Ed Forum birdwatching 2008

GeeMack said:
...And one of my favorite wild birds visits every day, because he knows he can get a special treat of peanuts if he comes to my hand. Here's my little Alfred, the White Breasted Nuthatch (Sitta carolinensis). :)


Also, I don't know if it's been mentioned yet, but for those in North America, don't forget the Great Backyard Bird Count, coming up February 15th through 18th, 2008. Everyone gets to help. All you need is Internet access (which you obviously have), 15 minutes or more of your time, and some birds!
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It's only by finding birds like this for my wife that allows me to keep birdwatching.

It's an obsession that drives her to distraction, but every now and then I get her within 10ft of a Woodpecker or a Hoopooe (new for us now we're in Europe) and I earn some "credits" for future shrub gazing.
 
GeeMack said:
[*]Cooper's Hawk (Accipiter cooperii)
[*]Fox Sparrow (Passerella iliaca)
[*]Red Bellied Woodpecker (Melanerpes carolinus)
[*]Song Sparrow (Melospiza melodia)
[*]White Throated Sparrow (Zonotrichia albicollis)
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I've added these five, as all the rest were already on the list. We've now passed 200!

EHocking said:
It's an obsession that drives her to distraction, but every now and then I get her within 10ft of a Woodpecker or a Hoopooe (new for us now we're in Europe) and I earn some "credits" for future shrub gazing.
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So, have you seen any Hoopooes this year?^^ I was close once. There was one that had been seen for over a week just ten minutes from my flat, but it had been raining so much that week that I didn't want to go out there. The first day it stopped raining, I went there, as did about twenty other birdwatchers, but of course we didn't see any. The Hoopooe had obviously been waiting for better weather as well and flew south for the winter...
 
Not this year. But I'm going to Cyprus at easter, so I hope to add a few species, Hoopooe included.

Now, Antigua in Nov 2007 would have added some great Carribean birds and Cornwall in Dec could have fleshed out a couple of more for the UK. But no, not for 2008.

btw. Do you have a link to the spreadsheet (or a PDF of same) for the lists we have so far? I'm not so much a twitcher, but would be interested to see what we have so far. It could also help you by cutting down on your filtering of posts if from now on participants only add new species to the list. Also would be interesting to see the country lists.
 
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EHocking said:
btw. Do you have a link to the spreadsheet (or a PDF of same) for the lists we have so far? I'm not so much a twitcher, but would be interested to see what we have so far. It could also help you by cutting down on your filtering of posts if from now on participants only add new species to the list. Also would be interesting to see the country lists.
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No, I only have it on my computer so far. I don't have any place to upload it, really. If anyone has, I'd be delighted to upload it, as long as people still report their observations here, so I can enter them in my list as well.

I also has no division by country so far. It hasn't been much of a problem so far, but could potentially be if we get more European reporters. At the moment, I only have a list of locations. Conceivably, one column per country could be used for this, but it would mean much more work...
 
Kotatsu said:
No, I only have it on my computer so far. I don't have any place to upload it, really. If anyone has, I'd be delighted to upload it, as long as people still report their observations here, so I can enter them in my list as well.

I also has no division by country so far. It hasn't been much of a problem so far, but could potentially be if we get more European reporters. At the moment, I only have a list of locations. Conceivably, one column per country could be used for this, but it would mean much more work...
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You could use a free file storage service like box. net. You can optionally make the file public and post the url. I use this often when I'm transmitting a file too bulky for convenient emailing. The only disadvantage is that when you update the file you'll probably have to replace it and get a new url for it, not too convenient if you're updating regularly.
 
bruto said:
You could use a free file storage service like box. net. You can optionally make the file public and post the url. I use this often when I'm transmitting a file too bulky for convenient emailing. The only disadvantage is that when you update the file you'll probably have to replace it and get a new url for it, not too convenient if you're updating regularly.
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I've sent the file to EHocking, who will put it up somewhere.
 
Kotatsu said:
I've sent the file to EHocking, who will put it up somewhere.
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OK all. Here's a quick and dirty geographical overview of the count so far. Still got a bit of work to do to verify locations etc.



I'll be trying a Family breakdown in a similar vein, if anyone has some suggestions on what they'd like displayed Kotatsu and I will work on it.
 
EHocking said:
OK all. Here's a quick and dirty geographical overview of the count so far. Still got a bit of work to do to verify locations etc.

[qimg]http://www.internationalskeptics.com/forums/imagehosting/thum_266147aa53003075d.jpg[/qimg]

I'll be trying a Family breakdown in a similar vein, if anyone has some suggestions on what they'd like displayed Kotatsu and I will work on it.
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I'll make a family breakdown of Passeriformes today! I think I have done most of the others, as far as is necessary with the present list. Could the map be done bigger?

Hehe, I can see where I, Kestrel and Floyt live^^. Also, what on Earth is that dot doing in Southern Mexico?
 
Kotatsu said:
I'll make a family breakdown of Passeriformes today!
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I did that last night just to get going, but with a different reference to yours, as we progress I'll be deferring to your categorisation as you've already named the preferred reference for this.
I think I have done most of the others, as far as is necessary with the present list. Could the map be done bigger?
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I used the Forum quick upload so was restricted on file size. I'll be able to host bigger ones later.
ETA: Did you click on the image in the thread? The hosted map is larger.
Anyone who has a copyright free source for world/country maps, please PM links.
Hehe, I can see where I, Kestrel and Floyt live^^. Also, what on Earth is that dot doing in Southern Mexico?
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Texas? I had NZ in the Phillipines before I sorted THAT out. Will build a country lat/long list for this effort. For the moment, if you stick to the birding categorisations and I stick to the mapping/charting etc, hopefully we won't find ourselves overlapping.

As I said, quick and dirty last night on my laptop. Will be revisiting with more resources over the next week or so.
 
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EHocking said:
7th Feb. Ring-necked Parakeet Psittacula krameri. London England
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Wow. that's cool! Psittacines seem very adaptable from what I see of them, but I'd have thought the cold would have got them. Having said that, it gets very cold here in Victoria as well, and our local parrots handle it much better than I do.

Are escaped Budgies successful in the UK? From what I've seen of British Budgies they seem somewhat bigger and stronger than our native ones.

Kylie Minogue notwithstanding :)
 
Akhenaten said:
Wow. that's cool! Psittacines seem very adaptable from what I see of them, but I'd have thought the cold would have got them. Having said that, it gets very cold here in Victoria as well, and our local parrots handle it much better than I do.

Are escaped Budgies successful in the UK? From what I've seen of British Budgies they seem somewhat bigger and stronger than our native ones.

Kylie Minogue notwithstanding :)
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Two bizarre things (for an Aussie) have happened to me while birding/travelling in the UK.

1. Hearing a familiar tweet and finding a budgie out in the countryside of Essex. It was a blue UK pet that had escaped, of course. Not a proper budgie.

2. Driving in the Peak District and seeing a sign "Wallabies next xxx miles" and then a couple of wallabies later on down the road.

3....

Three bizarre things (for an Aussie) have happened to me ....

3. Out spotting with a Welsh friend when he alerted me with "Look! A Kingfisher!"

The look of envious hatred when I responded, "Oh? What kind?", was was perplexing until he explained.

As for UK budgies, naturalist John Gould (Aussies of a certain age will have joined the Society in primary school) introduced the budgie to the UK and they've bred it into that blue plumaged monstrosity (kidding) and, as with most captive animals, they're not as lean and mean as their wild brethren.
 
EHocking said:
OK all. Here's a quick and dirty geographical overview of the count so far. Still got a bit of work to do to verify locations etc.

[URL]http://www.internationalskeptics.com/forums/imagehosting/thum_266147aa53003075d.jpg[/URL]

I'll be trying a Family breakdown in a similar vein, if anyone has some suggestions on what they'd like displayed Kotatsu and I will work on it.
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Just to help with the mapping. Could USA and Oz birders give their state? UK - country.

Also, could these posters PM me or Kotatsu for past posts to his spreadsheet please, I only have the country so far?
Marillo, Jeff Corey (NY for both?), a_unique_person.
 
I've added Elizabeth I's Inca dove, which takes us to 205 species. I did my best to add some today, but all birds are gone for some reason... I'll give it a new try tomorrow, though, and most of next week. We're putting up some nets at a place near here to catch some Goldfinches Carduelis carduelis and Twites Carduelis flavirostris. If we catch the latter, that'll be a new hand-twitch for me, and that's not as easy these days as it used to be! I have most of the common Swedish species from Goldcrest to Mute swan already, and the ones I lack are not always easy to come by (eagles, marine birds, owls, and so on). I am also fortunate enough to have had an Upland sandpiper in my hand, which some claim is the hardest wader to catch, as it usually rests on golf courses during migration, and its very hard to get permission to catch them there^^.

So today gave me, at least, Skylark Alauda arvensis and Lapwing Vanellus vanellus, but those are already on the list. Saw quite a few Smews as well, and some Pochards, but they're already on the list as well (put there by me earlier^^).
 
Seen today (Feb. 9) in Larimer County, Colorado, USA:

Zenaida macroura Morning Dove
Cyanocitta cristata Blue Jay
Picoides pubescens Downy Woodpecker
Bucephala clangula Common Goldeneye
 
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