ZooChat Big Year 2015

Mammals:

39. Least Weasel

 

I have been going in the forest myself, but never very far, and never with a guide. I am especially surprised that I haven't seen any galago yet, but I did see more palm civets....I also saw my first chameleon:

20. Usambara three-horned chameleon

And one new bird

476. Brown-hooded kingfisher

 

it is C. ansorgei, which is sometimes lumped with C. gambianus. But Kingdon treats them as separate species, and I follow him, as he is not very keen on splitting, so if he splits a species, there is normally good reason for it...

 

Good luck with the galago. The best your're probably gonna get is a brief glimpse at some eyeshine. And there's at least two species (or is it three?) in the area.

And I found if you go out with a guide - especially one of the birding ones - you'll see at lot more because they're better at spotting them.

Are you staying at the Amani Guesthouse?



Hix

 

Fish
153. Blueheaded Wrasse
154. Rockmover Wrasse



Hix

 

I think there is even 4 species of galago in Amani...

I am not really sure what the name of where I am staying is, but I guess it is the Amani guesthouse, it is at least right next to the Conservation main station along the main road in the "botanical garden"...

 

272 Black Vulture - Coragyps atratus
273 Carolina Chickadee - Poecile carolinensis
274 Northern Cardinal - Cardinalis cardinalis
275 Hooded Warbler - Setophaga citrina

As you can see, I took a trip back east. However, that last one was actually seen after I got home to Idaho!

 

Birds
209. Christmas Island Goshawk



Hix

 

477. Green barbet
478. Uluguru violet-backed sunbird
479. Dark-backed weaver


Mammals

68. Suni

 

Pretty sure that's the place I stayed at.

If you see the guys in this photo they should be able to help you find birds. The guy on the left is Martin, the government ornithologist working at Amani on the Long-billed Tailorbird, amongst others. The guy on the right is a local bird guide from Amani (can't remember his name, it might be Zion). He guides for a living so he might charge you for the service, but he's pretty good.



Hix

 

Fish:
155. Surge Wrasse
156. Foursaddle Grouper
157. Flagtail Grouper
158. Thinspine Grouper
159. Oriental Sweetlips
160. Chiseltooth Wrasse
161. Very Longnose Butterflyfish



Hix

 

First opportunity to go diving on Christmas Island since I arrived, and while we were down a squall rolled in and the monsoon rains arrived. And my underwater camera decided to do it's own thing. However, got to see some nice new species of fish and one invert.

Invertebrates:
5. Crown-of-thorns Starfish

Fish
162. Grey Reef Shark
163. Silky Shark
164. Crimson Soldierfish
165. White-tip Soldierfish
166. Sixlined Soapfish
167. Goldback Basslet
168. Spotted Butterflyfish
169. Pyramid Butterflyfish
170. Cocos Angelfish
171. Golden Damsel
172. Leopard Blenny
173. Swallowtail Puller
174. Ringtail Wrasse
175. Neon Fusilier
176. Wideband Fusilier



Hix

 

Yes; the snorkeling in Flying Fish Cove is excellent, with lots of corals and the edge of a dropoff. But I could only see from the surface, and snorkel down a few metres (max. of 4m). And flying fish cove is popular with people and boats.

The dives were down to 25m in an area which gets no people because its a distance from the settlements. And the best coral cover I have ever seen anywhere. And with this doubledive I have now seen a quarter of the fish species recorded from here.

And the only fish I've seen on my plate has been wahoo (very delicious!)



Hix

 

480. African openbill stork
481. Lizard buzzard
482. European bee-eater
483. African bare-eyed trush
484. Melba finch
485. Eastern chanting goshawk
486. Red-billed buffalo weaver
487. Jameson firefinch
488. Lesser striped swallow


69. Kirk's dikdik
70. Garnett's galago
71. Eastern white-bearded wildebeest
72. Ochre's bush squirrel


I am now back in Kenya for several days for a meeting and I will go back to Amani in a few days again

 

I forgot to add another sighting from back on Thursday 26th November. Went to Frinton-on-Sea, a good local sea-watching site where just a couple of days prior to my visit there had been sightings of eiders, common scoter, long-tailed duck, dozens of red-throated diver, Slavonian grebe, gannets, great skua, guillemots, razorbills and little auks - none of which I have seen this year.

On my visit, the sea was completely empty of all bird life bar a few black-headed gulls. But the trip was made worthwhile by a very obliging lifer, eating flies off the sea wall:

153. Purple sandpiper Calidris maritima

 

489. Grey woodpecker
490. Black-lored babbler
491. Fischer's lovebird
492. African green pigeon
493. Grey-capped warbler

73. Common hippo

I am not sure whether the defassa waterbuck that are on the lawn here every day count, as I am not sure whether they are "wild" or just hotel pets.

 

Fish
177. Round Batfish
178. Slender Lizardfish

Invertebrates
6. Red-spotted Starfish (Linckia multifora)



Hix