ZooChat Big Year 2016

Indeed - I refer the honourable gentleman to my post of the 22nd of October 2014: https://www.zoochat.com/community/posts/822886

This was my second trip to Africa, but my first to 'classic safari' country. The mammals only had one species that overlapped with the Ethiopian list (the aforementioned warthog). There's a bit more crossover in the birds (but plenty new as well!).

 

No Hyrax of any species in Botswana?
I'm also surprised that Common Hippo and Spotted Hyaena weren't also overlaps with Ethiopia.

 

2/5/2016
214. australasian gannet

 

Nope, no hyrax - they don't occur in the region we were visiting.

Hippos and hyaenas were both very possible in Ethiopia but we didn't see them (we did hear hyaenas, though!).

 

I should probably mention that I am extremely jealous about some of the things on your list
Ten of those mammals are species I've never seen wild, and I have tried for Wild Dogs, Ratels, Servals, and Wildcats multiple times in the past

 

The irony is we didn't have to specifically 'try' for any of those, in the end - our first wild dogs were at the side of the road as we drove to Khwai, and the others you mention put in appearances when we were just looking for whatever wildlife was going.

Buffalo, however, were a different story, and took quite some finding!

We saw another pack of dogs later in the trip that were much more lively, having just been disturbed by some rowdy lions.

 

I need to visit Botswana then!
I was going to visit in 2012, but we decided on South Africa (North East, including Kruger) instead.

 

Is anyone a member of the 'Global Rare Bird Alert' Facebook Group? It's fascinating to see what rarities turn up and where. The photos of dozens of birders queuing to see a bird is entertaining as well.

Some recent rare birds are a White-crowned Sparrow in Cheshire, a Sand Plover in Denmark, Belted Kingfisher in Ireland, Black-winged Kite in Armenia.

 

A nice afternoons birding gave me a few more yesterday.

167. Redstart
168. Pied Flycatcher
169. Tree Pipit
170. Short-eared Owl
171. Woodcock

 

232. Black crake
233. Plain martin
234. Black-throated wattle-eye
235. Silverbird
236. Nyanza black swift
237. White-faced whistling duck
238. Red-fronted tinkerbird
239. Abyssinian scimitarbill
240. African fish eagle
241. Violet-backed starling
242. Yellow-spotted petronia
243. Lesser grey shrike
244. African harrier hawk
245. Hemprich’s hornbill
246. Black stork
247. Black-and-white casqued hornbill
248. Brown babbler
249. Black-headed gonolek
250. Saddle-billed stork
251. White-headed saw-wing
252. Ring-necked dove
253. African thrush

Mammals

22. Striped ground squirrel
23. Scrub hare
24. Egyptian mongoose

Herps

7. Southern long-tailed lizard
8. Hemydactylus brooki

 

One from the a few days ago:

69. House Marten Delichon urbicum

A trip to Bempton Cliffs got me a few birds (5/5/2016):

70. Northern Gannet Morus bassanus
71. Common Gullemot Uria aalge
72. Razorbill Alca torda
73. Atlantic Puffin Fratercula arctica
74. Northern Fulmar Fulmaris glacialis

After that a trip to Filey Bird Garden let me see a couple of other species:

75. Common Swift Apus apus

2. Great Crested Newt Triturus cristatus
3. Smooth Newt Lissotriton vulgaris


I also saw Rock Doves, but as I've seen Feral Pigeons already this year I wasn't sure if they counted; do they?

 

Birds
29. Grey Wagtail



Hix

 

Ahh, thanks for the clarification; I'll admit I thought about sneaking it in and hoping no one noticed but I decided not too!

 

The last time I was on fair isle in 2004 even the apparent wild rock doves had obvious feral pigeons/doves with them.

Has any genuine research been done to determine wether rock dove still has a genetically pure population anywhere or is this species functionally been merged with feral pigeon? As far as I know bou do not seperate the two anymore.

 

284 Baltimore Oriole - Icterus galbula
285 Nashville Warbler - Oreothlypis ruficapilla
286 Mississippi Kite - Ictinia mississippiensis

 

If any real rock pigeons still exist, it is likely somewhere in Southern Europe, apparently the rock pigeons in the Rhodope mountains in Bulgaria are still "relatively pure" and the ones I saw there in the Trigrad gorge looked genuine...

 

172. Whiskered Tern
173. Greenshank
174. Reed Warbler
175. Common Swift

 

Time for a big bird update of mostly Botswanan origin - will be split over a few posts and starts with a small recap...

Driving down the M40 (22nd April):

157. Red Kite - Milvus milvus

WWT London Wetland Centre (22nd April):

158. Cetti's Warbler - Cettia cetti
159. Whinchat - Saxicola rubetra
160. Yellow Wagtail - Motacilla flava

O. R. Tambo International Airport, Johannesburg (23rd April):

161. Rock Martin - Ptyonoprogne fuligula
162. White-rumped Swift - Apus caffer
163. Cape Wagtail - Motacilla capensis
164. Cape Sparrow - Passer melanurus
165. Mountain Wheatear - Myrmecocichla monticola

Drive from Maun to Khwai Community Area (23rd April):

166. Blacksmith Lapwing - Vanellus armatus
167. Lilac-breasted Roller - Coracias caudatus
168. Southern Red-billed Hornbill - Tockus rufirostris
169. Ring-necked Dove - Streptopelia capicola
170. Fork-tailed Drongo - Dicrurus adsimilis
171. Burchell's Starling - Lamprotornis australis
172. Red-billed Scrubfowl - Pternistis adspersus
173. Dark Chanting Goshawk - Melierax metabates
174. Bateleur - Terathopius ecaudatus
175. Violet-eared Waxbill - Uraeginthus granatinus
176. Magpie Shrike - Urolestes melanoleucus
177. Southern White-crested Shrike - Eurocephalus anguitimens
178. Helmeted Guineafowl - Numida meleagris
179. Woodland Kingfisher - Halcyon senegalensis
180. African Fish Eagle - Haliaeetus vocifer
181. Striated Heron - Butorides striata
182. Hammerkop - Scopus umbretta
183. Tawny Eagle - Aquila rapax

First day at Khwai (24th April):

184. African Openbill - Anastomus lamelligerus
185. African Jacana - Actophilornis africanus
186. Pied Kingfisher - Ceryle rudis
187. Coppery-tailed Coucal - Centropus cupreicaudus
188. Wattled Crane - Grus carunculata
189. White-faced Whistling Duck - Dendrocygna viduata
190. Saddle-billed Stork - Ephippiorhynchus senegalensis
191. Zitting Cisticola - Cisticola juncidis
192. Southern Yellow-billed Hornbill - Tockus leucomelas
193. African Darter - Anhinga rufa
194. Goliath Heron - Ardea goliath
195. Rufous-bellied Heron - Ardeola rufiventris
196. African Golden Oriole - Oriolus auratus
197. Southern Grey-headed Sparrow - Passer diffusus
198. Meves' Starling - Lamprotornis mevesii
199. Malachite Kingfisher - Corythornis cristatus
200. Meyer's Parrot - Poicephalus meyeri
201. Senegal Coucal - Centropus senegalensis
202. Levaillant's Cuckoo - Clamator levaillantii
203. Spur-winged Goose - Plectropterus gambensis
204. Western Cattle Egret - Bubulcus ibis
205. Grey Go-away-bird - Corythaixoides concolor
206. Red-billed Buffalo Weaver - Bubalornis niger
207. Arrow-marked Babbler - Turdoides jardineii
208. Laughing Dove - Spilopelia senegalensis
209. Southern Black Tit - Melaniparus niger
210. Red-billed Oxpecker - Buphagus erythrorynchus
211. African Harrier Hawk - Polyboroides typus
212. Little Bee-eater - Merops pusillus
213. White-backed Vulture - Gyps africanus
214. White-browed Sparrow-weaver - Plocepasser mahali
215. African Grey Hornbill - Lophoceros nasutus
216. Swainson's Spurfowl - Pternistis swainsonii
217. Green Wood-hoopoe - Phoeniculus purpureus