ZooChat Big Year 2014

Then you've done the right thing by not listing them yet. Hopefully you'll see them again in good light and confirm their identity.



Hix

 

Indeed. But in the meantime:

Birds
49) Forster's Tern

No lifeticks yet in Florida but hopefully this shall change soon. Though the tern and heron were wild lifeticks.

~Thylo

 

Birds
50) Willet Tringa semipalmata
51) Yellow-Crowned Night Heron Nyctanassa violacea

~Thylo

 

Ironically, given the last string of posts about ID caution and somewhat awkwardly, given my forthright defence of the ID (that'll teach me! ), I've had information casting doubt on the Natterer's Bat ID, so I'm demoting it to 'ID tentative' until this is resolved, if it ever is! This means it is off the annual count and mammals are back to 36 - last addition noctule...

...except that I've been back in my university town of Bangor this weekend and have been out and about doing some wildlifing. Another Anglesey trip with no Black Guillemots (indeed no lifers at all), but I didn't do too badly!


South Stack:

275. Red-billed Chough - Pyrrhocorax pyrrhocorax

Point Lynas:

37. Harbour Porpoise - Phocoena phocoena
38. Grey Seal - Halichoerus grypus

Almost run over by me while driving across Anglesey (but in good light so still the best view I've had in the wild):

39. Least Weasel - Mustela nivalis

Bangor Pier:

276. Ruddy Turnstone - Arenaria interpres

Great Orme:

277. Peregrine Falcon - Falco peregrinus
278. Rock Pipit - Anthus petrosus


EDIT: That also brings my UK-only bird list to 140, back over 50% of the list (for now!).

 

Last few from cornwall and devon

223. Arctic skua
224. Great skua
225. Spotted redshank

I annoyingly missed a storm petrel that flew past which would have been a life tick.

 

130 Gang Gang Cockatoo

131 Noisy Friarbird
A lone individual was reported on Friday in a tiny park in Viewbank (a densely populated Melbourne suburb) far to the west of its normal range. We found the bird within two minutes of arrival on Saturday morning because of its distinctive call. It was a special tick for a rather scary, prehistoric-looking bird.

 

Why thank you! We were quite happy with the tick, especially since we dipped twice on the Red-Whiskered Bulbuls a couple km away. From what I read, Bulbuls (an introduced species) were thought to be extinct in Victoria, with the last reliable sighting being in 2009. As per usual, everyone else seems to be seeing them except us.

Man, you are showing your age! I had to Google what a Skeksis was. Then again, maybe the 1982 movie has only just been released in NZ.

 

I spent the earlier part of the weekend in southern Arizona where I visited the world-famous birding site, Madera Canyon, as well as Mt Lemmon and the Arizona-Sonora Desert Museum. Had a spectacular time and saw many life birds. Also added a few mammals and reptiles as well. One interesting miss came in the late evening when I noticed large bats flying around the canyon. I stupidly assumed that they were insectivorous bats and identifying them was beyond my skill. The following day, having left the canyon I discovered that the hummingbird feeders near where I saw the bats were frequently visited by long-tongued and long-nosed bats! It is more than likely that those were the bats I saw, so I missed out on the opportunity to watch them feed at close range! Another interesting tidbit. I saw seven species of hummingbird in one day.

Madera Canyon
293 Elf Owl
294 Acorn Woodpecker
295 Mexican Jay
296 Bridled Titmouse
297 Broad-billed Hummingbird
298 Magnificent Hummingbird
299 Elegant Trogon
300 Arizona Woodpecker
301 Sulfur-bellied Flycatcher
302 Painted Redstart
303 Yellow-eyed Junco
304 Dusky-capped Flycatcher
305 Montezuma Quail
306 Plain-capped Starthroat
307 Canyon Towhee
308 Rufous-winged Sparrow

6 Desert Grassland Whiptail

Mt Lemmon
309 Greater Pewee

41 Cliff Chipmunk

Arizona-Sonora Desert Museum
310 Cactus Wren

7 Ornate Tree Lizard

 

Birds
52) Sanderling Calidris alba
53) Laughing Gull Leucophaeus atricilla
54) Ruddy Turnstone Arenaria interpres
55) Royal Tern Thalasseus maximus
56) Snowy Egret Egretta thula
57) Glossy Ibis Plegadis falcinellus
58) Little Blue Heron Egretta caerulea
59) Double-Crested Cormorant Phalacrocorax auritus

~Thylo

 

Reptiles
2) Green Anole Anolis carolinensis

~Thylo

 

I never even heard of the movie! It's like you and Trapperkeepers.

 

60) Cattle Egret Bubulcus ibis
61) Northern Mockingbird Mimus polyglottos

~Thylo

 

Amphibians
3) Southern Leopard Frog Lithobates sphenocephalus

~Thylo

 

A couple ones I forgot to include from Madera Canyon

311 Greater Roadrunner

42 Arizona Gray Squirrel

Phoenix Zoo
312 Rosy-faced Lovebird
313 Gilded Flicker
314 Black-tailed Gnatcatcher
315 Ladder-backed Woodpecker

43 Harris's Antelope Squirrel

8 Zebra-tailed Lizard
9 Desert Spiny Lizard
10 Tiger Whiptail

 

Migration is now in full swing in our neck of the woods- as well as large flocks of swallows and house martins, a hobby, several blackcaps and a turtle dove all passing through, managed to get another two new species of migrant bird.

113. Lesser whitethroat
114. Spotted flycatcher

 

Birds
62) American White Ibis Eudocimus albus
63) Belted Kingfisher Megaceryle alcyon

~Thylo