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ZEISS DTI thermal imaging cameras. For more discoveries at night, and during the day.

Your top 3 "bogey" birds? (1 Viewer)

Ram One said:
I still need Radde's Warbler and have dipped on 6 in the last fortnight.
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It took me about a dozen attempts to get Broad-billed Sandpiper in the UK although I've seen hundreds abroad. In 1995 it was eventually my 400th UK species.

The key to getting the migrant breeders is to get them as soon as they arrive, much more visible then. On my patch in Russia, I have Thrush Nightingale all over the place and easy to see but once they pair up they're almost impossible to see, same with Bluthroat and Marsh Warbler.

A
 
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Well, my chance to rather go off on a rant!

I never connected with Hawfinch, Penduline Tit, any Shearwater other than Manx, or any pratincole other than Oriental (yes, I know!).

And Blyth's Pipit! I went for a well-watched one many years ago (can't remember where it it was now ) but a whole bunch of people said it was at the bottom of an isolated patch of vegetation surrounded by shingle if memory serves. It had been seen 10 minutes before I arrived. After 3 hours intensive watching, a pipit-sized bird lifted up from the vegetation and immediately dropped again like a stone. "That was it!" people said. Couldn't count it, of course. The more galling because before then I'd had reasonable if distant views of the famous "Portland pipit", back in the 1980s IIRC. Many people wanted that to be Blyth's, but after some years Peter Grant's doubts were vindicated and it was ruled to be Richardson's (bah, already on my list).

Lifelist is the same as my British list - 309 (since removing Goshawk - saw it at a prime site for the species, and from about half a mile it looked enormous but that won't do) and Least Tern at Rye Harbour in 1992 (excellent views, call heard, a photo taken, but it's not been split and not countable). Very unlikely to get more because of poor mobility, but I'm happy with some marvellous memories, detailed notes and photographs.
 
Jonno52 said:
Well, my chance to rather go off on a rant!

I never connected with Hawfinch, Penduline Tit, any Shearwater other than Manx, or any pratincole other than Oriental (yes, I know!).
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Funny how many people on this board struggle to see Hawfinch. It's a fairly common bird over here in Germany (in fact, IIRC we have the world's largest Hawfinch population; same for Middle Spotted Woodpecker). I see them pretty much every time I go to my "local patch".
So if any of you get the chance to visit the country, Hawfinch is probably one of the easiest "local specialties" to find here, easier than Crested Tit IMO, and a lot easier than Goshawk.
FWIW, they should be reasonably common in France as well.
 
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Hawfinch is regular in Bramfield, Hertfordshire in winter, close to London. Check the Herts Bird Club website in January... My only self-found Hawfinches in the UK were at Gait Barrows in Lancashire.
England appears to be a sink for Hawfinch, with invasions required to take up the numbers again.

(It's one of two bird species I saw as a lifer in Germany: it was a bogey bird for me too as they did not use to occur near my Dutch home town).
 
Xenospiza said:
Hawfinch is regular in Bramfield, Hertfordshire in winter, close to London. Check the Herts Bird Club website in January... My only self-found Hawfinches in the UK were at Gait Barrows in Lancashire.
England appears to be a sink for Hawfinch, with invasions required to take up the numbers again.

(It's one of two bird species I saw as a lifer in Germany: it was a bogey bird for me too as they did not use to occur near my Dutch home town).
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Hawfinch is tricky in the UK, Clumber Park, Nottinghamshire in winter is usally reliable. Had a family party on my balcony feeder in Russia last summer, sofa tick.


A
 
I'm walking the walk of shame- still haven't seen[or heard] a Yellow-browed Warbler.
They have been all over the place on the west coast this year.
If I don't see one this year then I never will.
 
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Recently had great luck and cleaned up on 3 of my top 4 bogey birds on a trip to Brazil.
On our last day at Cristalino, found Green & Rufous Kingfisher and then literally 50 feet farther Agami Heron. The day prior had distant views of 4 King Vultures.
Now, if I can ever see an Andean Condor....
 
Dave B Smith said:
Recently had great luck and cleaned up on 3 of my top 4 bogey birds on a trip to Brazil.
On our last day at Cristalino, found Green & Rufous Kingfisher and then literally 50 feet farther Agami Heron. The day prior had distant views of 4 King Vultures.
Now, if I can ever see an Andean Condor....
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If you want to see the Condor, one of the South American Cities has a dump on the outskirts that attracts dozens at a time, I forget where though (maybe Bogota?)!?

Papalacta pass in Ecuador is supposed to be fairly reliable too.


A
 
Thanks Andy,
Tried at Papallacta Pass with no luck. Andes in Colombia and Venezuela with no luck. Southern Chile is a future trip and hopefully will take care of this.
 
This thread sounded awfully familiar... I did a small amount of searching, and found that I'd answered this question twice before (April 2016 and February 2015). |:d|
Alas, the top three are still there, and still the same - Kirtland's Warbler, Henslow's Sparrow, and Mississippi Kite. :C

Dave B Smith said:
Thanks Andy,
Tried at Papallacta Pass with no luck. Andes in Colombia and Venezuela with no luck. Southern Chile is a future trip and hopefully will take care of this.
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RE: Condors
Chile seems to be good. D. & I found a couple near Tena (only a couple of hours' drive s. of Santiago) and one distant one at Altos de Lircay. Southern Chile, I don't know, but it might be better, since it's more of a wilderness area.

Andy: Don't know about Papallacta Pass; I've been there twice, spent most of the day there on one occasion, and never found any. Others may well have been luckier, of course.
 
Re Andean Condor, agree Papallacta is far from reliable (dipped on both visits). They're much easier in southern Andes, and Tierra Del Fuego where you can even see them a few km from the sea.

My main bogey is Great Shearwater. Birds breeding nearest to my house that I still haven't seen are Rock Partridge, Western Olivaceous Warbler, and Balearic Warbler
 
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On Andean Condor - certainly they are more common as you get further south.

There are perhaps 50 birds in Colombia, mostly in the Santa Marta, with a few in the Perijá and a few in the Central Andes but there is no really reliable place.

There are perhaps 50 birds in Ecuador as well and the only reliable place to see them is PN Antisana and the adjoining Fundacion Jocotoco reserve of Antisanilla.

There might be 300-1000 birds in Peru from what I have heard and they are certainly more common the further south you get.

I do not know what the population in Argentina and Chile might be like but I know it is much larger.

Not sure what dump might attract them - I have only ever seen Condors gathered at carcasses, was not aware of their being attracted to human refuse?
 
Little Shearwater (Baroli's) & Black-browned Albatross - staying at Cape Cornwall this week I managed to miss the latter this week.
In the US, Connecticut Warbler assuming they exist :)
 
Can anyone remond me of the City dump where many Condors congregate, it was on the tv in the UK on something like 'Earthflight' but I can't find it?

I have a feeling it may have been La Paz?

A
 
1. Verraux's Eagle - have looked far and wide around Salalah, Oman
2. Arabian Spotted Eagle Owl
3. Red-headed Trogon (dipped several times around Fraser's Hill, Malaysia)
4. Streaked Wren Babbler (ditto)
 
andyb39 said:
1. Verraux's Eagle - have looked far and wide around Salalah, Oman
2. Arabian Spotted Eagle Owl
3. Red-headed Trogon (dipped several times around Fraser's Hill, Malaysia)
4. Streaked Wren Babbler (ditto)
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Me too with Verreaux's Andy, dipped in in at least 6 coutries spanning over 6 months in Africa!

You were very unlucky with the Trogon mate, they're common at FH and in other places!

Andy
 
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