Zoochat Big Year 2024

4/25/24
135. White-crowned sparrow Zonotrichia leucophrys

Total Species: 171
Birds: 135
Mammals: 10
Reptiles: 8
Amphibians: 1
Fish: 17

 

Birds
397. Ring-necked Pheasant Phasianus colchicus

 

Sue has no problem with me heading off for birdwatching etc. She is happy to relax and really if there are no monkeys or dugongs she shows a surprising lack of interest in my wildlife watching. Just no journeys to the other side of the island for a blue hole or such. Thanks for the thought, though.

 

Was up at 6am this morning, however there was thunder, an overcast sky and later rain, so I confined myself to the resort grounds again. However I did find the gate to the road today so looking forward to spreading my wings.

411. Pacific kingfisher Todiramphus sacer
412. Cardinal myzomela Myzomela cardinalis
Saw several grey fantails, a species that is so common back at Moonlit.

 

Birds
105) Chimney Swift (Chaetura palegica)

Progress:
Mammals- 17
Birds- 105
Herptiles- 9
Total- 131
Heard-only Species- 6

 

Adding up the lists now, should be done buy this afternoon.

 

Invertebrates:
58) Great pond snail Lymnaea stagnalis

 

Mammals
43. Groundhog Marmota monax

Birds
398. Vesper Sparrow Pooecetes gramineus
399. Sharp-tailed Grouse Tympanuchus phasianellus
400. Ruffed Grouse Bonasa umbellus
401. Willet Tringa semipalmata
402. Red-necked Grebe Podiceps grisegena

 

Didn’t release how small Green Heron were! This little guy was hanging out along the shore of a pond along Cope Lake in the Bronx Zoo, very pleasant surprise.

Birds
106) Green Heron (Butorides virescens)

Progress:
Mammals- 17
Birds- 106
Herptiles- 9
Total- 132
Heard-only Species- 6

 

Had an incredibly productive day birdwatching
Birds
25. Caspian Tern (Hydroprogne caspia)
26. Dunlin (Calidris alpina)
27. American Avocet (Recurvirostra americana)
28. Forster's Tern (Sterna forsteri)
29. Spotted Sandpiper (Actitis macularius)
30. Savannah Sparrow (Passerculus sandwichensis)
31. Lark Sparrow (Chondestes grammacus)
32. White-Throated Sparrow (Zonotrichia albicollis)
33. Eastern Towhee (Pipilo erythrophthalmus)
34. Gray Catbird (Dumetella carolinensis)
35. Ovenbird (Seiurus aurocapilla)
36. Orange-Crowned Warbler (Leiothlypis celata)
37. Ruby-Crowned Kinglet (Corthylio calendula)
38. Palm Warbler (Setophaga palmarum)
39. Orchard Oriole (Icterus spurius)
40. Swamp Sparrow (Melospiza georgiana)
41. Black-Throated Green Warbler (Setophaga virens)
42. Northern Rough-Winged Swallow (Stelgidopteryx serripennis)
43. Tree Swallow (Tachycineta bicolor)
44. Baltimore Oriole (Icterus galbula)
45. Blue-Gray Gnatcatcher (Polioptila caerulea)
46. Blue Jay (Cyanocitta cristata)
47. Yellow Warbler (Setophaga petechia)
48. Common Yellowthroat (Geothlypis trichas)
49. Swainson's Thrush (Catharus ustulatus)

Mammals
3. Eastern Cottontail (Sylvilagus floridanus)

Total: 49 Birds, 3 Mammals, 1 Reptile

 

I woke up at 6am this morning to heavy rain. As a result I did not get out to bird till after 10am. I headed left down the road. On the water side were all private properties, fenced off and they are almost always owned by foreigners (the real estate agents advertise in Australian dollars). Sadly, this means locals have no access to the beach.

I turned left and what started as an ok stretch of forest soon turned into a vine covered wasteland on the inland side and gardens on the coast side.

Birds
413. Fantailed gerygone Gerygone flavolateralis
414. Vanuatu streaked fantail Rhipidura spilodera
Also saw another home favorite, silvereyes.

Invertebrates
18. Northern St Andrews cross spider Argiope aetherea (the orbweaver of the same common name in Australia is now known as the painted cross spider.)
19. Pallid ghost crab Ocypode pallidula
20. Indo hermit crab Coenobita brevimanus (new Family)
21. Tawny hermit crab Coenobita rugosus

On my first morning I made a hurried assumption about the swift that is seen everywhere here. @Chlidonias has pointed to the error of my ways, and indeed he is correct. Bird number 405, the white-rumped swiftlet should be the satin swiftlet Collocalia uropygialis. Still a lifer.

 

A short early morning trip to Saltfjärden, a big wetland area that's quite far away from my home resulted in a couple new birds (plus one mammal).

Mammals

9. European hare, Lepus europaeus 28/4/24

Birds

168. Eurasian curlew, Numenius arquata 28/4/24
169. Ruff, Calidris pugnax 28/4/24
170. Western yellow wagtail, Motacilla flava 28/4/24

 

Birds
403. Palm Warbler Setophaga palmarum
404. American Bittern Botaurus lentiginosus
405. Blue-gray Gnatcatcher Polioptila caerulea

 

I had been re-reading Chli's Vanuatu thread, and was keen for an early start to walk down the road to the right. Once again, I woke to find rain pelting down, and this delayed my leaving our hut till about 7.45am. As breakfast finished at 9, I did not go far, only around the triangle of forest next to the resort, so I would not miss out. Having finished breakfast, I headed out again, for the first time turning right. There was indeed more forest, and it was obvious the forest was of better quality, with a greater variety of plant species.

Reading Chli's report, I reflected that I had not seen any uniform swiftlets, and I had only seen satin swiftlets that morning. By chance, I took a track off to the left, and about 200 metres up the track there was a WW2 bunker (basically a large round-roofed shed covered with dirt). I went in thinking I might see some bats, but only found dozens of swift nests stuck to the roof at the back. Leaving, a swift flew past me, too fast to identify. Once outside again I stood and watched a number of what were obviously uniform swiftlets fly around and into the bunker. It turns out they nest in the dark end of caves, using echo location to navigate in the dark. The bunker was a good substitute.

Otherwise it was an excellent morning of birding with six new species for the year and three lifers. Apart from swifts, the most common bird seen was the Pacific kingfisher.

I saw the rat outside our hut last night, just as we were leaving for dinner.

Mammals
37. Polynesian rat Rattus exulans (In)

Birds
415. Pacific emerald dove Chalcophaps longirostris
416. Mackinlay's cuckoo-dove Macropygia mackinlayi
417. Uniform swiftlet Aerodramus vanikorensis
418. South Melanesian cuckooshrike Coracina caledonica
419. White-breasted woodswallow Artamus leucorynchus
420. Island thrush Turdus poliocephalus

Reptiles
17. Asian house gecko Hemidactylus frenatus (In)
18. Mourning gecko Lepidodactylus luglubris
19. Banded sea krait Laticauda colubrina (seen earlier)

 

A few more local additions
Birds
27/4
108 Whimbrel Numenius phaeopus at Heswall
109 Whinchat Saxicola rubetra
110 Song Thrush Turdus philomelos (well overdue!)
111 Yellow Wagtail Motacilla flava (Hybrid Channel Wagtail M.f.flava x M.f.flavissima)
All the latter three at Leasowe
28/1
112 Common Swift Apus apus - rapid garden flyover about 3 days early.

Invertebrates
27/4 St Marks Fly Bibio marchi at Leasowe

 

Birds
406. Rose-breasted Grosbeak Pheucticus ludovicianus

 

Standing at the brink of a very busy period of work, I made the most of the last few days to get some memorable wildlife encounters.

A few replies ago I wrote about the adder being my most wanted species in the Netherlands. The second most wanted species at the time was a spectacular diurnal moth called a tau emperor. So after a saw an adder a few weeks ago, the tau emperor became my number one target species. I kept that place for, well, only a few weeks, because last weekend I succeed in seeing not one, not two, not five, but about ten individuals! The new top target now is probably a toss up between smooth snake, common spadefoot, broad-boarded bee hawk moth (what a name!) and alcon blue.

The search for tau emperor is barely worth describing. With the same friend that accompanied me on the adder search, we walked a few hours in a forest that supposedly was tau emperor habitat. Seeing the moths was super easy, barely an inconvenience. They were just flying around like it's a completely normal thing. Turns out being at the right place at the right time of year with reasonable weather conditions is enough to see them. They are a spectacular sight though, so I thoroughly enjoyed myself.

The other additions are from various other trips (including some bat surveys for work), the largest one was a full-day excursion to the Biesbosch. Besides spring marshland birds our main target was sand-coloured carder bee, a highly threatened species in the Netherlands that should be rather easy at that location. Despite only brief periods of sun in between the rain showers, we managed to see several individuals foraging among the comfrey and white nettles. There were also plenty of warblers in many species around, no less than eight species of gull and three juvenile white-tailed eagles. I also saw my first (identifiable) dragonflies and grasshoppers for the year.

Birds
175. Sand Martin, Riparia riparia
176. Common Greenshank, Tringa nebularia
177. Garden Warbler, Sylvia borin
178. Sedge Warbler, Acrocephalus schoenobaenus
179. Common Cuckoo, Cuculus canorus
180. Common Tern, Sterna hirundo
181. Common Sandpiper, Actitis hypoleucos
182. Common Reed Warbler, Acrocephalus scirpaceus
183. Common Swift, Apus apus
184. Black Tern, Chlidonias niger
185. Whimbrel, Numenius phaeopus

Mammals
14. Serotine Bat, Eptesicus serotinus
15. European Hedgehog, Erinaceus europeaus

Moths
09. Common Nettle-tap, Anthophila fabriciana
10. Copper Underwing, Amphipyra pyramidea
11. Winter Moth, Operophtera brumata
12. Gypsy Moth, Lymantria dispar
13. Common Carpet, Epirrhoe alternata
14. Double-striped Pug, Gymnoscelis rufifasciata
15. Tau Emperor, Aglia tau

Dragonflies
01. Downy Emerald, Cordulia aenea
02. Four-spotted Chaser, Libellula quadrimaculata

Bees
11. Sand-coloured Carder Bee, Bombus veteranus
12. Mining Bee, Andrena rosea
13. Tawny Mining Bee, Andrena fulva

Grasshoppers
1. Great Green Bush Cricket, Tettigonia viridissima
2. Dark Bush Cricket, Phollidoptera griseoaptera

Gastropods
10. Great Grey Slug, Limax maximus
11. Copse Snail, Arianta arbustorum

 

This morning in the forest

Mammals
38. Pacific flying fox Pteropus tonganus

Birds
421. Melanesian (Vanuatu) whistler Pachycephala chlorura
422. Melanesian flycatcher Myiagra caledonica

Invertebrates
23. Pacific giant centipede Scolopendra subspinipes
24. Rugose land crab Tuerkayana rotundum (new Family)

 

It's been a wild week, so I decided to relax at my parent's lake house on Lake Charlevoix for a couple nights. There's a tiny sandbar right outside that a couple shorebird species came to check out. Both common and red-breasted mergansers came close to the shore too.

4/29/24
Birds:
136. Common raven Corvus corax
137. Greater yellowlegs Tringa melanoleuca
138. Red-breasted merganser Mergus serrator
139. Herring gull Larus argentatus
140. Lesser scaup Aythya affinis

Total Species: 176
Birds: 140
Mammals: 10
Reptiles: 8
Amphibians: 1
Fish: 17