Probably was a Great Gray Owl, since Short-eared Owls are definitely a brown color rather than gray.
ZooChat Big Year 2021
- Thread starter Chlidonias
- Start date
Birds
10) House Crow Corvus splendens
11) White-cheeked Barbet Psilopogon viridis
Mammals
2) Three-striped Palm Squirrel Funambulus palmarum
10) House Crow Corvus splendens
11) White-cheeked Barbet Psilopogon viridis
Mammals
2) Three-striped Palm Squirrel Funambulus palmarum
No change to my bird count, but it’s warmed up a bit (-29) and tonight, I can add my second mammal of the year:
2. Red Fox - Vulpes Vulpes.
And I interestingly for the first time in 11 years of visiting Alaska’s Arctic regions...have documented a Blue Phase (very dark) Arctic Fox. Pictures will be posted.
So I am at three species so far this year. Total numbers of actual animals spotted are:
14 Ravens, plus another heard but not seen.
3 Arctic Foxes (not counting several tracks).
1 Red Fox (again not counting tracks).
I expect Ptarmigan, Singing Voles, Brown Lemmings, and Collared Lemmings lurk beneath or behind every snow drift. Out on the ice Seals and Polar Bears do their thing. A few miles away there have been a few Caribou sighted. Down River towards the foothills Musk Ox seek out the wind swept knolls and above them on the slopes, Dall Sheep do the same. Ermine are likely everywhere the voles and lemmings might be out on the tundra.
Wolverines and Wolves are certainly present yet unseen. Along the riverbank and beneath the dunes...the mighty Barren Ground Grizzly, Ursus Arctos, the Brown Bear waits for May, slumbering alongside the Arctic Ground Squirrel (in it’s near deathlike hibernation) waiting for the never ending game of hide and seek to resume.
Short-eared can often look gray in the dark.
Dannelboyz
Well-Known Member
I made a bit of an error by somehow entering Eurasian Coot twice but forgetting to enter Hoary-headed Grebe and White-breasted Woodswallow - unfortunately the problem when you keep multiple lists with different taxonomies/rules
As such, my bird total prior to this post should be 149.All sightings here are from various parts of Gippsland, Victoria. A particularly exciting find was a group of 11 intermediate egrets and a bittern in Sale Common! Intermediate Egrets are quite rare in Victoria with only a handful of confirmed records annually.
BIRDS
150 - Little Tern (Sternula albifrons)
151 - Common Sandpiper (Actitis hypoleucos)
152 - Australasian Gannet (Morus serrator)
153 - Eastern Cattle Egret (Bubulcus coronatus)
--- Yellow Thornbill (Acanthiza nana) [heard]
154 - Intermediate Egret (Ardea intermedia)
155 - White-necked Heron (Ardea pacifica)
156 - Australasian Darter (Anhinga novaehollandiae)
157 - Australasian Bittern (Botaurus poiciloptilus)
158 - Laughing Kookaburra (Dacelo novaeguineae)
159 - Eastern Yellow Robin (Eopsaltria australis)
160 - Pied Currawong (Strepera graculina)
161 - Golden Whistler (Pachycephala pectoralis)
162 - Striated Thornbill (Acanthiza lineata)
163 - Red-browed Treecreeper (Climacteris erythrops)
164 - Superb Lyrebird (Menura novaehollandiae)
165 - Fan-tailed Cuckoo (Cacomantis flabelliformis)
--- Grey Currawong (Strepera versicolor) [heard]
--- Crescent Honeyeater (Phylidonyris pyrrhopterus) [heard]
166 - Australian Owlet-nightjar (Aegotheles cristatus)
167 - Gang-gang Cockatoo (Callocephalon fimbriatum)
--- Flame Robin (Petroica phoenica) [heard]
168 - Scarlet Honeyeater (Myzomela sanguinolenta)
169 - New Holland Honeyeater (Phylidonyris novaehollandiae)
170 - Dusky Woodswallow (Artamus cyanopterus)
171 - Rufous Fantail (Rhipidura rufifrons)
172 - Black-faced Monarch (Monarcha melanopsis)
173 - Sacred Kingfisher (Todiramphus sanctus)
174 - Brown Gerygone (Gerygone mouki)
175 - Lewin's Honeyeater (Meliphaga lewinii)
--- Eastern Whipbird (Psophodes olivaceus) [heard]
--- Olive-backed Oriole (Oriolus sagittatus) [heard]
176 - Mistletoebird (Dicaeum hirundinaceum)
177 - Eastern Spinebill (Acanthorhynchus tenuirostris)
178 - Satin Bowerbird (Ptilonorhynchus violaceus)
179 - Wonga Pigeon (Leucosarcia melanoleuca)
180 - Tawny Frogmouth (Podargus strigoides)
181 - Australian Boobook (Ninox boobook)
MAMMALS
6 - Eastern Grey Kangaroo (Macropus giganteus)
7 - Mountain Brushtail Possum (Trichosurus cunninghami)
8 - Krefft's Sugar Glider (Petaurus notatus)
--- Yellow-bellied Glider (Petaurus australis) [heard]
--- Feathertail Glider sp. (Acrobates sp.)
9 - Eastern Pygmy Possum (Cercartetus nanus)
10 - Short-beaked Echidna (Tachyglossus aculeatus)
REPTILES
6 - Lace Monitor (Varanus varius)
7 - Tiger Snake (Notechis scutatus)
8 - Black Rock Skink (Egernia saxatilis)
9 - Delicate Skink (Lampropholis delicata)
AMPHIBIANS
1 - Pobblebonk (Limnodynastes dumerilii)
--- Striped Marsh Frog (Limnodynastes peronii) [heard]
--- Eastern Common Froglet (Crinia signifera) [heard]
--- Leaf Green Stream Frog (Litoria nudidigitus) [heard]
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Yes and After Doing some research I think its Much more likely I saw a Short-Eared owl, I would say It was around 5:45-ish when I saw the owl, and it was a lot darker and dimmer.
So for now I'll change it to
19. Short-Eared owl
Just as a friendly side note here - If you're not sure whether or not a bird is a Great grey owl or a Short-eared owl, which are two of the most wildly different owls on the continent and are structurally completely different (both looking more like various other birds-of-prey than like each other), then I think it might be better off not to count it at all. There's no harm in recognizing that you didn't get good enough views to completely identify something immediately - it just makes it that much more satisfactory when you do eventually see the species well, which I have no doubts you will if you continue pursuing the hobby.
Either way, poor views of an Asio owl at dusk would never be enough to be able to fully exclude Long-eared owl, which does look very similar to Short-eared in flight, contrary to Great grey owl... In fact, Long-eared owl might even be more likely in the evening to begin with, as Short-eared owl is primarily diurnal.
Fine, I'll just bring it down to 18.
There's so many people here who have a gigantic number of bird species, and for them its "Casual".
Ugh....
There's so many people here who have a gigantic number of bird species, and for them its "Casual".
Ugh....
Another tip: don't get demotivated about the things that you don't see, but be impressed and motivated by the things that you do. All of us try for loads of species and all of us miss a lot of them - This thread gives a skewed perspective in that regard because most of us don't mention what we miss.
The longer you continue to bird, the more you'll recognize what good places to visit are, what the good times and weather circumstances are to visit those places, and the longer you keep going the more details (visually and auditory) you will pick up. The people here with gigantic lists have all spent an equally gigantic number of hours in the field, learning every single call and every single specific plumage detail to identify all of those species, which will come to you as well, but you have to be patient and give it a lot of time.
Spend a few hours yesterday in my local patch, mostly to see the common winter forest and grassland birds. Highlight was obviously the shrike that gave stunning prolonged views from a relatively short distance. And just when I was thinking "I've yet to see a skylark", the shrike flew away, landed on a patch of long grass, flushed a skylark, then chased it around for half a minute before returning back to the hawthorns. It is nice if the birds are helpful!
This morning I went to another local spot to find missing waterfowl. I had to wait for the mist to clear but I was rewarded with absolutely stunning views of multiple goldeneyes and a group of smews (which contained two gorgeous males). Equally cooperative was a yellow-legged gull that decided to stand in the open (thus showing it's yellow legs) and right next to a herring gull for easy comparison. The bearded reedlings however were being difficult, and despite hearing them loud and clear multiple times today I did not manage to see one (same with water rail, but with them I'm used to it).
Birds
48 Meadow Pipit, Anthus pratensis
49. Great Grey Shrike, Lanius excubitor
50. European Stonechat, Saxicola rubicola
51. Goldcrest, Regulus regulus
52. Eurasian Nuthatch, Sitta europaea
53. Black Woodpecker, Dryocopus martius
54. Mistle Thrush, Turdus viscivorus
55. Short-toed Treecreeper, Certhia brachydactyla
56. European Crested Tit, Lophophanes cristatus
57. Eurasian Skylark, Alauda arvensis
58. Great Crested Grebe, Podiceps cristatus
59. Common Goldeneye, Bucephala clangula
60. Red-necked Grebe, Podiceps grisegena
61. Canada Goose, Branta canadensis
62. Song Thrush, Turdus philomelos
63. Smew, Mergellus albellus
64. Goosander, Mergus merganser
65. Common Pochard, Aythya ferina
66. Red-crested Pochard, Netta rufina
67. Yellow-legged Gull, Larus michahellis
68. European Herring Gull, Larus argentatus
69. Tundra Bean Goose, Anser serrirostris
70. Fieldfare, Turdus pilaris
71. Common Shelduck, Tadorna tadorna
This morning I went to another local spot to find missing waterfowl. I had to wait for the mist to clear but I was rewarded with absolutely stunning views of multiple goldeneyes and a group of smews (which contained two gorgeous males). Equally cooperative was a yellow-legged gull that decided to stand in the open (thus showing it's yellow legs) and right next to a herring gull for easy comparison. The bearded reedlings however were being difficult, and despite hearing them loud and clear multiple times today I did not manage to see one (same with water rail, but with them I'm used to it).
Birds
48 Meadow Pipit, Anthus pratensis
49. Great Grey Shrike, Lanius excubitor
50. European Stonechat, Saxicola rubicola
51. Goldcrest, Regulus regulus
52. Eurasian Nuthatch, Sitta europaea
53. Black Woodpecker, Dryocopus martius
54. Mistle Thrush, Turdus viscivorus
55. Short-toed Treecreeper, Certhia brachydactyla
56. European Crested Tit, Lophophanes cristatus
57. Eurasian Skylark, Alauda arvensis
58. Great Crested Grebe, Podiceps cristatus
59. Common Goldeneye, Bucephala clangula
60. Red-necked Grebe, Podiceps grisegena
61. Canada Goose, Branta canadensis
62. Song Thrush, Turdus philomelos
63. Smew, Mergellus albellus
64. Goosander, Mergus merganser
65. Common Pochard, Aythya ferina
66. Red-crested Pochard, Netta rufina
67. Yellow-legged Gull, Larus michahellis
68. European Herring Gull, Larus argentatus
69. Tundra Bean Goose, Anser serrirostris
70. Fieldfare, Turdus pilaris
71. Common Shelduck, Tadorna tadorna
09-01-2021:
15. Long-tailed tit (Aegithalos caudatus)
16. Great tit (Parus major)
17. Eurasian blue tit (Cyanistes caeruleus)
18. Tufted duck (Aythya fuligula)
19. Great cormorant (Phalacrocorax carbo)
20. Long-eared owl (Asio otus)
21. Common wood pigeon (Columba palumbus)
Oh yeah? Well I walked around my town for 2 hours this morning and saw Nothing, No sign of life. I'm just some stupid kid who's few ways to see animals is too look up pictures of Animals That I want to see, I have No patience, and I don't have the luck that everyone else has on this thread.
Don't be so hard on yourself. Many of these people on this thread are very experienced. A lot of us know that we won't get the most species, but we participate for fun and try to set goals on how many species we can see. If you want to see more species, try going to a state park. Besides, it's still January.
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Funny, I went to one for 2 1/2 hours. Saw N-O-T-H-I-N-G.Don't be so hard on yourself. Many of these people on this thread are very experienced. A lot of us know that we won't get the most species, but we participate for fun and try to set goals on how many wild species we can see. If you want to see ore species, try going to a state park. Besides, it's still January.
Trust me - I've had whole days at a time in diverse and wonderful nature reserves where you couldn't see an animal to save your life. It's part of the fun, to be honest - frustrating at the start, or on your first day in a new place, or if you're looking for a particular animal - but trust me, as you go on you will find yourself enjoying the act of looking for its own sake - even if it's never as good as actually finding stuff!
Your being a bit to hard on yourself. Your not going to be able to see EVERYTHING, and sometimes you’ll see nothing, but that’s just how it is sometimes. And most of the people on this thread are very experienced birders. I’m sure you’ll see more next time.
Thats what I keep telling Myself, if only it would be real.
That is the thing - you never know - there is never any sort of guarantee. But by persisting and being patient you eventually get results.
On another note, saw nothing new today, just a fox, a robin and a blackbird
.