top 10 most wanted ABA zone. (3 Viewers)

[grebefeet9]

basically the same idea as johnny's thread in this forum, but what are your top ten most wanted birds in the ABA zone?. mine are:

least bittern (would round off my NA herons list)
bullock's oriole (a common species i haven't been able to find yet)
long tailed duck
black scoter
white-winged scoter
harlequin duck (nemesis sea ducks)
gray jay
purple finch (same reason as bullock's oriole)
red knot
solitary sandpiper

 

[Edward]

I've only been to three states, NY, MN and ND and never to Canada so I'm a very low ABA lister and I'm not particulary interested in seeing vagrants to the ABA area so here goes

1. Smith's Longspur (only longspur I haven't seen but it has to be singing male on breeding grounds, not a wintering bird in OK or TX)
2. Henslow's Sparrow (Ammodramus sparrows turn my crank)
3. Whiskered Auklet (at a colony)
4. Least Auklet (at a colony)
5. Crested Auklet (at a colony)
6. Cerulean Warbler
7. Swainson's Warbler
8. Spectacled Eider
9. Bristle-thighed Curlew (on breeding grounds)
10. Mountain Plover (on breeding grounds)

 

[Andrew Whitehouse]

Funnily enough I probably have stronger ideas on this than the British list. I won't put them in order though. The only proviso for all of these would be good views - I don't mind where I see them.

Whooping Crane
Spectacled Eider
Montezuma Quail
Greater Sage-grouse
Black Rail
Mountain Plover
Rock Sandpiper
Black-backed Woodpecker
Swainson's Warbler
Cerulean Warbler
Smith's Longspur

There are a number of other species I could have included. In some cases I would really like to see any member of a particular group of birds that I've not seen yet. Owls, storm-petrels, auks and Ammodramus sparrows (the latter a peculiar liking I have) are all a bit special.

 

[Richard Klim]

1. Emperor Goose
2. McKay's Bunting
3. Montezuma Quail
4. Black-capped Petrel
5. Colima Warbler
6. Black Rosy Finch
7. Lucifer Hummingbird
8. Lark Bunting
9. Baird's Sparrow
10. American Flamingo

 

[Xenospiza]

A bit difficult to get the 168 lifers that are regularly occurring down to 10, but let's aim for a few that have not been mentioned yet:
Mountain Quail
Tufted Puffin
Northern Saw-whet Owl (my NA owl list is shocking)
Calliope Hummingbird
Lewis's Woodpecker
Black-capped Vireo
LeConte's Thrasher
Olive Warbler
Worm-eating Warbler
Lawrence's Goldfinch

 

[Reuven_M]

For me:
Clark's Nutcracker
Black Swift
Tufted Puffin
Ross's Gull
Ivory Gull
Yellow-billed Loon
Gyrfalcon
Boreal Owl
Whooping Crane
Nortern Pygmy-owl

 

[Mysticete]

Hah...keeping this in the spirit of the british list:

Tawny-shouldered Blackbird
Yellow-breasted Bunting
Orange-billed Nightingale-Thrush
Collared Forest-Falcon
Eurasian Hoopoe
Amazon Kingfisher
Swallow-tailed Gull
Spoon-billed Sandpiper
Sungrebe
Steller's Sea Eagle.

 

[Edward]

1. Emperor Goose
2. McKay's Bunting
3. Montezuma Quail
4. Black-capped Petrel
5. Colima Warbler
6. Black Rosy Finch
7. Lucifer Hummingbird
8. Lark Bunting
9. Baird's Sparrow
10. American Flamingo

I did think of McKay's Bunting and Emperor Goose too, and I should really replace Henslow's Sparrow with McKay's Bunting on the grounds that I'd rather go to the Bering Sea than say, Indiana.

 

[DMW]

Funny how the same birds keep cropping-up!

Spectacled Eider
Emperor Goose
Whiskered Auklet
Aleutian Tern
Black Rail
Yellow Rail
Northern Saw-whet
Baird's Sparrow
Smith's Longspur
McKay's Bunting
Ivory-billed Woodpecker

 

[fugl]

Well, confining things to birds I have a reasonable shot at encountering locally. . ..

Emperor Goose
Snowy Owl

Top priorities on my next trip east. . ..

American Woodcock
Chuck-will's-widow
Limpkin
(+ a ragbag of eastern vireos & warblers but the birds I've listed are the ones I really want to see).

 

[Richard Klim]

Well, confining things to birds I have a reasonable shot at encountering locally. . ..
Emperor Goose
Snowy Owl

Well, Snowy Owl is on the NV State Checklist...

Have you made the climb for Himalayan Snowcock?

 

[fugl]

Well, Snowy Owl is on the NV State Checklist...

Yes it is for all the good it's done me so far. But I have better hopes for the Emperor Goose which isn't on the Nevada list but occurs as a rarity in California just over the hill from where I live so is not too far away. But my main hope is to pick one out locally in the big wintering flocks of Canada geese. Snow, Ross's, White-fronted and several flavors of Cackling geese are regular in these flocks so why not an Emperor some day?

Have you made the climb for Himalayan Snowcock?

No afraid not. Non-native game birds just don't ring my bell. But I'm glad you brought the snowcock up because it reminds me of the 2 prairie chickens which I very much want to see but forgot to put on the list. I've looked for Greaters on trips back east on several occasions but so far haven't had so much as a sniff of the elusive creatures.

 

[Xenospiza]

I've looked for Greaters on trips back east on several occasions but so far haven't had so much as sniff of the elusive creatures.

They were not too hard to find in summer on Rothsay Prairie in Minnesota, but I would still like to see them display! This is true for all other grouse as well. I missed three species on that trip... do not search for grouse in July!

 

[fugl]

They were not too hard to find in summer on Rothsay Prairie in Minnesota. . ..

Well, that's nice to know. Maybe I'll take the northern route the next trip east (the last one was through Kansas).

 

[Mysticete]

As far as birds that are more realistic to get:

Emperor Goose
Yellow Rail
Ruddy Ground Dove
Boreal Owl
Flammulated Owl
White-crowned Pigeon
Rufous-backed Robin
Rufous-capped Warbler
Gray-headed Chickadee
McKay's Bunting

 

[dantheman]

Hah...keeping this in the spirit of the british list:

Tawny-shouldered Blackbird
Yellow-breasted Bunting
Orange-billed Nightingale-Thrush
Collared Forest-Falcon
Eurasian Hoopoe
Amazon Kingfisher
Swallow-tailed Gull
Spoon-billed Sandpiper
Sungrebe
Steller's Sea Eagle.

As far as birds that are more realistic to get:

Emperor Goose
Yellow Rail
Ruddy Ground Dove
Boreal Owl
Flammulated Owl
White-crowned Pigeon
Rufous-backed Robin
Rufous-capped Warbler
Smith's Longspur
McKay's Bunting

Were those first ten actually on the US list? Never even heard of most of them!

 

[Mysticete]

Yep...all are pretty rare vagrants. Off the top of my head, and solely from memory:

Tawny-shouldered Blackbird is a Caribbean species, with one or two records, all over a hundred years ago.

Yellow-breasted Bunting, Spoon-billed Sandpiper, Steller's Sea Eagle, and Eurasian Hoopoe are all Beringia strays, with Steller's Sea Eagle probably being Casual

One record of Sungrebe from a few years back from New Mexico.

Swallow-tailed Gull breeds on the Galapagos, but California had a record a couple of decades or so ago

The rest are strays from Mexico, mostly showing up in the Rio Grande River Valley. One of the Orange-billed Nightingale-Thrush records is from the Black Hills (6 hours from here), and of course occurred while I was in Japan

Obviously none of these are high on the probable list, although climate change may improve the odds of more regular occurrences of Amazon Kingfisher and Sungrebe, at least

 

[Richard Klim]

...it reminds me of the 2 prairie chickens which I very much want to see but forgot to put on the list. I've looked for Greaters on trips back east on several occasions but so far haven't had so much as sniff of the elusive creatures.

Great memories! My wife and I have only been on one organised tour in the Lower 48 – in April 2005, with Mike Flieg (who sadly died this year) on one of his famous Lek-a-Day tours of Colorado/Kansas, visiting a different lek pre-dawn on most days: Greater & Lesser Prairie Chickens, Sharp-tailed Grouse, Greater & Gunnison Sage Grouse, Dusky Grouse and White-tailed Ptarmigan (plus Mountain Plover and Chestnut-collared & McCown's Longspurs).

[Also lucky to see lekking Attwater's Prairie Chickens at Texas City Prairie Preserve in April 2003.]

 

[Birdingcraft]

Aside from Alaskan birds and many pelagics,

1. Yellow Rail- has eluded me on more than one occasion.
2. Elf Owl-ditto!
3. LeContes Thrasher
4. California Thrasher
5. Lesser Prairie Chicken
6. Spagues Pipit
7. Dovekie
8. Atlantic Puffin- a glaring blank spot on the list but I have never been in range!
9. Arctic Tern- as per the puffin.
10. Colima Warbler- walked up that long trail and found a Dusky-capped Flycatcher but no warbler...
9.

 

[walshey]

First 8 because they're characterful. Last 2 because I've dipped enough now.

1&2 Prairie Chickens in display
3. Henslows Sparrow
4. Smith's Longspur (in summer)
5. Black Rail
6. Conneticut Warbler
7. Montezuma Quail
8. Spectacled Eider
9. Spruce Grouse
10. Black-billed Cuckoo (this bird is fictional!!)