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Young Birder (2 Viewers)

Two bogey birds of mine have been around in the last couple of days, and as it happens they are both terns. Both Roseate and Black Tern are birds I am yet to see, being scarce passage birds here. Both have been seen in the last couple of days at the Ythan Estuary. The latter species I am kicking myself by having not seen yet, and along with Black-necked Grebe is my worst bogey bird. The Roseate Tern was seen yesterday whilst the Black Tern was seen today. I am going to be heading down to the ternery tomorrow morning to see if I can locate either of them, will be delighted if I manage to see even just one of them!

Talking of bogey birds, what are people's top 10 bogeys at the moment (if you don't mind being honest) ? Here's my list:

1 - Black Tern
2 - Black-necked Grebe
3 - Capercallie
4 - Willow Tit
5 - Nightingale
6 - Lesser Spotted Woodpecker
7 - Roseate Tern
8 - Red-necked Phalarope
9 - Wryneck
10 - Quail

Other birds I feel I should have seen by now include Balearic Shearwater, Storm Petrel, Yellow-legged Gull, Corncrake and Chough. I'm hoping to see Chough when in Islay on my West coast of Scotland trip coming up next week, as well as the possibility of of Storm Petrel and an outside chance of Corncrake. If I am lucky, I could cut down on one of those terns tomorrow. Would anyone care to share their bogey birds? :t:

Joseph

Mine are mostly seabirds:

1) LEO
2) Stormies
3) Bonxies
4) LT Skua
5) Pomarine Skua
6) Balearic Shearwater
7) Roseate Tern
8) Great Grey Shrike
9) Iceland Gull
10) Firecrest

Pleasantly surprised to get back from Waddington and hear about an Western Olivacious Warbler in North Derbys. Will hopefully be able to go for this after school tomorrow.
 
and deglandi have brown flanks


If we want to be really picky we could say all species of Scoter in the world. Some of us count the White-winged Scoter as two different 'forms'.;)

I have just written a scoter article for the local bird club magazine and the differences are fairly minute between deglandi and stejnegeri. With the exception the 'knob' on stejnegeri adult drakes is more obvious than on deglandi. But who knows; perhaps the BOU will split them?
 
Mine are mostly seabirds:

1) LEO
2) Stormies
3) Bonxies
4) LT Skua
5) Pomarine Skua
6) Balearic Shearwater
7) Roseate Tern
8) Great Grey Shrike
9) Iceland Gull
10) Firecrest

Pleasantly surprised to get back from Waddington and hear about an Western Olivacious Warbler in North Derbys. Will hopefully be able to go for this after school tomorrow.

Western Bonneli's do you mean? ;) . I'm not very good on the seabird front either - I still need Long-tailed Skua, any species of Storm Petrel and Balearic Shearwater and Little Auk. I can see why they are mostly seabirds that you haven't seen, you're in a landlocked county! Good luck if you go for the Western Bonelli's tomorrow.

Joseph
 
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Down your way I can imagine some of those birds are very elusive too, but I am sure you'll catch up with them soon. Out of them I'm still to see Serin. I also think its due to the geographical location of those birds in comparison to where we live that makes them bogey birds for us. For example, Goosander and Puffin aren't a problem to see up here but in Norfolk they are damn tricky to see. The same goes for pretty much all the birds on my list such as Black Tern and BN Grebe, you just don't get them up here - they're county rarities (even mega rarities for some of the birds on my list, e.g. LS Woodpecker, Willow Tit) ! On top of that, they're tricky birds to connect with even where you get them!

Joseph

Yea most of them are very elusive. We have sites for HB, MH, TP, WR, WW, and Hawfinch here but its only 1 or 2 locations. Serin, Goosander and Jack Snipe are rare winter visitors although the Goosander is the one that really bugs me as there was one around in Norfolk all winter but I never quite caught up with it! This year.
Puffins you will get off the coast but far less regularly than in the North, same goes for Long-Tailed Skua in the North west and the rarer shearwaters and petrels!
In comparison we have numerous sights for Nightingale (if you can find them!) and have Quails everywhere, but seeing is the tough part.
The other birds you have listed are all rare in most counties though I feel or are just rare as a whole! I've only seen Black-necked Grebe, Capercallie, roseate tern, red-necked phalarope and wryneck once! Willow Tit i've had one possible and only a handful of sightings of LSW and Black Tern!
Both having lists around the 270 mark we are reaching that stage where we are relying on birds being blown off course or trips to other parts of the country to increase it!
 
Yea most of them are very elusive. We have sites for HB, MH, TP, WR, WW, and Hawfinch here but its only 1 or 2 locations. Serin, Goosander and Jack Snipe are rare winter visitors although the Goosander is the one that really bugs me as there was one around in Norfolk all winter but I never quite caught up with it! This year.
Puffins you will get off the coast but far less regularly than in the North, same goes for Long-Tailed Skua in the North west and the rarer shearwaters and petrels!
In comparison we have numerous sights for Nightingale (if you can find them!) and have Quails everywhere, but seeing is the tough part.
The other birds you have listed are all rare in most counties though I feel or are just rare as a whole! I've only seen Black-necked Grebe, Capercallie, roseate tern, red-necked phalarope and wryneck once! Willow Tit i've had one possible and only a handful of sightings of LSW and Black Tern!
Both having lists around the 270 mark we are reaching that stage where we are relying on birds being blown off course or trips to other parts of the country to increase it!

You shouldn't have to worry about HB or MH. I've had MH at their site down your way (as well as finding a male up here as a youngster) and you've got Great Ryburgh and Swanton Novers for HB, it's just a matter of persistence with all of them. Water Rail is an elusive bird anywhere as it is, whereas Tree Pipit is a relatively easy bird in the right habitat so you shouldn't have trouble seeing them. We have one reliable site for Wood Warbler here, but I had to go down to Scone Palace in Perthshire this winter to see my first - I saw 30 of them! Around the paddocks at Lynford is pretty reliable for them in your area so I'm sure if you get down there enough times you'll manage them there. When I was in Norfolk this April I tried for Lesser Spotted Woodpecker at two sites in the Brecks but was unsuccessful, as well as being unsucessful with Willow Tit. Nightingale I've heard at Minsmere and in Essex, having been feet away from them both, but I didn't see either of them.

It's been a particularly successful year for Quails, we've had several at different sites in the county this year, but they are indeed a pain to see! As for Capercallie, it's probably the bogey bird of mine I'm most desperate to see! Time after time I've walked through Abernethy Forest and failed to see them, and at the Caperwatch last year I missed a pair by a few minutes! The joy I'll have when I finally connect with one of them! And indeed, as you said, we are relying on rare migs and trips to increase our lists now, as are many other young birders on here.

Joseph
 
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Probably my worst bogey birds are ones I've seen but have struggled to catch up with recently.
1 dipper ( one last year, none this or the year before last)
2 long tailed skua (the amount of time ive seawatched)
3 green woodpecker (seen but never ever had a good view, eg flying away/ partially obscured ect, though a pretty good view this year and down to 6 feet in France)
4 Stone curlew (this year, dipped both in Norfolk and Durham)
5 Sabines gull (same as skua, dipped one 4 times in 2 days at a gull flock and I've had possibles)
 
Probably my worst bogey birds are ones I've seen but have struggled to catch up with recently.
1 dipper ( one last year, none this or the year before last)
2 long tailed skua (the amount of time ive seawatched)
3 green woodpecker (seen but never ever had a good view, eg flying away/ partially obscured ect, though a pretty good view this year and down to 6 feet in France)
4 Stone curlew (this year, dipped both in Norfolk and Durham)
5 Sabines gull (same as skua, dipped one 4 times in 2 days at a gull flock and I've had possibles)

Again some tough ones for the year list/update viewing! Being in the North you have a better chance for Dipper and Long Tailed Skua than I do but Green Woodpeckers are pretty abundant down here.
Surprised you dipped the SC, Weeting Heath I'm guessing?
Sabine's Gull is another one I've dipped a couple of times but that comes from being awful at Id'ing gulls!
 
Again some tough ones for the year list/update viewing! Being in the North you have a better chance for Dipper and Long Tailed Skua than I do but Green Woodpeckers are pretty abundant down here.
Surprised you dipped the SC, Weeting Heath I'm guessing?
Sabine's Gull is another one I've dipped a couple of times but that comes from being awful at Id'ing gulls!

I've looked for dipper in Scotland twice and locally loads, but I'm really struggling. Skua i dipped in the hides also, you should also get them off your sea watching sites I would have thought.
Sc was weeting and teeside, I think wetting was a mix off wrong time of day and heat haze.
Sabs are very distinctive, apparently :-O
 
I've looked for dipper in Scotland twice and locally loads, but I'm really struggling. Skua i dipped in the hides also, you should also get them off your sea watching sites I would have thought.
Sc was weeting and teeside, I think wetting was a mix off wrong time of day and heat haze.
Sabs are very distinctive, apparently :-O

I'm very rarely in the North so Dipper is gonna be very tough for me!
Fingers crossed for LTS this autumn, dad needs it as well so I'm sure plenty of sea watching will happen.
Heat haze can play a big part at weeting, they blend in that well that the heat haze can easily hide them!
 
I'm very rarely in the North so Dipper is gonna be very tough for me!
Fingers crossed for LTS this autumn, dad needs it as well so I'm sure plenty of sea watching will happen.
Heat haze can play a big part at weeting, they blend in that well that the heat haze can easily hide them!

We had plenty of possibles like rabbits and rocks and even a mistle thrush!
 
Heat haze can play a big part at weeting, they blend in that well that the heat haze can easily hide them!

This is indeed true, if on a trip to Norfolk and you are getting up early it's always a good idea to make Weeting your first port of call before the heat haze becomes too dense to see the SCs, which seem to have learnt to keep well away from the hide and stay distant! I certainly found this has helped in my two visits to the reserve. Have you had them at Weeting before Michael, or was it just this year that you failed to see them?

It's interesting that both of you struggle with Dipper down your way, in Aberdeenshire they aren't too tricky to catch up with. I've see a pair on a little stream within Aberdeen itself, relatively close to the city centre and I have seen them on several occasions along the River Don at Seaton Park on the outskirts of the city. They are not too tricky to see along Deeside to the west of Aberdeen as well. Of course this is partly due to the how far north I am and the amount of suitable habitat for Dipper that we have here. I am aware that in Norfolk there is a lack of suitable habitat for Dipper so I can understand why you barely see them Oliver. However, is there a lack of/not enough suitable habitat for Dipper in Durham/the North East of England, Michael? Would stirke me as more surprising up your way for Dipper to be sparsely populated?

I tried for my two 'bogey terns' at the Ythan Estuary today, but unfortunately dipped. I'm not sure when I'll be getting out next, but my trip to the West Coast of Scotland (Islay and Mull) is coming up in a week and a half, so I might have to wait until then. Should see at least one of these bogey birds whilst I'm there: Chough, Corncrake, Storm Petrel.

Joseph
 
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Had an absolutely amazing day out today. Started off with twitching the American Golden Plover at Skippool Creek this morning, just 2 miles from my house to see a bird in full summer plumage! Then with a couple of mates went to Arnside Knott where I got 4 new butterfly sp (3 fritillaries and Grayling) and a Green Woodpecker. From here we went to Foulshaw Moss where I got 2 new Dragonfly species and 2 new Reptiles including an Adder o:D Finally Meathop Meadow where I saw my first Large Heath butterfly.
 
Had an absolutely amazing day out today. Started off with twitching the American Golden Plover at Skippool Creek this morning, just 2 miles from my house to see a bird in full summer plumage! Then with a couple of mates went to Arnside Knott where I got 4 new butterfly sp (3 fritillaries and Grayling) and a Green Woodpecker. From here we went to Foulshaw Moss where I got 2 new Dragonfly species and 2 new Reptiles including an Adder o:D Finally Meathop Meadow where I saw my first Large Heath butterfly.

I love adders,Amazing animals. Never properly seen one, well done!
I only saw my first grass snake this year, and my only slow worm was disappearing in the grass.
Has anyone else seen any snakes/lizards in the uk?
Learning my dragons and damsels and butterflies and moths for the new forest now, I'm hoping for loads of new species.
What's everyone else doing this summer? :t:
 
Western Bonneli's do you mean? ;) . I'm not very good on the seabird front either - I still need Long-tailed Skua, any species of Storm Petrel and Balearic Shearwater and Little Auk. I can see why they are mostly seabirds that you haven't seen, you're in a landlocked county! Good luck if you go for the Western Bonelli's tomorrow.

Doh! |:$| Waddington Airshow was a long day! On the subject of Long-Tailed Skua I have missed out on one by 5 minutes!

Anyway decided to go for the Bonelli's ;) and as soon as my dad arrived home from work at 6. Got there at 7.30!! and although the bird was seen about 5 times, it proved very flighty and hard to get on to. I then got lucky and got a good 10 second view of it feeding in the trees. Saw it a couple more times and even heard it sing.

So now on 183, now 184 (missed Crossbill) for the year. Should hopefully get easy year ticks such as Nightjar and Tree Pipit, mabye even Woodlark, on Thursday.
 
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Just completed a blog post about yesterday including plenty of photos so take a look if your interested, 15 new species for me so was pretty good! Be warned it is quite long though ;)
 
I'm having a great time in Brazil and have seen 90 species in two days including Black and White Hawk Eagle, Sao Paulo Antwren (a species only discovered c8 years ago) and numerous Tanagers. I'll post more detailed information when I get back.
 
+1 with corn bunt, my biggest bogey lifer ticked off! Had 2 weeks in Japan, not many birds but great fun trying to separate 3 types of similar looking white egrets.
 
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