ZooChat Big Year 2018

20/5/2018
180. chestnut rumped thornbill
181. singing honeyeater

 

Mammals
30) Groundhog Marmota monax
31) White-Footed Mouse Peromyscus leucopus

Reptiles
5) Northern Water Snake Nerodia sipedon

~Thylo

 

Just saw that I listed New Holland Honeyeater twice, so still at 260 and forgot to put the Gecko from my QLD trip:

Birds (non-passerines)
260. Budgerigar

Reptiles
22. Chameleon Gecko (Carphodactylus laevis)

 

Spent today and yesterday evening birding in a couple of places around Warsaw so I've finally added many of the summer species that I've been missing. Also just a brief note, but my trip mentioned in the above quoted post now has a thread which I think is the sort of thing that is likely to interest readers of this thread. LaughingDove Goes Travelling - SE Asia and Australia

113) Common House Martin
114) Common Redstart
115) Skylark
116) Red-backed Shrike
117) Yellow-legged Gull
118) Whinchat
119) Common Cuckoo
118) European Reed Warbler
119) Pied Flycatcher
118) Willow Warbler
119) Savi's Warbler
120) Thrush Nightingale
121) Little Bittern
122) Sand Martin
123) Grey Flycatcher
124) Eurasian Wryneck
125) Eurasian Golden Oriole
126) Common Nightingale
127) Corn Bunting
128) Black Redstart
129) Garganey
130) Gadwall
131) Common Tern
132) Red-necked Grebe
133) White Stork
134) Great Reed Warbler
135) Yellow Wagtail
136) White Wagtail (this was actually seen earlier and I thought I already had it on my list but I've just checked and I don't - it should be #112)
137) Icterine Warbler
138) Northern Lapwing
134) Meadow Pipit
135) Northern Wheatear
136) Common Stonechat
137) Little Ringed Plover
138) Grey Wagtail
139) River Warbler
140) Little Tern
141) Tree Pipit


2) Common Frog
3) Viviparous Lizard
4) Marsh Frog
5) Common Toad


17) Eurasian Water Shrew

But by far the most exciting mammal wasn't a year list but was the best view I've ever had of the species and my first photos. A Eurasian Beaver:

 

Seen at school (!) on Friday:

Birds
114. Golden-Winged Warbler Vermivora chrysoptera (NT)

And a few seen while camping this weekend:

Birds
115. Purple Finch Haemorhous purpureus
116. Red-Eyed Vireo Vireo olivaceus
117. Least Flycatcher Empidonax minimus
118. Ovenbird Seiurus aurocapilla
119. Willow Flycatcher Empidonax traillii
120. Black-Throated Green Warbler Setophaga virens
121. Common Loon Gavia immer

 

Yesterday, @KevinVar, two friends and I spent a full day (4AM - Midnight) birding as part of a "big day", in which we aimed to see as many species as possible within 1 day on 1 island. The goal was 100 species, and we managed to get 103, so we're very happy with our total, and we definitely saw a lot of interesting birds!

BIRDS:
226) Common ringed plover, Charadrius hiaticula
227) Jack snipe, Lymnocryptes minimus
228) Spotted redshank, Tringa erythropus
229) Little tern, Sternula albifrons (ssp albifrons)
230) Icterine warbler, Hippolais icterina
231) Spotted flycatcher, Muscicapa striata

MAMMALS:
12) Common pipistrelle, Pipistrellus pipistrellus

INVERTEBRATES:
28) Box tree moth, Cydalima perspectalis
29) Black-and-red froghopper, Cercopis vulnerata
30) Sloe bug, Dolycoris baccarum
31) Tanyptera atrata

The box tree moth was in my garden a few days ago, and the warbler and flycatcher two very interesting additions from today.

 

Had a busy birding weekend (this last couple of weeks I've been making hay while the sun shines, both semi-literally and because next month will be much more zoo-y and birding time will be limited).

Yesterday I went with my dad to look for Grizzled Skipper at Twyford Woods, where most of the below inverts came from. This was followed by a trip to noted osprey haunt Rutland Water, where we were also able to find a stilt, hobbies, a Great Northern Diver, and, after three quarters of an hour listening to a singing bush, finally an adequate nightin-glimpse.

Today I went on an afternoon jaunt to the Dearne Valley - a rather twitchy jaunt at that. The area has a series of nature reserves in a post-industrial landscape. I found the phalarope at Broomhill Flash very straightforwardly, then headed up to Old Moor for the ibis that was hanging around. This kept me waiting a long time, but it was all part of the birding gods' plans as the delay allowed me to watch a bittern being hounded out of the reeds by nesting gulls.

Birds:
174. Eurasian Hobby - Falco subbuteo
175. Black-winged Stilt - Himantopus himantopus
176. Western Osprey - Pandion haliaetus
177. Common Nightingale - Luscinia megarhynchus
178. Red-necked Phalarope - Phalaropus lobatus
179. Great Bittern - Botaurus stellaris
180. Glossy Ibis - Plegadis falcinellus

(UK: 178)

Invertebrates:
20. Brown-lipped Banded Snail - Cepaea nemoralis
21. European Hornet - Vespa crabro
22. Grizzled Skipper - Pyrgus malvae
23. Dingy Skipper - Erynnis tages
24. Large White - Pieris brassicae
25. Cinnabar Moth - Tyria jacobaea
26. Common Blue - Polyommatus icarus
27. Red-headed Cardinal Beetle - Pyrochroa serraticornis
28. Brown Argus - Aricia agestis
29. Dark-edged Beefly - Bombylius major
30. Red-and-black Froghopper - Cercopis vulnerata
31. Common Blue Damselfly - Enallagma cyathigerum
32. Grey Mining Bee - Andrena cineraria
33. Four-spotted Chaser - Libellula quadrimaculata
34. Tree Bumblebee - Bombus hypnorum
35. Blue-tailed Damselfly - Ischnura elegans

 

Just a short bird list. I've reached the stage were you have seen the far majority of species in your local area. The remaining ones are either rare or difficult to find or see*. However, the ones you do see tend to be the more interesting birds. A few of the inverts were seen in the Biesbosch but identified later from pictures.

Birds
175. Lesser spotted woodpecker [Dryobates minor]
176. Garden warbler [Sylvia borin]
177. European honey buzzard [Pernis apivorus]
178. Red-backed shrike [Lanius collurio]

Invertebrates
61. Tansy beetle [Chrysolina graminis]
62. Freshwater snail [Galba truncatula]
63. Cinnabar moth [Tyria jacobaeae]
64. Small heath [Coenonympha pamphilus]
65. Yellow-barred long-horn [Nemophora degeerella]
66. Black-tailed skimmer [Orthetrum cancellatum]

* I don't count "heard only"-birds.

 

142) Wood Warbler
143) Tawny Pipit

 

Good for you to get some new species now, because from Wednesday onwards you will be effectively barred from this competition until mid-September

 

Pot, kettle, black. You've hardly been a local patch worker yourself this year .

Anyway, it's more sporting to start off slow and then get into it properly, unlike someone who started off the year with three continents!

 

Here's an idea; how about we just bar everyone visiting multiple continents from the competition?

 

I think a tour of just Asia or South America could still nab a win

~Thylo

 

Two more from whale watching near Long Beach:

Birds
148) Surf Scoter Melanitta perspicillata
149) Western Grebe Aechmophorus occidentalis

There are more, I'm just not very good at identifying seabirds so it might be a while

~Thylo

 

And every New Zealand species counts for 4 or what

 

Where did you see the chameleon gecko!?

 

Some additions from Berlin and from cycling through the Netherlands (without binoculars...), nothing groundbreaking or special, though the Oriole was a nice surprise, I haven't seen those too often in the Netherlands...

312. European nightingale
313. Common redstart
314. Mandarin duck
315. House martin
316. Sand martin
317. European stonechat
318. Golden oriole
319. European cuckoo
320. Common tern
321. Lesser reed warbler
322. Tree sparrow

 

No one's reading my threads


Just joking.
It was at the parking lot at Mt Hypipamee.