It's been a crazy year for vagrants in Wisconsin this year. Flame-colored Tanager, Roseate Spoonbill, Anna's Hummingbird, American Flamingo, and now:
Birds
261. Ancient Murrelet Synthliboramphus antiquus
Zoochat Big Year 2023
- Thread starter Chlidonias
- Start date
Birds
261. Ancient Murrelet Synthliboramphus antiquus
Nice, looks like they did end up on Lake Michigan, I know this one has been eagerly awaited.
12,000 Dovekie were recorded in Massachusetts today. Hopefully this will be a good winter for auks!
~Thylo
~Thylo
I'm back home for Thanksgiving break and decided to wake up early to return to the local Metropark. There was a lot of waterfowl and raptor activity. Despite the cold and windy weather, there wasn't a cloud in the sky, so I was able to get great looks at nearly everything.
11/24/23
Birds:
144. Common goldeneye Bucephala clangula
145. Hooded merganser Lophodytes cucullatus
Total Species: 176
Birds: 145
Mammals: 16
Herptiles: 13
Fish: 2
11/25/23
116. Black Vulture (Coragyps atratus)
Total:
Mammals: 15
Birds: 116
Reptiles: 10
Amphibians: 7
Fish: 4
Invertebrates: 20
A trip back to Washington plus a couple of random invertebrates over the past few days with some interesting finds - finally conclusively saw sea lions (a pair of large bull males in Puget Sound), a Red-Necked Grebe (a lifer, and also strangely still in breeding colors), and a number of shore crabs found when tidepooling. Sighted a flock of sea ducks but couldn't conclusively identify them without the spotting scope - some sort of scoter, but whether it was White-Winged or Surf I couldn't determine. Happily, I've now seen 4 species of chickadee this year - Black-Capped, Mountain, Carolina, and Chestnut-Backed. Seeing multiple species of the same group across different states is always fun as it's a great opportunity to compare and contrast them.
Mammals:
20. Pacific Harbor Seal (Phoca vitulina richardsi) – 11/22/23
21. California Sea Lion (Zalophus californianus) – 11/22/23
Birds:
114. Golden-Crowned Sparrow (Zonotrichia atricapilla) – 11/20/23
115. Black-Capped Chickadee (Poecile atricapillus) – 11/20/23
116. Red-Necked Grebe (Podiceps grisegena) – 11/21/23
117. Rhinoceros Auklet (Cerorhinca monocerata) – 11/21/23
118. Chestnut-Backed Chickadee (Poecile rufescens) – 11/21/23
Invertebrates:
64. Black Caterpillar Hunter (Calosoma sayi) – 10/23/23
65. Buzzer Midge (Chironomus plumosus) – 10/26/23
66. Marsh Slug (Deroceras laeve) – 11/07/23
67. Purple Shore Crab (Hemigrapsus nudus) – 11/21/23
68. Yellow Shore Crab (Hemigrapsus oregonensis) – 11/21/23
69. Eastern Harvestman (Leiobunum vittatum) – 11/25/23
Mammals:
20. Pacific Harbor Seal (Phoca vitulina richardsi) – 11/22/23
21. California Sea Lion (Zalophus californianus) – 11/22/23
Birds:
114. Golden-Crowned Sparrow (Zonotrichia atricapilla) – 11/20/23
115. Black-Capped Chickadee (Poecile atricapillus) – 11/20/23
116. Red-Necked Grebe (Podiceps grisegena) – 11/21/23
117. Rhinoceros Auklet (Cerorhinca monocerata) – 11/21/23
118. Chestnut-Backed Chickadee (Poecile rufescens) – 11/21/23
Invertebrates:
64. Black Caterpillar Hunter (Calosoma sayi) – 10/23/23
65. Buzzer Midge (Chironomus plumosus) – 10/26/23
66. Marsh Slug (Deroceras laeve) – 11/07/23
67. Purple Shore Crab (Hemigrapsus nudus) – 11/21/23
68. Yellow Shore Crab (Hemigrapsus oregonensis) – 11/21/23
69. Eastern Harvestman (Leiobunum vittatum) – 11/25/23
I am removing amethyst-throated mountain-gem, now pretty sure that we didn't, in fact, see one, sadly. However, I went to see a group of short-eared owls on the weekend, so my total remains the same.
335. Short-eared owl
All your numbers are way out. Prior to this post your birds were on 46, your mammals on 15, your reptiles on 4, and your amphibians on 2. I can't update any of your listings until you correct your numbers.
I've got you on 49 total - 36 insects, 6 arachnids, 4 molluscs, and 1 each of annelid, platyhelminthe, and crustacean. Is there an extra one you haven't included?
Bactrian Deer
Well-Known Member
My apologies, it is my blame. I’ll fix it later today after classes
Yeah it appears a number was skipped on my post from the 5th of June, went from 36 to 40 but only added 3 insects, (although I'm probably sitting on a species from that trip [Grasshopper from the Hawdon] that I'll slap on later anyways), but with what I've so far posted on ZC yeah I believe it should be 49, I also need to do some cross-referencing with my personal spreadsheets although which are a bit of a mess.
11/29/23
Birds:
146. Fox sparrow Passerella iliaca
Total Species: 176
Birds: 146
Mammals: 16
Herptiles: 13
Fish: 2
Why haven’t I updated this thread? Rank negligence.
Anyway, I finally found this ,err, misbegotten bird, to remain polite, among other things.
Birds
160. Jacobin Cuckoo Clamator jacobinus
161. Long-tailed Shrike Lanius schach
162. White-bellied Sea-eagle Haliaeetus leucogaster
163. Small Minivet Pericrocotus cinnamomeus
164. Bronze-winged Jacana Metopidius indicus
165. Common Iora Aegithina tiphia
166. Greenish Warbler Phylloscopus trochiloides
167. Barred Buttonquail Turnix suscitator
168. Jerdon’s Nightjar Caprimulgus atripennis
169. Verditer Flycatcher Eumyias thalassinus
170. Indian Shag Phalacrocorax fuscicollis
- Black-headed/Red-headed Bunting Emberiza melanocephala/bruniceps
- Pipit sp. Anthus sp.
All of these were around Bangalore except the Sea-eagle, which was from a brief trip to the coast. The buttonquail was a completely unexpected find. One unusual bird that has been hanging around my school is a peafowl the colour of coffee-cream. I am not sure if this is a common mutation - it may even be a tame individual. M. Krishnan describes a ‘blonde’ peafowl from the forests of Mudhumalai, which makes me wonder if this may be something similar. The pipits will hopefully be identified soon.
You may notice my number has reduced a little - I said it was 161 earlier - but this is because I have decided to remove a few birds from my list:
Didn’t meet my standards for ID, I feel.
Duplicate of bird 105.
Reptiles
11. Indian Rat Snake Ptyas mucosa
12. Checkered Keelback Fowlea piscator
13. Indian Wolf Snake Lycodon aulicus
It’s frankly a little shameful that it’s taken me so many years to see such a common snake as the rat snake properly - although in my defence it is quite easy to mistake for a cobra so I’m a little reluctant in approaching them. Wolf snakes are also another very common snake I’ve almost never seen, but unusually L. aulicus, one of the most widespread in India, seems to be quite uncommon around here.
I was hoping I could get to 200 birds this year - certainly I have something close to this number if you count birds that could not be brought down to species level - but with exams coming up I am almost certainly not going to have time to chase that number. In a few days I am leaving on a school trip to Rajasthan and we are hoping to hit a few birding sites; Desert National Park in the Great Thar, and the Demoiselle wintering ground near Tal Chappar, and just maybe, the mother-of-all-birding-sites: Keoladeo Ghana in Bharatpur, although it is more or less in the opposite direction to everywhere else we are going. This should get me at least a few more species; hopefully regional specialities like White-browed Bushchat and Trumpeter Finch.
One species I seem to have missed off my list from Arabuko-Sokoke:
685) Knob-Billed Duck Sarkidiornis melanotos
~Thylo
Some great seasonable diver action at Staines Reservoirs - very possibly my last two new birds for the year, unless something unexpected turns up!
336. Great northern diver
337. Black-throated diver
Finally catching up again on my Kenya trip photos and finally getting some more birds IDed. Came across one encounter I'd forgotten about, which adds a previously removed species back on the list!
686) Mouse-Colored Penduline-Tit Anthoscopus musculus
687) Purple-Banded Sunbird Cinnyris bifasciatus
688) Southern Black Flycatcher Melaenornis pammelaina
~Thylo
Osedax
Well-Known Member
I haven't been keeping count all year, but I thought some of the Australian zoochatters might find this interesting. I hope this is the right place to post this.
Today, I saw several Little Grebes (Tachybaptus ruficollis), a rare vagrant to Australia!!! There was a male and two females, and what is more, one of the females had at least two chicks!!! As far as I am aware, this is the first record of this species breeding in Australia!
Today, I saw several Little Grebes (Tachybaptus ruficollis), a rare vagrant to Australia!!! There was a male and two females, and what is more, one of the females had at least two chicks!!! As far as I am aware, this is the first record of this species breeding in Australia!
I suggest googling Australasian grebe
. Vagrants don't exactly turn up as breeding pairs...