ABA Big Year 2016 (1 Viewer)

[Paul Chapman]

Olaf is down to the following non-coded species:-

Code 1 - 3 species:-
Calliope Hummingbird
Red-naped Sapsucker
Nelson's Sparrow

Code 2 - 11 species:-
Himalayan Snowcock
Dusky Grouse
Mottled Petrel
Buller's Shearwater
Manx Shearwater
Red-faced Cormorant
Wood Sandpiper
Groove-billed Ani
Black Swift
Bicknell's Thrush
Baird's Sparrow

Has he blown Red-faced Cormorant, Wood Sandpiper and Mottled Petrel?

All the best

 

[Paul Chapman]

A long way from my spreadsheet but I believe:-

Code 3+ seen by John but not Olaf - 15 species:-
Brambling
Rustic Bunting
Ruddy Ground-Dove
Long-toed Stint
Gray-tailed Tattler
Common Sandpiper
Red-billed Tropicbird
White-tailed Tropicbird
Hawaiian Petrel
Smew
Kelp Gull
Yellow-legged Gull
Pin-tailed Snipe
Cuban Vireo
South Polar Skua

Code 3+ seen by Olaf but not John - 7 species:-
Rose-throated Becard
Great Skua
Trindade Petrel
Hawfinch
Slate-throated Redstart
Plain-capped Starthroat
Great Knot

The gap remains at 8 species but presumably the Arizona ones may fall next?

All the best

 

[Paul Chapman]

So John Weigel blog post at 683 as at 8th June compares favourably on rarities to Olaf's 730 as at the same date:-

http://www.birdingfordevils.com/2016/06/alaska-wrap-up-3-8-june.html

Personally I suspect both will miss non-coded birds but both break the record by at least ten.

All the best

 

[dantheman]

Has he blown Red-faced Cormorant, Wood Sandpiper and Mottled Petrel?

All the best

I think he will surely be going back to Alaska in the fall. He's also still got a while to go in the area as think he said earlier he was going to St Paul's for a week or so ... maybe not this trip though, unless he's taking a break down south first ...



Edit : eg http://www.zbirdtours.com/stpaul.htm I did come across some other reports from a trip to St Paul's earlier, so it may be possibly to do independently, for less (but still going to be pricey!)

 

[dantheman]

A long way from my spreadsheet but I believe:-

Code 3+ seen by John but not Olaf - 15 species:-
Brambling
Rustic Bunting
Ruddy Ground-Dove
Long-toed Stint
Gray-tailed Tattler
Common Sandpiper
Red-billed Tropicbird
White-tailed Tropicbird
Hawaiian Petrel
Smew
Kelp Gull
Yellow-legged Gull
Pin-tailed Snipe
Cuban Vireo
South Polar Skua

South Polar Skua a code 2, and there was talk of the YL Gull being dodgy? At least he upgraded (imo!) his White-tailed Tropicbird sighting.

Presume Olaf could still get up to half of that list later in the year depending how pelagics and fall Alaska go.

 

[dantheman]

On Olaf's blog - http://olafsbigyear.blogspot.co.uk/ - the Running Coded Bird List has the Great Knot as number 730, so only 20 to go to the record.

With Noah's world list attempt last year BF'ers started to predict the final total, as they are with Arjan this year. So with half a year still to go, any predictions?

Gi

I'll bite of course ...

774


Whatever else happens it looks like Olaf will be holding the record for at least part of the year ...

 

[Mysticete]

I think he will surely be going back to Alaska in the fall. He's also still got a while to go in the area as think he said earlier he was going to St Paul's for a week or so ... maybe not this trip though, unless he's taking a break down south first ...



Edit : eg http://www.zbirdtours.com/stpaul.htm I did come across some other reports from a trip to St Paul's earlier, so it may be possibly to do independently, for less (but still going to be pricey!)

I think he plan is to spend almost a month in Alaska come September or so (probably some combo of St. Paul and Gambell?)

As far as ending record, I think someone is going to hit 760, or at least get close.

 

[Chris_D]

756

 

[dantheman]

John has put a blog post up -

alaska-wrap-up-3-8-june



Interesting to see that Neil Hayward was only on 33 Code 3+ at about this stage, so continued with an extra c.50 in remainder of the year (partly due to his slow start). Obviously John/Olaf will not have the option of an extra 50, having knocked a sizeable number of the potentials off already. Then to counter it looks like a la nina type year, which will cut down the likelihood of random good pelagic species plus probably fewer others elsewhere ... oh well.

 

[dantheman]

Interesting to see that Neil Hayward was only on 33 Code 3+ at about this stage, so continued with an extra c.50 in remainder of the year (partly due to his slow start). Obviously John/Olaf will not have the option of an extra 50, having knocked a sizeable number of the potentials off already.

Looks like Neil continued with 25+ species during the remainder of the year which none of the current contestants have encountered yet (http://www.birdforum.net/showthread.php?p=3405717&highlight=code#post3405717 ).

Half or so of those presumably fall Alaskan migrants; with the rest some AZ/Texas stuff, warm water pelagic species etc.

There are also c.25 Code 3 (annually occurring) species no-one has yet encountered this year to consider (some overlap with above). Not all guaranteed to re-occur of course or be easily twitchable.

 

[dantheman]

Bit of a rarity breakdown of Neil Hayward's Big Year 2013 (From http://accidentalbigyear2013.blogspot.co.uk/ )

Black - target species for all contenders this year (John, Olaf and Christian)
Grey - recorded by both Olaf and John so far
Blue - recorded by Olaf only (ie target for John)
Orange - recorded by John only (ie target for Olaf)

(Interestingly Neil didn't record Mottled Petrel until October.)

JANUARY (252 species total) -
Black-headed Gull (3)
Nutting’s Flycatcher (5)
Rufous-capped Warbler (3)
Ruddy Ground-Dove (3)
Brambling (3)
Red-flanked Bluetail (4)

FEBRUARY (294 species total) - No rarity additions

MARCH (376 species total) –
Northern Lapwing (4)
Barnacle Goose (4)
Tufted Duck (3)
Fieldfare (4)
Black-tailed Godwit (3)
Thick-billed Vireo (4)
Shiny Cowbird (3)

APRIL (506 species total) -
Western Spindalis (3)
Clay-colored Thrush (3)
Crimson-collared Grosbeak (4)
White-collared Seedeater (3)
Tropical Parula (3)
Ruff (3)

MAY (619 species total) –
Five-striped Sparrow (3)
White-eared Hummingbird (3)
Masked Booby (3)
Brown Booby (3)
Black Noddy (3)
Ferruginous Pygmy-Owl (3)
Little Gull (3)
White-tailed Eagle (4)
Buff-collared Nightjar (3)

JUNE (653 species total) –
Slaty-backed Gull (3)
Steller's Eider (3)
White Wagtail (3)
Red-billed Tropicbird (3)
Yellow-green Vireo (3)
Flame-colored Tanager (3)
Red-necked Stint (3)

JULY (698 species total) -
Rufous-necked Wood-Rail (5)
{Budgerigar (3)}
Fork-tailed Flycatcher (3)
Lesser Sand-Plover (3)
Slate-throated Redstart (4)
Black-capped Gnatcatcher (3)
Little Stint (3)
Berylline Hummingbird (3)

AUGUST (711 species total) -
Plain-capped Starthroat (4)
Blue-footed Booby (4)
Curlew Sandpiper (3)
Trindade / Herald Petrel (3)
Sky Lark (3)
Baikal Teal (4)
Spectacled Eider (3)
Sharp-tailed Sandpiper (3)
Red-throated Pipit (3)

SEPTEMBER (720 species total) –
Sinaloa Wren (5)
Flesh-footed Shearwater (3)
Common (Siberian) Stonechat (4)
Common Rosefinch (4)
Gray-streaked Flycatcher (4)
Common Snipe (3)
Olive-backed Pipit (3)

OCTOBER (729 species total) –
Gray-tailed Tattler (3)
Ross's Gull (3)
Common Redstart (5)
Eyebrowed Thrush (3)
Least Storm-petrel (3)
Craveri's Murrelet (3)
Golden-crowned Warbler (4)

NOVEMBER (741 species total) -
Amazon Kingfisher (5)
Rose-throated Becard (3)
Streak-backed Oriole (4)
Tundra Bean-goose (3)
Yellow-legged Gull (4)
Pink-footed Goose (4)
Rufous-backed Robin (3)
Dusky Thrush (4)

DECEMBER (749 species total) -
American Flamingo (3)
Whooper Swan (3)
Little Bunting (4)
La Sagra's Flycatcher (3)
Rustic Bunting (3)
Great Skua (3)


Edit: added the running total to the monthly headings as an aside.

 

[Mark]

Can someone work out which code 1 and code 2 birds Olaf still needs ?

 

[dantheman]

Can someone work out which code 1 and code 2 birds Olaf still needs ?

See Post #521 earlier.


Post by Christian on his blog, although not really a birding update -

http://www.thebirdingproject.com/blog/2016/6/6/attu-in-black-and-white

 

[dantheman]

Changes to John's code 1 and 2 birds since about 14th May below -

Mysticete

How realistic is it that John may have a tougher time cleaning up the 'commoner' species with less ABA experience?

Is it possible he could miss a Code 1 or 2:-

Code 1 - 47 species Now 37
Ross's Goose
Tundra Swan
Willow Ptarmigan
Cory's Shearwater
Great Shearwater
Audubon's Shearwater
Wilson's Storm-Petrel
Mississippi Kite
Wilson's Plover
Hudsonian Godwit
Red Knot
Baird's Sandpiper
Buff-breasted Sandpiper
Thick-billed Murre
Atlantic Puffin
Horned Puffin
Common Ground-Dove
Black-billed Cuckoo
Eastern Whip-poor-will
Vaux's Swift
Rufous Hummingbird
Calliope Hummingbird
Red-headed Woodpecker
Olive-sided Flycatcher
Western Wood-Pewee
Eastern Wood-Pewee
Yellow-bellied Flycatcher
Acadian Flycatcher
Alder Flycatcher
Willow Flycatcher
Least Flycatcher
Colima Warbler
MacGillivray's Warbler
Mourning Warbler
Canada Warbler
Yellow-breasted Chat
Eastern Towhee
American Tree Sparrow
Clay-colored Sparrow
Field Sparrow
Le Conte's Sparrow
Saltmarsh Sparrow
Harris's Sparrow
Dickcissel
Rusty Blackbird
Bronzed Cowbird
Orchard Oriole

Code 2 - 47 species Now 27 required
King Eider
Himalayan Snowcock
Gray Partridge
Spruce Grouse
Arctic Loon
Yellow-billed Loon
Mottled Petrel
Black-capped Petrel
Buller's Shearwater
Manx Shearwater
Band-rumped Storm-Petrel
Red-faced Cormorant
Yellow Rail
Common Ringed Plover
Wood Sandpiper
Bristle-thighed Curlew
South Polar Skua
Least Auklet
Whiskered Auklet
Crested Auklet
Red-legged Kittiwake
Yellow-footed Gull
Red-billed Pigeon
Groove-billed Ani
Great Gray Owl
Black Swift
Sulphur-bellied Flycatcher
Black-capped Vireo
Florida Scrub-Jay
Island Scrub-Jay
Arctic Warbler
Bluethroat
Northern Wheatear
Bicknell's Thrush
Eastern Yellow Wagtail
Smith's Longspur
McKay's Bunting
Golden-winged Warbler
Connecticut Warbler
Kirtland's Warbler
Cerulean Warbler
Golden-cheeked Warbler
Bachman's Sparrow
Baird's Sparrow
Henslow's Sparrow
Varied Bunting
Hoary Redpoll

(Olaf now 669 - http://ebird.org/ebird/top100?locInfo.regionCode=aba&yr=cur - with 16 Code 1 & 38 Code 2 species needed.)

All the best

 

[dantheman]

Between them, the only code 1 and 2 birds required are =

Code 1 -
Calliope Hummingbird

Code 2 -
Himalayan Snowcock
Mottled Petrel
Buller's Shearwater
Groove-billed Ani
Black Swift
Bicknell's Thrush
Baird's Sparrow

Christian has updated his list with a handful of common birds - http://www.thebirdingproject.com/birdlist/

so can knock Baird's Sparrow and Mottled Petrel at least off that list

 

[dantheman]

And some interesting comments on Olaf's blog -

http://olafsbigyear.blogspot.co.uk/2016/06/if-shoe-fits.html#comment-form

 

[dantheman]

Had a look at Christian (birdingprojects) list ...


I make it only 657 as opposed to his total on the blog of 660. This is probably down to him having double counted eg Black-billed Magpie as Paul says, and maybe other errors (although the Swan Goose has now gone) and equally likely that I've missed a few of his off.

Anyway, I make it 604 Code 1 and 2 birds combined, with 53 code 3+; Code 3 = 39, Code 4 = 9 and Code 5 = 5


His remaining 67 code 1 and 2 bird targets (hopefully mostly correct) ;-


Code 1 (28)

Barrow's Goldeneye
Ruffed Grouse
Willow Ptarmigan
Cory's Shearwater
Great Shearwater
Audubon's Shearwater
Wilson's Storm-Petrel
Great Cormorant
White-rumped Sandpiper
Franklin's Gull
Long-tailed Jaeger
Razorbill
Black Guillemot
Atlantic Puffin
Eastern Whip-poor-will
Calliope Hummingbird
Hairy Woodpecker
Yellow-bellied Flycatcher
Alder Flycatcher
Gray Flycatcher
Loggerhead Shrike
Philadelphia Vireo
Clark's Nutcracker
Barn Swallow
Black-throated Blue Warbler
Mourning Warbler
MacGillivray's Warbler
Le Conte's Sparrow

Code 2 (39)

King Eider
Himalayan Snowcock
Gray Partridge
Spruce Grouse
White-tailed Ptarmigan
Dusky Grouse
Sooty Grouse
Greater Prairie-Chicken
Arctic Loon
Black-capped Petrel
Buller's Shearwater
Manx Shearwater
Band-rumped Storm-Petrel
Black Storm-Petrel
Yellow Rail
Bristle-thighed Curlew
Bridled Tern
Roseate Tern
Dovekie
Scripps's Murrelet
Groove-billed Ani
Northern Hawk Owl
Great Gray Owl
Northern Saw-whet Owl
Black Swift
American Three-toed Woodpecker
Black-backed Woodpecker
Island Scrub-Jay
Arctic Warbler
Bluethroat
Northern Wheatear
Bicknell's Thrush
Eastern Yellow Wagtail
Smith's Longspur
McCown's Longspur
McKay's Bunting
Connecticut Warbler
White-winged Crossbill
Hoary Redpoll

He also still needs California Condor (6)

 

[dantheman]

He missed out on half a dozen or more regular code 2 Alaskan birds whilst he was up there, in addition to a few 'easy' code 3's the others got; Ringed Plover, Steller's/Spectacled Eider, Red-throated Pipit etc ... which he really should have seen. Unless he's saving them for later ...

Barn Swallow on his target list presumably an oversight (on his part - couldn't find it on his birdlist?).




Edit: I've split the above list into code 1 and code 2 species (and taken out Grey-headed Chickadee (Siberian Tit) which had crept in ... a code 3 despite being a resident breeder)

His 67 or so remaining compare favorably with John's 64 remaining code 1 and 2's, considering he has yet to do an east coast (Hatteras) pelagic, and seems to have connected with perhaps a few more commoner spring flycatchers etc..

 

[dantheman]

... and if it wasn't for the other two, he'd be well on target for breaking the record in his own right* - Neil Hayward didn't hit 660 until the beginning of July, being on 643 on the 11th June with only 32 code 3+'s by the same date.

*(If he could get the finances to keep at it - it looks like his Attu trip was out of the blue and at approaching $9 - 10,000 you wonder if some kind of bank, book or private benefactor deal suddenly sprung up.)



(Apologies if anyone is coming on here for actual blog or list updates, only to be disappointed to find just more of my witterings, lists and random musings ... ... Christian has since added at least Franklin's Gull to hit 660 on the ebird listings.

Lynn Barber's blog https://lynnbarberblog.com/ is also coming along ... with more lower 48 type species in Alaska as opposed to rarities the others have just missed (which is probably a good thing as far as they are concerned))

 

[Jon Turner]

It's going to be slim pickings for Olaf now with so few to go for (get?) and so long to do it. There aren't going to be many places he can add significantly to his score, surely?

20 for the record, and maybe max 20 more, 40 additions and around 200 days to get them. He will have plenty of time to chase the odd rarities that turn up.

So, Dan, we'll have to put up with your ravings quite a lot methinks!