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Ed Forum birdwatching 2008

chillzero said:
I hope to try and drive north a bit this weekend (if I can find a garage that will allow me to fill up), and see if I can catch a sighting of the snowy egrets that have flown over:
http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/scotland/north_east/7363566.stm

I saw my first of these in Florida in January, and fell in love with them immediately.
Click to expand...

Pleas change that to "great white egrets", I nearly had a heart attack. :eek:

There's only one record of a snowy in Scotland, Nov 2001 - Sep 2002, great whites are scarce annual visitors.

Cheers
 
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sphenisc said:
Pleas change that to "great white egrets", I nearly had a heart attack. :eek:

There's only one record of a snowy in Scotland, Nov 2001 - Sep 2002, great whites are scarce annual visitors.

Cheers
Click to expand...

:blush:

I thought it was just another name for them. Sorry.

I've looked on google and I see my error - I confused the two birds when I was told what they were in Florida. I better go change my photo labels :o

The report says there is also a little egret there just now too - I take it that's Little Egret, and not a Snowy one? Is there a difference?
 
chillzero said:
:blush:

I thought it was just another name for them. Sorry.

I've looked on google and I see my error - I confused the two birds when I was told what they were in Florida. I better go change my photo labels :o

The report says there is also a little egret there just now too - I take it that's Little Egret, and not a Snowy one? Is there a difference?
Click to expand...


The little egret is Egretta garzetta, snowy is Egretta thula.

Little egrets have a number of breeding colonies in England, and are scarce but fairly regularly seen in Scotland.

http://www.rspb.org.uk/news/details.asp?id=tcm:9-188092

They're compared together here...

http://www.oceanwanderers.com/LTEGRT.html

[Note the great white in the second photo.]
 
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Thanks.
OK, I hope to see the great white egret this weekend, and maybe the little egret too. :D
 
I heard the distinctive call of piping plovers (Charadrius melodus) at the protected area at the beach in South Jamesport, NY yesterday. They will be more visible in a few weeks when they start nesting. The area also is home to the least tern, who is due to arrive in about a month.
 
Sunday 27th April -Johnshaven, Scotland

Dunlin Caldris alpina
Curlew Numenius arquata

Dipped on a wryneck :-((

Did you see the egrets Chillzero?
 
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Kotatsu,

Can you clarify "Brown Redpolls" in the Swedish section of the forum list - I can't find any reference to them as such, are they what I know as "Mealy Redpolls"?
 
sphenisc said:
Kotatsu,

Can you clarify "Brown Redpolls" in the Swedish section of the forum list - I can't find any reference to them as such, are they what I know as "Mealy Redpolls"?
Click to expand...

This refers to the subspecies cabaret, which is the North Sea subspecies. It's called "Brunsiska" = "Brown Redpoll" in Swedish. I think it's the one you have in Scotland.

I have added all the ones mentioned since my last addition, and am proud to announce that over the last two days, I have been able to make fourteen additions to the Swedish list, many of which are new to the list as such:

27th of April, Brudarebacken, Gothenburg, Sweden:
Ring Ouzel Turdus torquatus
Stonechat Oenanthe oenanathe

27th of April, Delsjöområdet, Gothenburg, Sweden:
Wood Warbler Phylloscopus sibilatrix
House Martin Delichon urbica

28th of April, Särö Västerskog, Kungsbacka, Sweden:
Pied Flycatcher Ficedula hypoleuca
Tree Pipit Anthus trivialis
Lesser Whitethroat Sylvia curruca

28th of April, Torslandaviken, Gothenburg, Sweden:
Yellow Wagtail Motacilla flava
Slavonian Grebe Podiceps auritus
Greenshank Tringa nebularia
Spotted Redshank Tringa erythropus
Common Tern Sterna hirundo
Arctic Tern Sterna paradisaea
Redstart Phoenicurus phoenicurus

As Särö is in a different province from any other place I've been in so far this year, I will add several other species there as well that have already been counted on the Swedish list, in case we split this up in the future. I will also send Eric some photos of birds we caught in nets last week.

EDIT:
On second thought, I will not add all those duplicates at the moment, but might later on. It's just too many things to write in, an I've been out watching birds for 14 hours...
 
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A new species for the list from Colorado:

Yellow-headed Blackbird.JPG


Xanthocephalus xanthocephalus Yellow-headed Blackbird
 
I finally have something new from Vermont: Common Grackles, quiscalus quiscula. The old Peterson guide that I carry in the car still lists them as "Bronzed Grackles," quiscalus versicolor, but their fortunes have fallen of late, and they're commoners now.
 
I can add two Barnacle geese Branta leucopsis which I spotted yesterday. There was a community day in the area I used to live, and a few birdwatchers (including me) showed the birds of the area. I was late, but during the first 1.5 hours they had been sanding there, they had failed to see the two Barnacles amid the large flock of Canada geese.

On the other hand, I missed the supposedly huge flock of starlings that were marching back and forth just below the tower, and counted only the ones I saw flying by...
 
Spotted and photographed yesterday (April 30) in Colorado:

Phalaropus tricolor Wilson's Phalarope

Also sent a few photos to EHocking for the Gallery.
 
Isn't it typical. Here's me dropping hefty hints for photos for the gallery page, and the day that two Forum members respond, I have guests arrive from Oz. I will endeavour over the weekend to update the list and gallery pages.

Kotatsu - still have that Stonechat/Wheatear error to resolve on the list.
 
bruto said:
I finally have something new from Vermont: Common Grackles, quiscalus quiscula. The old Peterson guide that I carry in the car still lists them as "Bronzed Grackles," quiscalus versicolor, but their fortunes have fallen of late, and they're commoners now.
Click to expand...

I have added this and Kestrel's birds, and can add four of my own to the Swedish list:
Gothenburg, 2nd of May:
Common Sandpiper Actitis hypoleuca
Greater Whitethroat Sylvia communis
Reed Warbler Acrocephalus scirpaceus
Whimbrel Numenius phaeopus

EHocking said:
Isn't it typical. Here's me dropping hefty hints for photos for the gallery page, and the day that two Forum members respond, I have guests arrive from Oz. I will endeavour over the weekend to update the list and gallery pages.
Click to expand...

I will send you two more pictures tomorrow, as we were out catching today. We even got some lice! I haven't had time to look at the in a microscope yet, and they are all immatures, but it looked a bit like Penenirmus which could mean a new species or at least a new host record.

EHocking said:
Kotatsu - still have that Stonechat/Wheatear error to resolve on the list.
Click to expand...

I have corrected this now; it should be Wheatear.
 
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I heard the first Nigthingale in my neighbourhood this evening.
Spring has arived. ;)
 
Spring dropped in on Vermont last week, but apparently remembered it had left the oven pilot on and ran off again. :(

Not much new today, but a great day for big birds. We went up the New York side of Lake Champlain, which is at flood level, with lots of shallow fields and bays under water. The Ospreys are back in force. We saw about 8 of them in the day, including a pair which I might have gotten on film, though they were a bit far away and I had no big lens with me. There were also more big gray herons than we could count. If you're in far eastern Upstate NY and want to see lots of big birds, the Lake Champlain end of the Little Ausable River is worth a visit.

One duck to add to the list, though. This time we were close enough to them, and there just happened to be a handy set of pictorial guides along the campground roadside, so we can confirm a pair of buffleheads, bucephala albeola.
 
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