ZooChat Big Year 2021

So did you notice if there were any Ashy-headed geese on display this time?

 

okay thank you!

 

14/11/21 (Weert)

BIRDS:
282) Jack snipe, Lymnocryptes minimus

 

New additions from Spain are few but high in quality. The sandgrouse was probably my most wanted species left that could be seen in our field locations. We heard them a few times, so it spend a frustrating amount of time on the heard-only list. However, as soon as we took some time to actually search for them, we managed to find four individuals flying in the distance, close enough to see their patterns.

While winter migrants have arrived here (there far more thrushes than before) we currently experience a little rise in temperature, which persuades a lot of cold-blooded beasts to active, including several really nice species. Highlight is probably a large adult Horshoe Whip Snake, seen at one of the field locations, the first wild snake for me this year. Lizards and butterflies are also out in more force now, providing me with a lifer in each category!

Birds
252. Black-bellied Sandgrouse, Pterocles orientalis
253. Merlin, Falco columbarius

Herptiles
11. Spanish Wall Lizard, Podarcis hispanicus (sensu stricto)
12. Horseshoe Whip Snake, Hemorrhois hippocrepis

Butterflies
32. Pea Blue, Lampides boeticus

 

Birds:
98. Swainson’s Thrush (Catharus ustulatus)

Insect/Invertebrate:
202. Typical leafhopper (Novellina seminuda)
203. Rathke’s woodlouse (Trachelipus rathkii)
204. Wetland giant wolf spider (Tigrosa helluo)
205. Chinese mantis (Tenodera sinensis)
206. Leaf-footed bug (Leptoglossus oppositus)
207. Red-legged grasshopper (Melanoplus femurrubrum)
208. Diamondback spittlebug (Lepyronia quadrangularis)
209. Black-tailed red sheetweaver (Florinda coccinea)

 

Just an opportunity for UK listers; there is now a female walrus at Seahouses, Northumberland....

 

I just realized I counted mammal #32 twice, so I should be at 38 mammal species.

 

I did (mainly because between development works and bird flu precautions very little actually is on show, it felt like! ) - and there weren't.

Only the European and North American enclosures had anything like their normal content - there were only really the species that share the flamingo enclosures plus Black-necked and Coscoroba swans on show in Africa and South America and Asia/Australia were completely closed off 'for development' apart from access to the Hogarth hide (past empty goose enclosures!). With the flamingos also shut in (albeit mostly visible) and the former wader aviary (now screamers and South American waterfowl) closed it was only the new bits being impressive (aviary, Nene golf course) and three showy mammals in Back from the Brink that stopped the 'zoo' section from being downright depressing..! I suspect some of it is a genuine reduction in holdings but so much is up in the air it's hard to tell.

Fortunately the birding more than compensated.

 

After Slimbridge yesterday, it was time for another birding day - this was the only other full day this month I could give over to wildlife so I needed to make the most of it. After eyeing up the recent bird reports I took a punt on Flamborough Head via Hornsea Mere - both sites had two pretty findable birds each that had been there a few days and that I was missing and I figured I would probably find at least one or two of the four, and maybe Flamborough would rustle me up a surprise vagrant.

Well, sometimes the gods of birding smile down upon you - I was able to find all four of my target waterbirds (helped by the fact the two species at each site were hanging out near each other in both cases) - and Flamborough did indeed provide a surprise vagrant.

On top of the below I also saw my second Red-necked Grebe of the year and what I think might be my first English-east-coast eiders - as well as, in what seems to be theme for me this year, loads of Red-throated Divers. Not sure if my behaviour is different this year or theirs is but I'm liking it!

Actually, in theory the best thing I saw today might turn out to be something that doesn't even qualify for the list currently - my first Siberian Chiffchaff (Phylloscopus collybita tristis). 'Only' a subspecies by most authors currently but with consistent plumage and voice differences from other collybita I suspect it is only a matter of time before this one gets bumped up - and now if it does I can armchair tick it.

Birds:
198. Greater Scaup - Aythya marila
199. Slavonian Grebe - Podiceps auritus
200. Long-tailed Duck - Clangula hyemalis
201. Velvet Scoter - Melanitta fusca
202. Pallas' Leaf Warbler - Phylloscopus proregulus

(UK: 198 - still technically my worst since 2015 for this date but now the gap to the next-lowest is only one bird - not 10 as it was on Friday!)

 

14/11/2021 (Estuaire de l'Asif n'Srou, Morocco)
BIRDS:
190 - European robin, Erithacus rubecula

 

Thanks. I have a feeling I won't be seeing them there again- either they are permanently offshow or they haven't got them anymore. That postage-stamp area of sheldgeese pens could well become a thing of the past in time as they become orientated to the more modern methods of displaying their birds, as you describe.

Actually I know a bird farm in Devon that has them if I really get the urge to see them...

 

Will be doing some desert birding the next couple of days hopefully, but here are a couple odds-and-ends picked up prior to that:

Birds
136. Sandhill Crane (Antigone canadensis)

Mammals
19. Brown Rat (Rattus norvegicus)

 

I normally wouldn't do a post for a lone insect, but this one is rather worthy. About three-quarters of an hour ago I discovered a relatively large and lumbery beetle on my front porch, unexpected since it has been cold, wet, and quite windy tonight. Upon a good deal of research this cold-stunned beetle represents a tiny family of beetles (rain beetles, of the scarab superfamily) with only one extant genus with 27 species. Found only in my county and the neighboring county to the south, described only in 2007, and emerging only in cool and rainy fall weather, Pleocoma rovorei is easily the rarest insect I've ever seen.

Invertebrates:

33. Pleocoma rovorei




12-114-7-2-1-33

 

Dingdener Heide, Hamminkeln

Birds
67. Great Grey Shrike (Lanius excubitor)

 

Even though October has been full of really good species and exciting twitches, November so far has been fairly disappointing. Belgium's first ever Western Swamphen (on the 1st of November) was exciting, but I already had those in France and Spain this year. Other than that, a few nice additions but also unfortunately loads of misses, including the returning Wallcreeper that unfortunately was only seen for half an hour before it disappeared forever!
The birds I did get were 4 nice rare winter visitors and perhaps our 2 most surprising exotics.

BIRDS:
355) Lesser white-fronted goose, Anser erythropus
356) Horned lark, Eremophila alpestris
357) Rough-legged buzzard, Buteo lagopus
358) Glaucous gull, Larus hyperboreus
359) Chilean flamingo, Phoenicopterus chilensis
360) Black swan, Cygnus atratus

[+13 heard only (373 total)]

Mammal-wise has been an entirely different story though! We went spotlighting in the Ardennes a week ago, not really with a specific goal in mind but of course hoping primarily for wild cat... And we got one! End totals of the night were 3 Woodcock, 17 Red deer, 38 Roe deer, 2 Deer sp., 1 Wild boar, 27 Hare, 1 Wood mouse sp., 17 Red fox, and 1 Wild cat!

MAMMALS:
27) Red deer, Cervus elaphus
28) Eurasian wild cat, Felis silvestris

 

After being stuck in lockdown for three months and unable to travel more than 5 kms from home, I took the opportunity this weekend to travel up the coast to increase my year list, and my NSW list. Over three days I was quite successful with 23 species, and picked up 4 lifers to boot!

Birds
Stockton Sandspit
223. Brown Honeyeater
224. Brahminy Kite
225. Whimbrel
226. Common Tern
227. Gull-billed Tern
228. Red Knot
229. Beach Stone-curlew

Hunter Wetlands
230. Wandering Whistle-Duck
231. Intermediate Egret
232. Radjah Shelduck

Boyters Lane, Jerseyville
233. Tawny Grassbird
234. Spangled Drongo
235. Regent Bowerbird
236. Black-necked Stork
237. White-throated Needle-tail
238. Pheasant Coucal
239. Rose-crowned Fruit-dove

Port Macquarie
240. White-headed Pigeon
241. Spectacled Monarch

Cattai Wetlands
242. Crested Shrike-tit
243. White-cheeked Honeyeater
244. Comb-crested Jacana
245. Brown Cuckoo-dove


Mammals
14. Red Necked Wallaby

Reptiles
5. Macquarie Short-necked Turtle





Hix

 

mad twiching day last week i almost feal like i can stop birding for the year now. but of corse i am not going to do that!
sweden second siberian rubbythroat but first twitchable. the bird was found one monday afternon sean by lots of birder one Tuesday, but was not sean one Wednesday, so it was a real gambel that we drove down at 3am one Thursday. we got there at 8 and saw noting,
then at 11,30 a birder came runing and said he saw it a few blocks away, time to rush to that spot , first we saw nothing then i got a quick glimps of a bird that lookt like it, but i dident aper again , but after 10 mins we found it agian and it gave amazing looks and even started singing a bit, one the way home we stopt to look at a steppe eagle wich was my 250 bird one my swedish list !

199 siberian rubythroat Luscinia calliope!
200 Steppe eagle Aquila nipalensis(only sweidish lifer

 

This species rather closely resembles Common Babbler Turdoides caudata in colour, so I am no longer confident in this identification. I will remove it from my list.

 

A few birds to add from Wales
174 Water Rail Rallus aquaticus
175 Pochard Aythya ferina
176 Great Grey Shrike Lanius excubitor
177 Brambling Fringilla montifringilla

 

Went for a different species. Came back with this one.^^

Polder Hasenfeld, Rheinberg

Birds
68. Bewick’s Swan (Cygnus columbianus bewickii)