invertebrates

87. Garden Solider Fly (Exaireta spinigea)
88. Milkweed Aphid (Aphis nerii)
89. Blue Skimmer (Orthetrum caledonicum)
 
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Yoshistar888 said:
More ID’s

Invertebrates

87. Garden Solider Fly (Exaireta spinigea)
88. Milkweed Aphid (Aphis nerii)
89. Blue Skimmer (Orthetrum caledonicum)
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Edit limit expired

90. Helina Fly (Helina addita)
91. Poecilohetaerus aquilus (Fly)
92. Tasmanian Brown Lacewing (Micromus tasmaniae)
 
Three years into going to the coast at fall every free day to try and find rare passerines, a few friends and I finally got a really good day for Siberian birds! Together the 4 of us found a Siberian chiffchaff (ssp tristis, split by HBW), a barred warbler, 15(!) yellow-browed warblers and a very very good candidate for a Siberian lesser whitethroat (ssp blythi). A lot of other really good birds (ring ouzel, lesser redpoll, serin, yellowhammer, red crossbill) really made this day quite amazing, and the icing on the cake was a red-breasted flycatcher that was found nearby, where we made a quick stop. Easily my best day at the coast when it comes to finding/seeing Eastern passerines!

BIRDS:
X) Siberian chiffchaff, Phylloscopus (collybita) tristis
268) Lesser redpoll, Acanthis cabaret
269) Red-breasted flycatcher, Ficedula parva
270) Barred warbler, Sylvia nisoria
 
Hix said:
Birds
250. Little Corella
251. Shining Bronze Cuckoo
252. Australian Hobby

:p

Hix
Click to expand...
Birds
253. Glossy Ibis
254. Australian Shelduck
255. Latham's Snipe

:p

Hix
 
Yoshistar888 said:
Edit limit expired

90. Helina Fly (Helina addita)
91. Poecilohetaerus aquilus (Fly)
92. Tasmanian Brown Lacewing (Micromus tasmaniae)
Click to expand...

Forgot an obscure one from very early in the year, a parasite which is found on Yellow Tail Scads, we didn’t notice it until we were about to fillet the fish (the fish were caught about 3:00 AM dec 31, weren’t about to be filleted until the morning of Jan 1), apparently the parasite is harmless to humans but i didn’t want to take any chances so I ended up giving the fish to my uncle to use for bait. I usually don’t like catching fish to use as bait, If it’s kept it should be eaten but I didn’t want to take a risk even though there has been extensive studies.

93. ceratothoa imbricata
 
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I thought you were still out West? No Straw-necks?

:p

Hix
 
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