ZooChat Big Year 2013

158 Rufous Songlark [You Yangs]
159 Common Greenshank [Western Treatment Plant]

 

268 Sandhill Crane - Grus canadensis
269 Tropical Kingbird - Tyrannus melancholicus
270 Blue-headed Vireo - Vireo solitarius
271 Cave Swallow - Petrochelidon fulva
272 Amazon Kingfisher - Chloroceryle amazona

The kingfisher is a Code 5 ABA rarity! Only two birds have ever been sighted in the USA.

 

Birds
400. Cassin's Flycatcher
401. Northern Black Flycatcher



Hix

 

I'm just happy to get it on the life list.

 

273 Whimbrel - Numenius phaeopus
274 Red-breasted Merganser - Mergus serrator
275 Semipalmated Plover - Charadrius semipalmatus
276 Sanderling - Calidris alba

 

277 Red-crowned Parrot - Amazona viridigenalis

A little background on this one. No one is sure what to make of the Red-Crowned Parrot population in south Texas. There are for sure some escaped birds in the flock, but it is entirely possible that some of the birds are natural migrants from Mexico. The parrot's range is 50-100 miles south of Brownsville, which makes vagrants quite possible. It is also one of the rarer parrot species with 3,000-6,500 left in the wild, so this south Texas population is actually a good thing.

 

We are in the final hours of the Big Year competition. Who will win? It's anybody's guess. Granted, anybody is putting their money on Chlidonias...

 

Me. I think I have a real shot at getting a few hundred more species in the next few hours.

~Thylo

 

100 species in a day is completely doable. If you're in the right spot.

 

278 Yellow-throated Warbler - Setophaga dominica

 

Some final species, allthough I may add 2 or 3 bats after sound analysis, but that is for the long term

247. Madagascar sparrowhawk

Herpetofauna
51. Dyscophus guineti (my first wild tomato frog)
52. Blaesodactylus antongilensis
53. Uroplatus sikorae

and a snake awaiting identification

 

Last evening I decided it would be fun to end the year with one more life bird, so I went up to a spot where two species of rosy-finch roost at night in the winter. I already have seen the more common (in this area) gray-crowned rosy finch, but last night I was able to pick out some black rosy-finches among them. Great way to end my biggest birding year yet.

302 Black Rosy-finch

 

279 Aplomado Falcon - Falco femoralis
280 Loggerhead Shrike - Lanius ludovicianus
281 White-tailed Kite - Elanus leucurus
282 Green Parakeet - Aratinga holochlora

My final count is 282 for the year. My initial goal was 250, so I far exceeded that.

 

As of right now, here are the standing:

1. Chlidonias - 459
2. Hix - 401
3. Ituri - 302
4. jbnbsn99 - 282
5. Boof - 253
6. lintworm - 247

Of course, I'm sure a few more numbers will roll in. The year's only been done a few hours.

I'd like to compile some other data too. Send in information for the following:

1. World total
2. Continent total
3. Region total (like ABA, etc.)
4. Country total(s)
5. State/province totals

 

145 Yellow-tailed Black Cockatoo Calyptorhynchus funereus
146 Australasian Gannet Morus serrator
147 Red-necked Avocet* Recurvirostra novaehollandiae
148 Australian Raven Corvus coronoides

I didn't quite make it to my goal of 150 species, but I haven't had a chance to do any serious bird watching for the past couple of months. Will try harder next year! Pretty happy with my list though, especially given the majority were new species.

 

@jbn, my Europe total is 206 I believe, which is the most for that continent.

 

Last minute sighting on the evening of the 31st -

402. European Goldfinch

I am still awaiting identification of two birds from Uganda, but I'll carry on regardless:

402 species total

Australia - 203 species (25% of Australia's total)

• New South Wales - 184 species
• Australian Capital Territory - 9 species
• Northern Territory - 54 species

Africa - 205 species

• Uganda - 205 species (19%)(don't know the different regions in Uganda)
  

Hix

 

My final tally for 2013 was 223 species in the UK.

The highlight was a European Bee-eater which turned up just five miles from my house.

The full list is here if anyone is interested.

 

My lists:

Texas - 255
Arizona - 102

USA - 283 (eBird is screwing with me and somehow added two birds to my list since yesterday. I got the birds. I checked every single bird in the list, but somehow 2 were lost in the tally yesterday. Freakin' weird.)

Counties.
Tarrant County (Texas) - 183