The first thread has reached 200 posts so I'm starting a new one; to read back, head here: http://davesgarden.com/community/forums/t/1235824/
Reached #200 myself this evening with a Barn Owl
Totals as currently standing (apologies for any errors or omissions!)
Elphaba 318
Resin 200
P_Edens 140
Chillybean 129
Burd_Fotos 112 (not up to date)
Mrs_Ed 70
MargaretK 59 (not up to date?)
Pic: Dunlin
Congrats on that rare warbler Resin. I'll have to look that one up.
Nice additions Chily and Mrs. Ed.
Over the weekend I got:
319 - Prairie Warbler - Pic 2
320 - Eastern Towhee
321 - Roadrunner
322 - Bachman's Sparrow - Pic 1
323 - Red-cockaded Woodpecker (mama and baby)
Yesterday:
324 - Common Tern - Pic 3 with Laughing Gull and Sandwich Tern
Also saw Red-vented Bulbuls that are breeding in the neighborhood just south of me. They don't count though because they were once caged birds that have yet to establish a foothold here although apparently, they've been breeding in that spot for several years now.
Pic 3 ... Sandwich Tern
I can come up with a better pic for the tern when I get back this evening. Thanks for the heads up! Here's a pic with a Royal Tern, Cabot's Tern and Forster's Tern. Hopefully the other two haven't changed names?
I just found this. I tend to look most often at my thread watcher, so missed this until today.
A very cool 200 Resin. I've only seen one at the rehab place.
And nice birds, too, Elphaba. All but the Common and Forester's Terns and Towhee would be lifers for us. I haven't seen any terns yet this year, but sure I will get my tern eventually. :D
#201 Rustic Bunting, another good rarity - had to get a boat out to the Farne Islands to see it, but well worthwhile!
Resin
Birders are so adventurous! Love that you're hopping boats to see cool birds Resin. Awesome bird -- love it with that cool mustard lichen or whatever it is.
Had a good weekend. I came in from doing yard work -- dripping with sweat and covered with fish poo -- when my friend called to say there's a Red-necked Phalarope and we're off to see it. Of course, I joined in! Bonus bird in the same flooded field was a Cinnamon Teal. Another friend wanted to see the Phalarope, so went again the next day. Phalarope was gone but I got Wood Storks and Black Terns!
325 - Red-necked Phalarope
326 - Cinnamon Teal
327 - Black Tern
328 - Wood Stork
Off to see Swallow-tailed Kite nest which should be 329.
Fish poo, Elphaba? Is that for fertilizer? We used some type of fish liquid when we planted our tomatoes a week ago and well coyotes came and dug up a few plants looking for fish. Trying non-chemical gardening is sure a learning experience. If it's not one thing, it's another. There's an electric fence up now, but we were needing that for our corn garden later in the summer--raccoons.
OK, back to the birds. I hope you get your Swallow-tailed Kite.
#130 Eurasian Tree Sparrow- That was about the easiest life bird we've ever had away from home. We were out of town at our favorite bakery when one lands right in front of our car onto a post.
#131 Chimney Swifts
#132 Gray Catbird
#133 Willow Flycatcher
My God, you lot are doing brilliantly. I've reached 64 (birds that is).
Added some grassland birds yesterday.
71. Dickcissel
72. Bobolink
73. Eastern Meadowlark
74. Field Sparrow
75. Cedar Waxwing
This message was edited Jun 4, 2012 12:27 PM
Mrs. Ed, You got some of my favorites there. The top three are regular visitors in and near our yard. And today, a Dickcissel was sitting just a few feet from me when I was walking around. I've been hunting for an owl pellet. We don't know one is there, but we had a Great-horned keeping my husband and I up for too long one night. That pellet would be a nice addition to our collection. Some collection- we have one. :)
um. I'm not sure what to say about an owl pellet collection. ha.
If I knew bird calls, I know I would have a bunch more on my list. There are tons of birds in the grass singing away and I have no idea what they are. I've seen sedge wrens there so I'm sure they are there. I also have a couple pictures of birds and the pictures are too bad for ID. bummer.
Yeah, dissecting owl pellets can be interesting, find out what they're eating. Great school project for kids, they really enjoy it!
Two more for me yesterday:
202 Great Skua
203 Sooty Shearwater
The Sooty Shearwater is incredibly early, they don't usually reach the North Sea until late July or August, on their huge migration loop from the Falkland Islands where they breed.
Resin
Mrs. Ed, We have all boys, if that explains anything. We could be collecting worse things...
Resin, The older two have dissected Barn Owl pellets we bought from an educational store, but the youngest found one pellet in the yard. It had a vole or mouse in it and never could figure out which owl did this. We learned hawks have more stomach juices, so could break down the bones better than owls. This pellet had complete bones, so it was an owl, but the pellet too small for a Great-horned.
oh, don't get me wrong, I think an inspection would be cool. I'm just not sure how I feel about a collection. lol.
I think your collection sounds awesome, but I always was a bit of a tomboy -- well, a tomboy who liked to wear dresses, carry a purse and smell flowers, but I always had grassmarks on my tights, leaves in my hair and some kind of squirming thing in my hand. The fish poo was from cleaning the fish filter. I only have one koi at the moment and I never feed it, but it poops like crazy!
Got the Swallowtail Kite breeding in Harris County which is amazing -- used to breed here long ago and seem to be coming back.
329 -- Swallowtail Kite
Also got an amazing bird -- only time it's been seen in Texas and I heard it hadn't been seen in US since 1994:
330 - Black-tailed Godwit!!!
You're a show off Resin. ha ha. They are handsome birds!
LOL! Wish I'd gotten that good a pic of our ONE bird!
Another semi-rarity today . . .
204 Marsh Warbler
A bird returning for its third summer (it was ringed [banded] in 2010) at a coastal wetland. They're common on mainland Europe, but fairly rare in Britain.
Resin
Nice pics Resin. Interesting that the same bird would keep coming back.
Two more in a late evening trip last night:
205 Eurasian Woodcock
206 European Nightjar
Resin
76. American White Pelican.
Well,
Got my Bank Swallow, #134 (confirmed this time, if you read my post on the last thread)
135. Yellow-breasted Chat
136. Yellow-billed Cuckoo (Thrilled to see this one, since 2009 was our one and only)
137. Cedar Waxwing
138. Eastern Wood-pewee
Glad that Bank Swallow finally worked out for you Chily. Nice list.
Comin' along there Mrs. Ed!
Nice creatures of the night Resin.
Hopefully going south this weekend with potential for a bunch of year birds and maybe a few lifers. Hope that Masked Duck is still there!
77 Red-eyed Vireo.
Good one Mrs. Ed.
Postponed trip south until next weekend. Did get 2 year birds on Sunday though:
331 - Barn Owl
332 - Long-billed Curlew - I'm told their arrival signals the beginning of fall migration. There was an interesting article in National Wildlife about bird migration. The author said that there is a bird in migration every month of the year and that some birds pass each other migrating in different directions.
Fall migration! but they just got here. lol
It'll likely be an immature (one year old), they often stay well south of the breeding range.
Resin
Yep, that's what my friend said. He said that immature males would be the first ones we'd see, and we did see handful of them spread out in different locales around island. I'd been bugging him about getting a Long-billed Curlew, and he kept saying that I'd have to wait, so I was pretty pleased when I spotted the first one. We were trying to get a frigatebird though and missed that bird.
207 Red-necked Phalarope - an unusual record for here (and the first time I've ever seen one in breeding plumage; only seen juveniles before)
Resin
Resin, at the end of the year, I'd love to hear how many "unusual" or rare sightings you had.
78 Double crested cormorant
Will do!
Two more today:
208 Hobby
209 Roseate Tern
Also potentially # 210, but that'll have to be decided by the BOU (Britain's ornithological authority). A pair of Sacred Ibis. The question that the BOU will have to answer is are they (a) escapes from a zoo (in which case they don't count), or (b) wandering birds from the recently established feral population in France (in which case, they do count towards the yearlist). The theoretical option (c) that they are genuine wild vagrants from tropical Africa can be ignored safely ;-)
My money is on their being feral birds from the French population (there's over a thousand of them in western France, derived from birds that escaped from zoos there 30-40 years ago), but if I know the BOU, they'll decide they are escapes.
Resin
Similar debate going on here over the Tropical Mockingbird. Can't believe anyone would have it as a caged bird and certainly none of the handful of people that live near Sabine Pass would have one. Hope phalarope counts Resin.
Went to south Texas and added 15 countable year birds and one not countable -- the Aplomado Falcon -- loved seeing him even if he doesn't count!
333 - Botteri's Sparrow (also my 400th lifer!)
334 - Green Jay
335 - Masked Duck (rarity and lifer) - pic 1
336 - Altamira Oriole - pic 2
337 - Groove-billed Ani - pic 3
338 - Brown-crested Flycatcher
339 - Red-crowned Parrot - pic 4
340 - Olive Sparrow (lifer)
341 - Common Parauque
342 - Northern Beardless Tyrannulet
343 - Gray Hawk (lifer)
344 - Plain Chachalaca - pic 5
345 - Verdin (lifer)
346 - Rose-throated Becard (rarity and lifer)
347 - Clay-colored Thrush (lifer)
Resin and Elphaba, your lists are amazing. Love that Ani, Elphy. What a great looking bird.
I wish I could type this using a really tiny font. I'm at 71 (blush)
LOL Margaret. I didn't get it at first. I thought something was wrong with your eyes and you were using font size 71. I've been doing brain games online but clearly I need to do a lot more. I'm sure your 71 birds are among the coolest ones any one has seen!
I'm doing better than I ever have, but the two men that I have been birding with both have at least a dozen more birds than I have. One of them went for the Masked Duck this weekend. He'll probably have 20 more birds than I have when he gets back.
Got 2 more though:
348 - Glossy Ibis
349 - Magnificent Frigatebird
You have some birds, Elphaba! I finally was able to add an additional one yesterday.
#139 Vesper Sparrow
I have to admit, I'm a little jealous of the Barn Owl. I've been wanting to see one out in the wild. We saw two at the rehab place last year.
One more for me, Corn Crake (210). Only heard, not seen, but that's to be expected with Corn Crakes!
Resin
78-Eastern Kingbird
79-Green Heron
Similar debate going on here over the Tropical Mockingbird. Can't believe anyone would have it as a caged bird and certainly none of the handful of people that live near Sabine Pass would have one. Hope phalarope counts Resin.
Went to south Texas and added 15 countable year birds and one not countable -- the Aplomado Falcon -- loved seeing him even if he doesn't count!
