Zoochat Big Year 2023

Too late to edit my previous post. I should not send here the species seen in the day before the day finishes. I just saw two more new species of the year, common anthropophilous insects inside my house.

INVERTEBRATES:

50. Monopis crocicapitella
51. Clogmia albipunctata
 
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Lota lota said:
Haven't had any time for birding but I of course have seen some animals.
53 Coal tit (Periparus ater)
54 Little grebe (Tachybaptus ruficollis)
55 European green woodpecker (Picus viridis)
56 White-tailed eagle (Haliaeetus albicilla)
57 Northern goshawk (Accipiter gentilis)
58 Greylag goose (Anser anser)



5 Red fox (Vulpes vulpes)
Click to expand...
59 Rough-legged buzzard (Bueto lagopus)
60 Common pheasant (Phasianus colchicus)
61 Great grey shrike (Lanius excubitor)

Nice getting to see the shrike and the buzzard before they move up north.
 
Kakapo said:
Too late to edit my previous post. I should not send here the species seen in the day before the day finishes. I just saw two more new species of the year, common anthropophilous insects inside my house.

INVERTEBRATES:

50. Monopis crocicapitella
51. Clogmia albipunctata
Click to expand...


After several sights of red kites earlier in the year, today I saw first black kites, six individuals coming back from Africa, all flying in the same way, over the city. I also had a very good and close sight of a Cetti's warbler, mallards, feral muscovy ducks, and one of the last cormorants still here. In the branches of blooming/sprouting elms I saw two blue tits, new species for the year. The micromoth mentioned below was inside my parents kitchen (despite being a clothe-eating moth and not a stored-food eating moth).

BIRDS:

40. Black kite (Milvus migrans)
41. Blue tit (Parus caeruleus)

INVERTEBRATES_

52. Tineola bisseliella
 
Kakapo said:
After several sights of red kites earlier in the year, today I saw first black kites, six individuals coming back from Africa, all flying in the same way, over the city. I also had a very good and close sight of a Cetti's warbler, mallards, feral muscovy ducks, and one of the last cormorants still here. In the branches of blooming/sprouting elms I saw two blue tits, new species for the year. The micromoth mentioned below was inside my parents kitchen (despite being a clothe-eating moth and not a stored-food eating moth).

BIRDS:

40. Black kite (Milvus migrans)
41. Blue tit (Parus caeruleus)

INVERTEBRATES_

52. Tineola bisseliella
Click to expand...

Yesterday I had a VERY pleasing first sight in the year - I think the equivalent in birds to the scarce swallowtail in invertebrates that I saw a few days ago. I was approaching to my work place in my bike and saw a silhouette of a bird coming directly to me. I noticed the very spasmodic wing beats and I tought, this can't be a collared dove nor a starling. Once the bird was just over me, flying about 10-12 meters over my head, I saw the wide rounded wings with a white subterminal band. The body appeared black against the sky light, but of course it was a saumon-buff animal with a long curved bill and a big head crest. Yeah, first HOOOOOOPOOOE :cool: of the year!!!! (And I saw none during whole 2022). That put an extasis smile in my face while I continued cycling to work place!
Besides that, I saw white storks soaring over the area of my work place, cattle egrets resting over a truck, a black kite, three rabbits, and coming back to work a bird that I tought it has to be a FALCON - the wings looked like too sharp for be just a pigeon, even at first sight I tought it could be the first swift of the year, until it was closer and I saw it was too large for a swift, with a longer tail and a different way of flying. Unfortunately I cannot count it for this thread as I was not sure it was really a falcon, and if it is, if it's a peregrine or maybe a hobby. Also, at night I saw in the glass of a shop the first mayfly of the year, but it was an unidentifiable female subimago, so also can't count for the thread.

BIRDS:

42. Common hoopoe (Upupa epops)
 
If it's too late to join, I'm terribly sorry, but I figured I may as well post my current 2023 species list here and see what happens. :p

MAMMALS:
1. Fox Squirrel (Sciurus niger)
2. White-tailed Deer (Odocoileus virginianus)

REPTILES:
1. Texas Spiny Lizard (Sceloporus olivaceus)
2. Pond Slider (Trachemys scripta)
3. Six-lined Racerunner (Aspidoscelis sexlineatus)

AMPHIBIANS:
1. Coastal Plains Toad (Incilius nebulifer)

BIRDS:
1. Cooper's Hawk (Accipiter cooperii)
2. Mallard (Anas platyrhynchos)
3. Great Egret (Ardea alba)
4. Red-shouldered Hawk (Buteo lineatus)
5. Crested Caracara (Caracara plancus)
6. Northern Cardinal (Cardinalis cardinalis)
7. Turkey Vulture (Cathartes aura)
8. Great Blue Heron (Ardea herodias)
9. Piping Plover (Charadrius melodus)
10. Black Vulture (Coragyps atratus)
11. Blue Jay (Cyanocitta cristata)
12. Black-bellied Whistling Duck (Dendrocygna autumnalis)
13. Black-necked Stilt (Himantopus mexicanus)
14. Laughing Gull (Leucophaeus atricilla)
15. Northern Mockingbird (Mimus polyglottos)
16. Brown Pelican (Pelecanus occidentalis)
17. Carolina Chickadee (Poecile carolinensis)
18. Great-tailed Grackle (Quiscalus mexicanus)
19. American Avocet (Recurvirostra americana)
20. Bewick's Wren (Thryomanes bewickii)
21. Mourning Dove (Zenaida macroura)
22. Killdeer (Charadrius vociferus)
 
Last edited:
birdsandbats said:
Birds
92. Killdeer Charadrius vociferus
93. Canvasback Aythya valisineria
94. Horned Grebe Podiceps auritus
95. Fox Sparrow Passerella iliaca
96. Greater White-fronted Goose Anser albifrons
97. Red-throated Loon Gavia stellata
98. Eastern Meadowlark Sturnella magna
99. Common Loon Gavia immer
100. Green-winged Teal Anas crecca
101. Lapland Longspur Calcarius lapponicus
Click to expand...
Birds
102. Wood Duck Aix sponsa
103. Whooping Crane Grus americana
104. American Wigeon Mareca americana
105. Ruddy Duck Oxyura jamaicensis
 
Kakapo said:
Yesterday I had a VERY pleasing first sight in the year - I think the equivalent in birds to the scarce swallowtail in invertebrates that I saw a few days ago. I was approaching to my work place in my bike and saw a silhouette of a bird coming directly to me. I noticed the very spasmodic wing beats and I tought, this can't be a collared dove nor a starling. Once the bird was just over me, flying about 10-12 meters over my head, I saw the wide rounded wings with a white subterminal band. The body appeared black against the sky light, but of course it was a saumon-buff animal with a long curved bill and a big head crest. Yeah, first HOOOOOOPOOOE :cool: of the year!!!! (And I saw none during whole 2022). That put an extasis smile in my face while I continued cycling to work place!
Besides that, I saw white storks soaring over the area of my work place, cattle egrets resting over a truck, a black kite, three rabbits, and coming back to work a bird that I tought it has to be a FALCON - the wings looked like too sharp for be just a pigeon, even at first sight I tought it could be the first swift of the year, until it was closer and I saw it was too large for a swift, with a longer tail and a different way of flying. Unfortunately I cannot count it for this thread as I was not sure it was really a falcon, and if it is, if it's a peregrine or maybe a hobby. Also, at night I saw in the glass of a shop the first mayfly of the year, but it was an unidentifiable female subimago, so also can't count for the thread.

BIRDS:

42. Common hoopoe (Upupa epops)
Click to expand...


Today, nothing out of extraordinary, but a female large cabbage white flied in my parents's garden, barely stopping at a leaf to go out after. Saw a wall gecko, and after at dusk near the river I saw bats, a grey heron and two night-herons.

INVERTEBRATES:

53. Pieris brassicae.
 
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A zoo day today - Hamerton followed by quick spins round Johnson's of Old Hurst and the Raptor Foundation - but was able to end with a quick spin around Woodwalton Fen before the dark and the rain came. Overall not a great deal happening but it's always a strong 'little deer' site and one muntjac was joined by five individuals of a species I completely missed out on (as a wild species) last year.

Mammals:
15. Chinese Water Deer - Hydropotes inermis

:)
 
OboeKade said:
If it's too late to join, I'm terribly sorry, but I figured I may as well post my current 2023 species list here and see what happens. :p

MAMMALS:
1. Fox Squirrel (Sciurus niger)
2. White-tailed Deer (Odocoileus virginianus)

REPTILES:
1. Texas Spiny Lizard (Sceloporus olivaceus)
2. Pond Slider (Trachemys scripta)
3. Six-lined Racerunner (Aspidoscelis sexlineatus)

AMPHIBIANS:
1. Coastal Plains Toad (Incilius nebulifer)

BIRDS:
1. Cooper's Hawk (Accipiter cooperii)
2. Mallard (Anas platyrhynchos)
3. Great Egret (Ardea alba)
4. Red-shouldered Hawk (Buteo lineatus)
5. Crested Caracara (Caracara plancus)
6. Northern Cardinal (Cardinalis cardinalis)
7. Turkey Vulture (Cathartes aura)
8. Great Blue Heron (Ardea herodias)
9. Piping Plover (Charadrius melodus)
10. Black Vulture (Coragyps atratus)
11. Blue Jay (Cyanocitta cristata)
12. Black-bellied Whistling Duck (Dendrocygna autumnalis)
13. Black-necked Stilt (Himantopus mexicanus)
14. Laughing Gull (Leucophaeus atricilla)
15. Northern Mockingbird (Mimus polyglottos)
16. Brown Pelican (Pelecanus occidentalis)
17. Carolina Chickadee (Poecile carolinensis)
18. Great-tailed Grackle (Quiscalus mexicanus)
19. American Avocet (Recurvirostra americana)
20. Bewick's Wren (Thryomanes bewickii)
21. Mourning Dove (Zenaida macroura)
22. Killdeer (Charadrius vociferus)
Click to expand...
Never too late to join.
 
OboeKade said:
If it's too late to join, I'm terribly sorry, but I figured I may as well post my current 2023 species list here and see what happens. :p

MAMMALS:
1. Fox Squirrel (Sciurus niger)
2. White-tailed Deer (Odocoileus virginianus)

REPTILES:
1. Texas Spiny Lizard (Sceloporus olivaceus)
2. Pond Slider (Trachemys scripta)
3. Six-lined Racerunner (Aspidoscelis sexlineatus)

AMPHIBIANS:
1. Coastal Plains Toad (Incilius nebulifer)

BIRDS:
1. Cooper's Hawk (Accipiter cooperii)
2. Mallard (Anas platyrhynchos)
3. Great Egret (Ardea alba)
4. Red-shouldered Hawk (Buteo lineatus)
5. Crested Caracara (Caracara plancus)
6. Northern Cardinal (Cardinalis cardinalis)
7. Turkey Vulture (Cathartes aura)
8. Great Blue Heron (Ardea herodias)
9. Piping Plover (Charadrius melodus)
10. Black Vulture (Coragyps atratus)
11. Blue Jay (Cyanocitta cristata)
12. Black-bellied Whistling Duck (Dendrocygna autumnalis)
13. Black-necked Stilt (Himantopus mexicanus)
14. Laughing Gull (Leucophaeus atricilla)
15. Northern Mockingbird (Mimus polyglottos)
16. Brown Pelican (Pelecanus occidentalis)
17. Carolina Chickadee (Poecile carolinensis)
18. Great-tailed Grackle (Quiscalus mexicanus)
19. American Avocet (Recurvirostra americana)
20. Bewick's Wren (Thryomanes bewickii)
21. Mourning Dove (Zenaida macroura)
22. Killdeer (Charadrius vociferus)
Click to expand...
Saw two new species as well as more Bewick's Wrens, Northern Mockingbirds, Carolina Chickadees, and Cooper's Hawks walking the trails of the old golf course by my home:
23. White-winged Dove (Zenaida asiatica)
24. Carolina Wren (Thryothorus ludovicianus)
 
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I had a wander down to the south coast of Wellington this morning to see if I could see any of the Black-fronted Terns or Arctic Skuas which had been reported there recently. There weren't a lot of terns at the roost on the point and they were all White-fronted Terns as far as I could see, but in the distance over the ocean I could see a skua chasing a tern. It was a long way out, only recognisable as being a skua by its behaviour, but fortunately soon afterwards it (or another one) flew right past me along the shoreline so I got a good look at it.

There were also some Common Dolphins moving along offshore, only a few at first then swelling into hundreds, the bulk of which moved into Houghton Bay just along from where I was. I headed back along the road and watched them boiling the water as they chased fish, with a few lucky surfboarders floating amongst them.

A birder-friend happened along, and while we were talking a NZ Falcon suddenly hurtled straight past us, snatched a sparrow out of the air, and flew back into the hills behind. I've already seen a few falcons this year so it wasn't a year-list-bird but very cool to see.

Strings of terns were winging across the sea towards the roost on the point now, and we could tell some of them were Black-fronted Terns (smaller and grey), so we both headed back there to get proper views of them. There were a few more skuas seen distantly, and also a few Fluttering Shearwaters passed by close enough to identify.


BIRDS:
69) Arctic Skua Stercorarius parasiticus
70) Black-fronted Tern Chlidonias albostriatus
71) Fluttering Shearwater Puffinus gavia

MAMMALS:
5) Common Dolphin Delphinus delphis
 
Kakapo said:
Today, nothing out of extraordinary, but a female large cabbage white flied in my parents's garden, barely stopping at a leaf to go out after. Saw a wall gecko, and after at dusk near the river I saw bats, a grey heron and two night-herons.

INVERTEBRATES:

53. Pieris brassicae.
Click to expand...


I've forgot one more for yesterday. I lifted a piece of stone slab in my parents garden, and under it there were two female Steatoda grossa spiders (one full grown, the other young), and a springtail. The springtail is one I didn't saw since 2015. So:

INVERTEBRATES:

54. Entomobrya atrocincta
 
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After two weeks of particularly dreary weather spring finally seems to be steadily on it's way. With increasing temperatures, sunny days and rainy nights the conditions are now perfect to see amphibians. I have had a lot of the fun this week searching for frogs, toads and newts. The main highlight was probably a massive chorus of moor frog and natterjack on the heath, with calling owls in the background. But newts also did really well with good sightings of alpine and palmate Newt (the latter rare and very local here). My searches for viviparous lizard however have been fruitless so far, despite favourable weather. Their densities are very low here, so it may take a while to find one.

In terms of birds I saw a couple of odds and ends to add to the year list. Most notable was a very early wagtail. It is really weird to see yellow wagtail before brambling! Finally, mammals are still going strong, with a surprise sighting of a marten in the village. Still eleven species to go to beat my own record, but it is only march and a good bat season can go a long way!

Birds
159. Water Pipit, Anthus spinoletta
160. Ruddy Shelduck, Tadorna feruginea
161. Eurasian Tree Sparrow, Passer montanus
162. Western Yellow Wagtail, Motacilla flava
163. Brambling, Fringilla montifringilla

Amphibians
12. Common Toad, Bufo bufo
13. Smooth Newt, Lissotriton vulgaris
14. Moor Frog, Rana arvalis
15. Palmate Newt, Lissotrition helvetica
16. Alpine Newt, Ichthyosaura alpestris
17. Common Frog, Rana temporaria

Butterflies
7. Common Brimstone, Gonepteryx rhamni

Mammals
14. Beech Marten, Martes foina
 
Lota lota said:
59 Rough-legged buzzard (Bueto lagopus)
60 Common pheasant (Phasianus colchicus)
61 Great grey shrike (Lanius excubitor)

Nice getting to see the shrike and the buzzard before they move up north.
Click to expand...
Even though i got outside way to late,I still got a decent list with Twite being a real nice highlight.
62 Common chaffinch (Fringilla coelebs)
63 Lesser black-backed gull (Larus fuscus)
64 Common buzzard (Bueto bueto)
65 Northern lapwing (Vanellus vanellus)
67 Twite (Linaria flavirostris)
69 Common reed bunting (Emberiza schoeniclus)
 
oflory said:
Two unusually late additions to the 2023 list from a visit to Beale Wildlife Park at the weekend. Sadly, the only rufous-vented laughingthrushes in Europe are untickable...

91. Common chaffinch
92. Goldcrest
Click to expand...

With a new job etc, I haven't been able to go out birding farther than London parks, so Prague Zoo supplied three new additions to the year list. Hopefully, I will be able to get some proper focused birding in soon, for my favourite spring migrants.

93. Eurasian woodcock
94. Common buzzard
95. Eurasian tree sparrow
 
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