ZooChat Big Year 2019

I made use of the warm spell by making a last push for the Pileated Woodpecker. Alas: I found no less than four woodpeckers, no more than zero of which were Pileated. Did pick a couple of new species from my sites, though:

232. Yellow-bellied Sapsucker (Sphyrapicus varius)
233. White-throated Sparrow (Zonotrichia albicollis)

 

577. Ruddy turnstone
578. White-tailed eagle
579. Whooper swan
580. Long-tailed duck

A productive day with 3 species I had not seen in the Netherlands before and one of them even a lifer. We were just looking for the Eagles in the north of the country, but the swans flew over when looking at the Eagle and a random stop at a bird hide yielded a Long-tailed duck, which I had no clue was there. The turnstone was seen a few weeks ago during a walk on the beach.

 

298 smew Mergellus albellus

 

i wonder if it is the same bird that was sean in sweden this summer

 

At the first of January, I peered outside my window and saw a Great Tit enjoying the plentyful seeds at the feeder in my garden. That was my first bird this year. Today I was looking at some plovers and curlews at the coast, when suddenly a small stint-like job walked into view. A Sanderling. Whilst not rare at all along the Dutch coasts, especially in winter, this species managed to elude me multiple times. It had become sort of a nemensis bird this year, which made it all the more satisfying to watch small groups of them scurrying along the water's edge today. It will be the last bird for the 2019 year list. A good ending of a great birding year!

Birds
248. Sanderling, Calidris alba

 

Birds
147. Short-toed Treecreeper (Certhia brachydactyla)
148. Long-tailed Bushtit (Aegithalos caudatus)

 

Birds
191. Fairy Martin
192. White-browed Woodswallow

And I think that's me done for the year.



Hix

 

I haven't been on the forum very much lately, just been really busy with other stuff, but thought it would be worth finishing off the year list with sightings from the last two weeks. Should be quite obvious where I am at the moment from this list. Not a birding trip at all though, mostly staying with relatives while getting on with uni work.

Birds: (these are in ~taxonomic order because I haven't been keeping a proper list of birds as I see them and I don't know the exact order I saw them all in.)
146) Black Swan
147) Blue-billed Duck
148) Musk Duck
149) Australian Shelduck
150) Pacific Black Duck
151) Australasian Grebe
*Great Crested Grebe
152) Australian Pelican
153) Darter
154) Great Cormorant
155) Pied Cormorant
156) Little Pied Cormorant
157) White-faced Heron
158) Great Egret
159) Nankeen Night Heron
160) Glossy Ibis
161) Australian White Ibis
162) Straw-necked Ibis
163) Yellow-billed Spoonbill
164) Wedge-tailed Eagle
165) Square-tailed Kite
166) Brown Goshawk
167) Purple Swamphen
168) Dusky Moorhen
169) Buff-banded Rail
*Eurasian Coot
170) Black-winged Stilt
171) Silver Gull
172) Common Bronzewing
173) Spotted Dove
174) Laughing Dove
175) Red-tailed Black Cockatoo
176) Carnaby's Cockatoo
178) Galah
179) Little Corella
180) Rainbow Lorikeet
181) Australian Ringneck
182) Red-capped Parrot
183) Southern Boobook
184) Tawny Frogmouth
185) Laughing Kookaburra
186) Red-backed Kingfisher
187) Rainbow Bee-eater
188) Splendid Fairy-wren
189) Variegated Fairy-wren
190) Spotted Pardalote
191) Striated Pardalote
192) Western Gergygone
193) Yellow-rumped thornbill
194) Red Wattlebird
195) New-holland Honeyeater
196) Singing Honeyeater
197) Brown Honeyeater
198) Rufous Whistler
199) Golden Whistler
200) Willie Wagtail
201) Grey Fantail
202) Magpie-lark
203) Black-faced Cuckooshrike
204) Grey Butcherbird
205) Pied Butcherbird
206) Australian Magpie
207) Australian Raven
208) Tree Martin
209) Silvereye
210) Australian Reed Warbler

Quite a few bird taxa still missing, not seen a single Australasian robin on this trip for example, but as I say I haven't put in a huge amount of time specifically looking for birds this time. I have another two weeks in January before returning to the UK so should see most of this list again and probably fill in a few gaps.

Mammals:
27) Western Grey Kangaroo
28) Southern Brown Bandicoot
29) Common Brushtail Possum
*Dead Western Ringtail Possum

Herptiles:
12) Motorbike Frog (Litoria moorei)
13) Western Banjo Frog (Limnodynastes dorsalis)
14) Bobtail Skink
15) Gould's Goanna
16) Common Dwarf Skink (Menetia greyii)
17) Fence Skink (Cryptoblepharus buchananii)

Not a bad total particularly, but not great given that it includes Europe, North America, and Australia for the year. No real birding trips this year though.

 

Mammals
91. European Roe Deer (Capreolus capreolus)

 

Another day of searching for the Pileated Woodpecker to no avail. I admit defeat; you win, my feathery friend.

I picked another woodpecker and another sparrow, and this will likely be my last haul for the year:

234. Hairy Woodpecker (Leuconotopicus villosus)
235. Swamp Sparrow (Melospiza georgiana)

 

After going back through other people's pictures of my site, I realized that I saw one more species of sparrow than I thought:

236. Field Sparrow (Spizella pusilla)

 

wen i was on mauritus i went snorlig i saw a few new specis but i did not great field gujd and now i have forgoten most of them the only one i rember is
136 banded snake eel

 

When is the big year 2020 thread going to start because I’m ninety nine percent sure I will see silver gulls in 2 hours and 40 minutes

12 AM in my Timezone

 

Here are the remainder of my invertebrates for the year. The majority are comprised of beetles, bugs and butterflies/moths since they much easier to identify to species level. I was also lucky enough to find by chance a well-camouflaged Goliath Stick Insect on a eucalyptus tree. I also managed to see a Blue Tiger Butterfly in the city centre. They are apparently uncommon in my area.
I also realized that I accidentally counted invertebrate number 35 twice (both Australian Cockroach and Humped Silver Orb Weaver), so I skipped invertebrate number 92 to fix the problem.

Birds
93. Australian Raven Corvus coronoides

Fish
4. Banded Toadfish Marilyna pleurosticta

Invertebrates
93. Redback Spider Latrodectus hasseltii
94. Goliath Stick Insect Eurycnema goliath
95. Blue Blubber Jellyfish Catostylus mosaicus
96. Yellow-striped Hermit Crab Clibanarius taeniatus
97. Light-blue Solider Crab Mictyris longicarpus
98. Brown Cockchafer Rhopaea magnicornis
99. Lycid Beetle Porrostoma rhipidium
100. Net-casting Spider Deinopsis subrufa
101. Magnificent Spider Ordgarius magnificus
102. Common Christmas Beetle Anoplognathus porosus
103. Tiger Cranefly Nephrotoma australasiae
104. Orange Dart Suniana sunias
105. Mallotus Harlequin Bug Cantao parentum
106. Common Aeroplane Phaedyma shepherdi
107. Silverfish Episma saccharina
108. Granny’s Cloak Moth Speiredonia spectans
109. Crusader (Holy Cross) Bug Mictis profana
110. Poinciana Longicorn Agrianome spinicollis
111. White Crab Spider Thomisus spectabilis
112. Garden Mantid Orthodera ministralis
113. Cigarette Beetle Lasioderna serricorne
114. Orange-spotted Ladybird Orcus australasiae
115. Orange Potter Wasp Eumenes latreilli
116. Washing Beetle Phyllotucus macleayi
117. Blue Tiger Butterfly Tirumala hamata
118. Moon Jellyfish Aurelia aurita
119. Common Jezabel Delias nigrina

 

I know the year is not over yet (more than 10 hours left here), but my year list won't get any longer. This year has been quite a good year, even though I had expected a much higher number of birds. All my plans to go abroad where either cancelled or drastically reduced in scope, so basically everything is from the Netherlands.

In terms of birds I found 248 species, of which 18 species were lifers (7.4%). This included several species that were really high on my wish-list, such as Short-Eared Owl, Whiskered Tern, Shore Lark, Black Grouse and Woodchat Shrike.

This year I managed to find 20 species of mammals, with little out of the ordinary. 2 lifers (10%), both of which were really cool: Least Weasel and Edible Dormouse, the latter was seen wild in a zoo.

I found 11 herptiles with only a single lifer (9.1%), the Marsh Frog. I had the highest percentage of lifers with fish, as 3 out of 6 were lifers (50%): Sunbleak, Tench and Western Tubenose Goby. Almost half of the inverts were lifers: 90 out of 184 (48.9%), and again I just didn't reach the 200.

That brings a total of 469 species and 114 lifers (24.3%) in 2019!

A couple of inverts may still be identified, and I certainly hope the Red-Tailed/Isabelline Shrike I saw gets a proper ID. But this is basically it for the year. I have great plans for next year, so that's going to be very exciting!

 

I just missed my first animal of 2020

I was alerted of a house mouse running across the window but unfortunately I didn’t see it

 

Here is a final push to get everything listed. I will now be up to date with vertebrates. Inverts there are a few I am still working on that won't make it on before the end of year. My invert total is correct as I also duplicated a species.
Birds:
170. Swamp Sparrow Melospiza georgiana
171. Common Gallinule Gallinula galeata
172. Ruddy Duck Oxyura jamaicensis
173. Red-throated Loon Gavia stellata
174. Merlin Falco columbarius
175. Northern Gannet Morus bassanus
176. Ruby-crowned Kinglet Regulus calendula
177. Vesper Sparrow Pooecetes gramineus
178. Snow Goose Anser caerulescens
179. Snow Bunting Plectrophenax nivalis
180. Horned Lark Eremophila alpestris
181.Lesser Black-backed Gull Larus fuscus
182. Tundra Swan Cygnus columbianus
183. Lark Sparrow Chondestes grammacus
184. Iceland Gull Larus glaucoides
185. Black Guillemot Cepphus grylle
186. Northern Shrike Lanius borealis
187. Rough-legged Hawk Buteo lagopus
Fishes:
2. Northern Kingfish Menticirrhus saxatilis
3. Atlantic Silverside Menidia menidia
Inverts:
99. Mournful Thyris Thyris sepulchralis
100. Ailanthus Webworm Moth Atteva aurea
101. Clemens' Grass Tubeworm Moth Acrolophus popeanella
102. Hummingbird Clearwing Hemaris thysbe
103. Wedgling Moth Galgula partita
104. Ipsilon Dart Agrotis ipsilon
105. Pale Beauty Campaea perlata
106. Discolored Renia Renia discoloralis
107. Six-spotted Tiger Beetle Cicindela sexguttata
108. Scarlet Malachite Beetle Malachius aeneus
109. Hairy-necked Tiger Beetle cicindela hirticollis
110. Japanese Beetle Popillia japonica
111. Locust Borer Megacyllene robiniae
112. Cross Orbweaver Araneus diadematus
113. American House Spider Parasteatoda tepidariorum
114. Mydas Fly Mydas clavatus
115. Phantom Crane Fly Bittacomorpha clavipes
116. Common Periwinkle Littorina littorea
117. Atlantic Slipper Shell Crepidula fornicata
118. Eastern Mudsnail Tritia obsoleta
119. Atlantic Ribbed Mussel Geukensia demissa
120. Atlantic Mud Fiddler Crab Minuca pugnax
121. Green Crab Carcinus maenas
122. Long-clawed Hermit Crab Pagurus longicarpus
123. Smooth Periwinkle Littorina obtsata
124. Atlantic Ghost Crab Ocypode quadrata
125. Giant Leopard Slug Limax maximus
126. Differential Grasshopper Melanoplus differentialis
127. Red-headed Bush Cricket Phyllopalpus pulchellus
128. Olive-winged Drake Hexagenia limbata
129. Chinese Mantis Tenodera sinensis
130. Eastern Boxelder Bug Boisea trivittata
131. European Sowbug Oniscus asellus
132. Pillbug Armadillidium vulgare
133. American Dog Tick Dermacentor variabilis
134. Summer Fishfly Chauliodes pectinicornis
135. Oleander Aphid Aphis nerii
136. Rosy Maple Moth Dryocampa rubicunda

 

Missed one invert while posting.
137. Fall Field Cricket Gryllus pennsylvanicus

 

That is a positively average thing to be doing and I completely refuse to believe that you ever do such things.