[Phil Hill]

Wilson's Phalarope at Slimbridge yesterday on a totally unplanned day out. Made even better because I dipped the one at Exminister earlier on in the year.

[dalat]

21 lifers on my last birding weekend: http://www.birdforum.net/showthread.php?t=156389

Certainly my favorite is the Green Cochoa: http://orientalbirdimages.org/search...Family_ID=&p=2

[Fozzybear]

Well after posting that I was looking out for Curlews last week I found one yesterday! Went to Southend to meet-up with a friend from flickr who said he'd show me around the birdy spots and found Curlews on the seafront near the pier, out at Leigh-on-Sea and at Two Tree Island. Also got to see Brent Geese (also a first), Dunlin and a first winter Mediterranean Gull.

Also got my first proper view of a Water Rail at Two Tree. I'd seen one before in Chelmsford but only a backlit brief glimpse while watching a Mink. This one was off in the distance in the marsh but I could at least watch it properly for a while and also get a photo.

[Carpe_Diem]

Good afternoon everyone,

The life bird for me today is the Barred Owl. Had never seen one in the wild until today and it was at our local walking trails called Lemoine Pointe.

A great day for me. :)

[MSullivan]

My newest life birds were this past
weekend. King and common eiders
off Sandy Hook in New Jersey

[waka waka]

Hmm, latest lifers are a Viginia Rail, which I would have never seen by myself, and an Eurasian Widgeon. This past Saturday 11-7-09 in the Sacramento Valley, Northern CA.

[Peter C.]

This almost went into the "worst dip" thread.

For just over a week, there's been a hatch-year male Phainopepla here in southern Ontario. It's a very big rarity for here, being only the second record for the province (and one of very few for the whole country). It has been seen reliably, but only intermittently, in the same small area of the Toronto suburb of Brampton over the last eight days. Fortunately, there's a lot of wild food around there for it to eat, so it seems content to stay where it is - unfortunately, it spends a lot of its time roosting out of sight! So, I managed to dip on it four times - sometimes by only 30 minutes - before finally getting it yesterday.

<*whew*>

Worth it though, he's a great-looking bird!

Peter C.

[Edward]

Originally Posted by Peter C.

This almost went into the "worst dip" thread.

For just over a week, there's been a hatch-year male Phainopepla here in southern Ontario. It's a very big rarity for here, being only the second record for the province (and one of very few for the whole country). It has been seen reliably, but only intermittently, in the same small area of the Toronto suburb of Brampton over the last eight days. Fortunately, there's a lot of wild food around there for it to eat, so it seems content to stay where it is - unfortunately, it spends a lot of its time roosting out of sight! So, I managed to dip on it four times - sometimes by only 30 minutes - before finally getting it yesterday.

<*whew*>

Worth it though, he's a great-looking bird!

Peter C.

Glad that your persistence paid off, Peter. Phainopepla is not exactly the first bird that comes to mind when you think of Ontario in November.

Only one lifer for me in 2009, Grasshopper Warbler in Denmark in July and only one Iceland tick, Least Sandpiper.

[Peter C.]

Originally Posted by Edward

Glad that your persistence paid off, Peter. Phainopepla is not exactly the first bird that comes to mind when you think of Ontario in November.

No kidding! A long way from home, this fellow.

It was a near thing too (my getting it, that is) ... pelting with rain today, don't think it will have showed at all.

Curiously, this is my third lifer in Ontario this year – which is about three times as many as I get in an average year, these days! It's been a very nice year for vagrants.

Thanks,

Peter C.

[virgo10]

A brown pelican, spotted on the way to a Tampabay Rays game last July. We have a lot of white ones in the area I live in but I had never seen a brown one until we were almost in St. Pete.

[Fozzybear]

Found my first Common Gulls at a local farm this morning. Most likely a species I've been seeing for years but it's the first time I've actually spotted and identified them.

[Nightjar61]

Yesterday (November 22) I drove to southwest Michigan where a vagrant Ancient Murrelet has been seen for the last week or so on Lake Michigan. It was world lifer number 2,215 and ABA area lifer number 629.

Dave