2012 Yearlists

Wow, y'all are really gettin' goin' now! Spring is ending here and I'm missing some key birds that I just won't get if I don't see them in the next few days and I really can't go birding. That's OK, can't get them all.

I'm pretty happy to have a TX total of 310 after a trip to southwest Texas.

New birds included these pictured: Scaled Quail (lifer), Hooded Oriole, Bullock's Oriole, Harris' Hawk, Black-chinned Hummingbird (lifer).

Others that I can think of off-hand: Rufous-crowned sparrow (lifer), Black-throated Sparrow, Ash-throated Flycatcher (lifer), Western Kingbird, Canyon Towhee (lifer), Canyon Wren (lifer), Cactus Wren (lifer), Black-tailed Gnatcatcher (lifer), Blue Grosbeak, White-throated Swift (lifer), Common Poorwill (lifer), Cassin's Sparrow (lifer), Bell's Vireo, Long-billed Thrasher, and White-tipped Dove.

Chily, that happened to me last year. Kind of shocks the heck out of you huh? Last October I got my 300th lifer which was a Vermillion Flycatcher. Right now, I'm 10 birds away from 400 lifers. I can't believe that I've gotten 90 lifers in 7 months! Pelle suggested that I connect with the local birding community. What a difference that made. I've learned a ton in the last year and half!

Congrats Chily and enjoy spring everyone.

Thank you for the congratulations. It was pretty exciting. We started going out with the local Audubon group last summer and yes, we've learned so much from them. What I find really neat is we see the initial birds with the group, but then it is such a thrill when we can ID those same birds on our own.

We're up to 114 now. Palm Warbler (lifer), Great Egret (lifer), Bank Swallow (lifer) and Rose-breasted Grosbeak being the latest. Oh and finally confirmed the Common Yellowthroat. One child got a picture and I have been hearing the male.

Oh, now this was a sight. Sunday around lunchtime, we saw a Dickcissel in the platform feeder. What in the world?! Never had that happen before. In previous years, they've avoiding the feeding area. While we were in shock of that, the female Rose-breasted Grosbeak flew in. First of the year. Scared the Dickcissel off, but he came back and then the feeder looked like it was winter, or something. House Finches, Chipping Sparrows, House Sparrows, the male Grosbeak came for awhile. Just crazy!

This weekend was the Illinois bird count. I was supposed to do it, but forgot that I had something out of state planned already. So the woman I was going to go with got 94 species. LOL. That's more than I have right now for all year. Though I have not been out and about.

Anyway. #59 is a Northern Waterthrush. I thought it might have been a louisiana waterthrush, but a couple local birders here said it was Northern. Either way. Lifer for me.

Congratulations on the new life bird. :)

Joined at the hip, Mrs Ed. I'm also on 59.

Everyone else, congratulations on your amazing sightings.

Congrats Mrs. Ed!

Got 3 more today:
Golden-winged Warber (lifer)
Canada Warbler
Olive-sided Flycatcher

Very colorful bird day in the woods today with the unstable air and cold front coming through: Blackburnian Warblers, Chestnut-sided Warblers, Bay-breasted, Black and Whites, Black-throated Green, and lots of Magnolia Warblers and tons of Redstarts. Oh and people birding all over the county said that they had never seen so many Swainson's Thrushes at one time. They were everywhere.

Oh funny Margaret! Hey, if I could ever see and identify all the warblers that I"m hearing, I'd have a bunch more. I'm going to work on the patio today in hopes of getting more. In fact, I'm stalking a warbler now.


***Edited***
Success! #60 Tennessee Warbler. Darn chatty things have eluded me for days .

This message was edited May 9, 2012 8:24 AM

A definite improvement for the summer!

179 Wood Warbler
180 Pied Flycatcher
181 Spotted Flycatcher
182 Common Sandpiper
183 Cuckoo
- - - Red Kite
184 Yellow Wagtail

The Red Kite was my first bird for the yearlist which wasn't in my home county of Northumberland, it was just a short distance over the border into Durham (which is why it doesn't get a number!).

Resin

Saw a red kite perched on a dead tree in Wales about 10 yrs ago. What a thrill!

61 - Nashville Warbler
62 - Palm Warbler
63 - Black-throated Green Warbler (Lifer)

Congrats on the lifer Mrs. Ed. That's a nice group. I still don't have Nashville for the year.

Resin, nice!

Another lifer this morning. #64 - Cape May Warbler.

The warblers love this locust tree my neighbor has and it is right above the pond, so I get some good viewing. However, I really under exposed these pics today so had to lighten.

Also got #65 Swainson's Thrush

Mrs. Ed, you are really getting some warblers. :)

We're now at 116. Yellow Warbler and Upland Sandpiper being the latest. That Sandpiper threw us off. There can't be a Sandpiper on a fence post! But yep, this is exactly where the Uplands can be found.

ahha. nice. Crazy Sandpiper.

Congrats on the Cape May!

I went looking for a Cape May yesterday and did not get it or the other 4 warblers that I wanted. The trees were hopping with warblers though. Major fall out from that storm front. I think I had 14 warbler species which is surprising for so late in the season. One small tree had 5 Blackburnian Warblers, 2 Black-throated Greens, 1 Bay-Breasted and a Red-eyed Vireo. I kept staring at this tree in disbelief and then when I turned around, a Peregrine Falcon flew by! Pretty awesome day.

Two year birds yesterday:
Yellow-bellied Flycatcher
Willow Flycatcher

Here's a pic of the Yellow-bellied.

wow! really warbler time.

Nice birds, Elphaba!

We're at 121. We gained a Sora today, no picture, Ruby-throated Hummingbirds yesterday, bad pictures, but we were jumping up and down happy to finally have hummingbirds come to our feeder. There were two males today who did not seem happy with one another. Oh and we saw our first of the year Baltimore Orioles, but not yet in our yard. The oranges are waiting...

And here is a bird with a picture, a Tennessee Warbler. He came by yesterday.

Long day out yesterday, with some good birds:

185 Whinchat
186 Red-rumped Swallow (rarity from southern Europe)
187 Red-backed Shrike (rarity from eastern Europe)
188 Arctic Tern
189 Little Tern
190 Garden Warbler

Resin

Wow, Resin, two rare birds! Must have been exciting to get!

I went out to High Island this morning and got 4 new ones with a possible 5th.

137 - American Redstart
138 - Chestnut-sided Warbler - Edit: Not counting this one. Probably the female Bay-breasted as per Resin.
139 - Bay-breasted Warbler - Edit: This one is now 138
140 - Roseate Spoonbill - Edit: This one is now 139
Edit: New 140 is a Great-crested Flycatcher. Couldn't be ID'd on basis of photos, but the sound that I recorded sounds just like the GCFC.

The warblers are pending confirmation of ID on the bird ID page. There were some experienced birders out there calling out birds, but I was never sure if I was pointing my camera where they were pointing. I think the IDs are correct though. I did see a flycatcher up high in a tree that the birders didn't see, so I'm not sure what it was. It is also pending confirmation on Bird ID page.

Patti

This message was edited May 13, 2012 5:52 PM

66. Rose-breasted Grosbeak
67. Magnolia Warbler
68. Red-headed Woodpecker


I'm catching up with y'all. ha. not really.

You go girl!

Nice ones Patti. Flycatchers are the worst to ID. I saw one and thought it was a Great Crested. I was taking pics of it when my friend who is a really good birder finally took a look and he thought Ash-throated which would be rare for here. He sent the pics to another expert birder who said Brown-crested which is really unusual for here. I'm afraid to list it at all!

Resin, congrats. Two rarities at once -- amazing!

Got three more yesterday for my Texas list:
316 -- Oyster Catcher
317 -- Least Tern
318 -- Least Sandpiper

Oops, last pic is not the Least Sandpiper but Semipalmated. Have to go through my pics again and see if I got a good shot of the Least. Kind of hate shorebirds b/c they all look alike!

[quote="Elphaba"]Resin, congrats. Two rarities at once -- amazing!/quote]

Thanks! Bit annoying though that I missed seeing a third (a Bluethroat) that had been present earlier in the day and I'd also looked for. It was a good 'fall' though, after east winds and rain the previous day, lots of Scandinavian passage migrants.

Two more today, on an evening's seawatch:
191 Manx Shearwater
192 Arctic Skua

Resin

Great birds, ya'll. :)

122 Solitary Sandpiper
123 Indigo Bunting -female. Oh, I wish that could be a life bird. We had never seen a female before and she's been at the feeder three days now.
124 House Wren

Another good day yesterday, this time waders . . . went with several other birders to look for a reported Kentish Plover (the Old World relative of Snowy Plover, from southern Europe), another very rare bird here. A real 'needle-in-a-haystack' job, it took ages searching through over 2000 Ringed Plovers and 1000 Dunlin, but eventually saw it (193).

Then while watching it, an odd small wader appeared next to it, which turned out to be a summer plumage White-rumped Sandpiper (194). Equally rare! And probably a world first of Kentish Plover + White-rumped Sandpiper next to each other.

Also a Curlew Sandpiper in the wader flock, too (195). While not yearticks, 25 Grey Plover in spectacular full summer plumage, and the sheer number of Ringed Plovers and Dunlin, were also good to see.

Pics (not very good!), left to right:
Kentish Plover, White-rumped Sandpiper, Dunlin, Ringed Plover, and a general view of a small part of the flock (Kentish Plover arrowed)

Resin

Thanks Resin. I'll have to bookmark that site. It is fantastic!

If that's the only three possibles, then it is the Great Crested. Back on the list. ^_^

Patti

Wow! Big congratulations! Not only on seeing more rarities, but on being able to pick them out of a crowd. Amazing.

Patti

Well, wasn't that nice of those two rare birds to sit together for you all! Congrats.

Resin, LOVED reading your account of your rarity quest. Made my eyes tired just thinking of looking through 2000 Ringed Plovers and a 1000 Dunlin. Congrats. Sounded like a totally awesome day.

Patti, definitely count it!

Chily, nice ones to get!

Good birding everyone.

Birding with others always helps us Resin. Congratulations on the rare finds.

125 Black-bellied Plover-lifer
126 Northern Mockingbird- lifer
127 Osprey -parent on a nest. We learned from one of the county guys the eggs have hatched.
128 Purple Martins

While we were driving to Maine yesterday we saw a red tailed hawk landing. I wonder what dinner was.

I guess I need a little humble pie now and again. I have to knock one off my year and life list. I tried editing an above post to cross out the wrong ID, but couldn't figure out how to do that.

I am back to 127. The Bank Swallow was really Cliff Swallow.

I went for a walk today and ended up at the same area that had all the swallows. I took several pictures and noticed the markings of Cliff swallows. That's odd. So I went back to the few pics from two weeks ago when I thought they were Bank. (I knew I should have sought confirmation) It was a cloudy day, but looking closer at the pictures, I did see the while mark on the forehead, even if nothing else.

69-Eastern Wood Pewee
70- Eurasian Collared Dove

Good finds, Mrs. Ed. I haven't seen a Pewee yet this year.

128-Dunlin
129-Orchard Oriole - He seemed interested in our oranges, but wasn't sure if he wanted to land. He did take a drink at our bath.

Four more for me in the last few days:
196 Spoonbill 26 May
197 Ruff 28 May
198 Temminck's Stint 28 May
199 Wood Sandpiper 28 May

Today, one more new 'foreign' bird, went to see a Western Orphean Warbler in County Durham (next county to the south of me), it was found at a ringing [banding] station, only the third record ever in Britain. Brings my all-UK yearlist to 201.

Resin

Congrats Resin. Where is the Warbler from?