ZooChat Big Year 2019

Birds:
147. Little Tern (Sternula albifrons)
148. Crested Bellbird (Oreoica gutturalis)
149. White-throated needletail (Hirundapus caudacutus)
150. Brown Quail (Coturnix ypsilophora)

150! I’ve finally reached my goal of reaching 150 for birds this year. The birds in this post are mostly odds and ends from throughout the year that I’ve only recently identified.

The reason I’m starting on 147 for this post is because I’m removing fork tailed swift from my list as these were just misidentified welcome swallows.

The quail I saw yesterday in some long grass close to a mangrove swamp. Great to get a lifer as my 150th bird!

 

You posted this as I was literally writing out my 150th bird in my previous post . I appreciate the thought though!

 

150. The reason that it’s not 151 is that I removed fork tailed swift. Sorry, I should have made that a bit clearer in the post.

 

Mammals
22. Northern Raccoon Procyon lotor

 

On what is probably my last wildlifing day of the year, a very pleasing day of twitching in seemingly unpromising areas of Yorkshire. The duck was actually on the same pond that produced my last atypical Aythya, June's Ferruginous Duck, and the buzzard being reported hanging around nearby was just too tempting. The UK list jumps three because it also gained Ring-necked Parakeet on a recent trip to London.

Birds:
252. Ring-necked Duck - Aythya collaris
253. Rough-legged Buzzard - Buteo lagopus

(UK: 205)

 

Mammals
90. Yellow-necked Mouse (Apodemus flavicollis)

Birds
134. Tufted Duck (Aythya fuligula)
135. Common Moorhen (Gallinula chloropus)
136. Eurasian Coot (Fulica atra)

 

The year is almost over but I have an unexpectedly good final push for the year list! For almost 4 months I only added only 5 new birds, but in the past few days I found another four. The serin decided to show up close to Ouwehands Zoo, so I combined a lovely visit to the zoo with twitching the bird.

Then I went on a great birding day in the Oostvaarderplassen. We saw flocks of tens of thousands of geese, enormous numbers of ducks and waders, seven (!) White-Tailed Eagles in one spot and a caudatus Long-Tailed Tit, which has a completely white head and is absolutely the cutest thing alive in this world. I also found two year-list birds.

Finally, I found out that a group of 3 scoters had been seen sort of nearby, so I couldn't resist to try and find them. It took me a whole minute to find them once I arrived, so the search was quick and boring but the scoters were great to see.

Birds
244. European Serin, Serinus serinus
245. Rough-Legged Buzzard, Buteo lagopus
246. Greater Scaup, Aythya marila
247. Velvet Scoter, Melanitta fusca

 

Seen while patrolling Moonlit Sanctuary for misbehaving visitors yesterday. A first for Moonlit Sanctuary, but not for me.

387. Yellow-faced honeyeater Caligavis chrysops

 

Another bird species seen briefly today.
I also saw a Channel-billed Cuckoo raiding a nest and consuming the chicks of the local Figbirds. The group of birds frantically swooped the cuckoo, attempting to save their chicks. Unfortunately the cuckoo quickly devoured the chicks and flew off with the remaining chick.
Birds
92. Pacific Baza Aviceda subcristata

 

Best christmas ever! Quite a tad further than I'd usually drive, but everything's excusable when Europe's 9th (and the Netherlands' first) Little curlew is right there and ready to be seen.

A supporting cast of a sublime Little bustard only a few hundred meters away from the curlew, and a ssp nigricans Brant goose fairly closeby made this one of the most enjoyable days of twitching yet!

BIRDS:
702) Little curlew, Numenius minutus

 

As soon as I saw the sightings of that bird I started wondering how long it would take you to get there!

 

Trust me, so did I!

In my defense, of the 7 potential new birds for the Netherlands this year (Grey-headed lapwing, Red-wattled lapwing, Western sandpiper, Little curlew, Pied crow, Upcher's warbler, Horus swift) I've managed to not go after 5, even though they were all pretty twitchable!

 

I saw only one, the crow, and I don't even count it!

Do you believe it was a Horus swift? I thought the consensus was that is was a hybrid or colour mutation.

 

I have absolutely no idea, I don't think there is a whole lot of consensus yet but I think immediately writing it off as just a hybrid or colour mutation shouldn't be the way forward. In this article and the following discussion the suggestion of Horus swift seems fairly scientifically backed up, and the fact that one of the writers of the most relevant piece of swift literature to date is convinced (Swifts of the World by Driessens & Chantler, 1995) seems fairly suggestive at least... But I'm very glad that it's not my call to make.

Well, that's your problem!
In all seriousness though, I think the difference in perception is partially where the beauty of this hobby lies - everyone birds the way they want to, and thus unlike many other hobbies birding can be exactly whatever you want it to be!

 

I forgot about a previous post so have to recount:

Mammals
90. Yellow-necked Mouse (Apodemus flavicollis)

Birds
136. Tufted Duck (Aythya fuligula)
137. Common Moorhen (Gallinula chloropus)
138. Eurasian Coot (Fulica atra)

 

I don't know where I last posted so I'll put my entire lists in these few posts. They are probably my final tallies for the year.

BIRDS:
1 American Crow
2 Cackling Goose
3 Canada Goose
4 Northern Shoveler
5 Mallard
6 Northern Pintail
7 Common Goldeneye
8 Ring-billed Gull
9 Double-crested Cormorant
10 Great Blue Heron
11 Sharp-shinned Hawk
12 Red-tailed Hawk
13 Downy Woodpecker
14 Blue Jay
15 Black-capped Chickadee
16 European Starling
17 American Robin
18 American Tree Sparrow
19 Dark-eyed Junco
20 Song Sparrow
21 Northern Cardinal
22 Common Merganser
23 American Coot
24 Northern Flicker
25 Gadwall
26 Green-winged Teal
27 Lesser Scaup
28 Bufflehead
29 House Sparrow
30 Harris's Sparrow
31 Rock Pigeon
32 Eastern Meadowlark
33 Red-winged Blackbird
34 Greater Scaup
35 Hooded Merganser
36 Herring Gull
37 American Goldfinch
38 Horned Lark
39 Greater White-fronted Goose
40 Pied-billed Grebe
41 Bald Eagle
42 Eastern Bluebird
43 Yellow-rumped Warbler
44 American Kestrel
45 Eurasian Collared-Dove
46 Wood Duck
47 Belted Kingfisher
48 House Finch
49 White-throated Sparrow
50 Hairy Woodpecker
51 Winter Wren
52 Carolina Wren
53 Field Sparrow
54 Spotted Towhee
55 Cedar Waxwing
56 Lapland Longspur
57 Northern Harrier
58 Red-bellied Woodpecker
59 Mourning Dove
60 Tufted Titmouse
61 Ruby-crowned Kinglet
62 White-breasted Nuthatch
63 Carolina Chickadee
64 Northern Mockingbird
65 American White Pelican
66 Red-breasted Merganser
67 Ruddy Duck
68 Snow Goose
69 Glaucous Gull
70 American Pipit
71 Savannah Sparrow
72 American Wigeon
73 Ring-necked Duck
74 Brown Creeper
75 White-winged Dove
76 Ross's Goose
77 Ring-necked Pheasant
78 Cooper's Hawk
79 Northern Bobwhite
80 Redhead
81 Canvasback
82 Sandhill Crane
83 Black-crowned Night-Heron
84 Mountain Bluebird
85 Great Horned Owl
86 Loggerhead Shrike
87 Barred Owl
88 Fox Sparrow
89 Wild Turkey
90 Great Black-backed Gull
91 Red-shouldered Hawk
92 Greater Yellowlegs
93 Great-tailed Grackle
94 Killdeer
95 Prairie Falcon
96 Blue-winged Teal
97 Common Grackle
98 American Woodcock
99 Eastern Phoebe
100 Western Meadowlark
101 Horned Grebe
102 Great Egret
103 Fish Crow
104 Common Loon
105 Turkey Vulture
106 Blue-gray Gnatcatcher
107 Vesper Sparrow
108 White-crowned Sparrow
109 Tree Swallow
110 Brown Thrasher
111 Purple Martin
112 Brown-headed Cowbird
113 Snowy Egret
114 Cinnamon Teal
115 Baird's Sandpiper
116 Pectoral Sandpiper
117 Lesser Yellowlegs
118 Franklin's Gull
119 Osprey
120 Lark Sparrow
121 Orange-crowned Warbler
122 House Wren
123 Lincoln's Sparrow
124 Solitary Sandpiper
125 Little Blue Heron
126 Northern Rough-winged Swallow
127 Scissor-tailed Flycatcher
128 Chimney Swift
129 Great Crested Flycatcher
130 Western Kingbird
131 Wilson's Phalarope
132 Eastern Kingbird
133 Barn Swallow
134 Indigo Bunting
135 Least Flycatcher
136 Baltimore Oriole
137 Swainson's Hawk
138 Least Sandpiper
139 White-rumped Sandpiper
140 Semipalmated Sandpiper
141 Spotted Sandpiper
142 Pine Siskin
143 Chipping Sparrow
144 Ruby-throated Hummingbird
145 Willow Flycatcher
146 Warbling Vireo
147 Red-eyed Vireo
148 Gray Catbird
149 Peregrine Falcon
150 Swainson's Thrush
151 White-eyed Vireo
152 Sedge Wren
153 Clay-colored Sparrow
154 Black-and-white Warbler
155 Nashville Warbler
156 American Redstart
157 Summer Tanager
158 Rose-breasted Grosbeak
159 Common Yellowthroat
160 Common Nighthawk
161 Yellow-billed Cuckoo
162 Yellow Warbler
163 Wilson's Warbler
164 Magnolia Warbler
165 Blackpoll Warbler
166 Blue-headed Vireo
167 Ovenbird
168 Cattle Egret
169 Red-headed Woodpecker
170 Cliff Swallow
171 Dickcissel
172 Grasshopper Sparrow
173 Yellow-headed Blackbird
174 Bobolink
175 Bell's Vireo
176 Mississippi Kite
177 Neotropic Cormorant
178 Painted Bunting
179 Pileated Woodpecker
180 Northern Parula
181 Green Heron
182 Eastern Wood-Pewee
183 Orchard Oriole
184 Upland Sandpiper
185 Yellow-crowned Night-Heron
186 Black-necked Stilt
187 American Avocet
188 Snowy Plover
189 Western Sandpiper
190 Forster's Tern
191 American Bittern
192 White-faced Ibis
193 Chuck-will's-widow
194 Barn Owl
195 Black-billed Magpie
196 Brewer's Blackbird
197 Common Raven
198 Blue Grosbeak
199 Black Tern
200 Laughing Gull
201 Black-bellied Whistling-Duck
202 White Ibis
203 Stilt Sandpiper
204 Sanderling
205 Long-billed Dowitcher
206 Wilson's Snipe
207 Red-necked Phalarope
208 Marsh Wren
209 Yellow-bellied Sapsucker
210 Golden-crowned Kinglet
211 Townsend's Solitaire
212 Western Grebe
213 Golden Eagle
214 Tundra Swan
215 Black-bellied Plover
216 Short-eared Owl
217 Swamp Sparrow
218 Eastern Towhee
219 Eared Grebe
220 Greater Roadrunner
221 Dunlin
222 Bonaparte's Gull
223 Black Vulture
224 American Golden-Plover

 

Reptiles:
1 Red-eared Slider
2 Western Painted Turtle
3 Northern Map Turtle
4 Ornate Box Turtle
5 Western Massasauga
6 Plainbelly Water Snake
7 Slender Glass Lizard
8 Common Snapping Turtle
9 Spiny Softshell
10 Prairie Racerunner
11 Yellow Mud Turtle
12 Texas Horned Lizard
13 Ring-necked Snake
14 Three-toed Box Turtle

Amphibians:
1 Woodhouse's Toad
2 Blanchard's Cricket Frog
3 Boreal Chorus Frog
4 Plains Leopard Frog
5 American Bullfrog

 

Mammals:
1 Western Fox Squirrel
2 Kansas White-tailed Deer
3 Oklahoma Cottontail
4 Southern Gray Squirrel
5 Red Fox
6 Black-tailed Prairie Dog
7 Black-tailed Jackrabbit
8 Rocky Mountain Wapiti
9 Yellow-bellied Marmot
10 Virginia Opossum

Interesting side note, this is probably the first year of my life having not seen a wild coyote.

 

First one from a couple days ago. The rest from a walk around Moers town park and on the walk home.

Didn't expect the Wagtails in the middle of the city.

Kind of funny how you can pretty much ID a Goshawk just by the fact that almost every other bird disappears^^

Eurasian Wren is a bit of a boring name for that bird. The German one (Fence-king) is much cooler.

I was so happy to be done with all the LBJs in Australia and now I have to start over and study up on a whole new set of the damn things

Birds
139. Common Buzzard (Buteo buteo)
140. Black-headed Gull (Chroicocephalus ridibundus)
141. Grey Wagtail (Motacilla cinerea)
142. Egyptian Goose (Alopochen aegyptiaca)
143. Little Grebe (Tachybaptus ruficollis)
144. Northern Goshawk (Accipiter gentilis)
145. Eurasian Wren (Troglodytes troglodytes)
146. European Green Woodpecker (Picus viridis)