• Welcome to BirdForum, the internet's largest birding community with thousands of members from all over the world. The forums are dedicated to wild birds, birding, binoculars and equipment and all that goes with it.

    Please register for an account to take part in the discussions in the forum, post your pictures in the gallery and more.
ZEISS DTI thermal imaging cameras. For more discoveries at night, and during the day.

2017 Western Palearctic Big Year (4 Viewers)

Maffong said:
I really wonder if any really easy bird will be missing from their final list, because they didn't get it during spring migration and won't visit the breeding region until the birds have already stopped singing/showing
Click to expand...
Maffong - this is a good point. It is almost a guarantee that they will miss something. Earlier this year they were worrying about Nutcracker, which they still havent seen but should get in the Urals or back home in Sweden.
They are also likely to miss some of the seabirds due to timing in Madeira/Azores/Cape Verde - CV Shearwater almost definitely, Zino possibly, possibly some of the storm petrels. Sounds like they are not going for Scottish Crossbill, nor Algerian Nuthatch.
Everything else is likely given continued luck, good weather and good health.
 
Paul Chapman said:
I had previously understood that the suggested African Reed Warblers in Morocco were resident and the time to be more confident in seeing the right birds was in the winter? Has the theory changed? I anticipate that migrant birds may currently dominate?
Click to expand...

Yes, some of them do overwinter year after year in the breeding areas (ringing recoveries) but some may move elsewhere or to sub-Saharan Africa. In the migration periods, migrant birds are indeed the majority. But if you go to the breeding areas, you can see the birds signing and showing well (so you can see the main ID features). If you have a camera, then it's perfect and you can get good photos (as the BigYearWP did).

Muppit17 said:
Seems like their record is a heard only
Click to expand...

Hearing the Small Buttonquail is very good. Seeing the bird needs time and some luck.
 
Last edited:
I put together a target list of the most gettable species for the team this year, and suggested locations based on their itinerary. It doesn't include any Cat C species or vagrants as these are so unpredictable. Getting all the birds would put them on around 700 species. The Azores could easily add another 10-15 species to this, plus the various Cat C and other vagrant ticks.

Any suggestions/improvements would be welcome.
 

Attachments

  • Target List v1.xlsx
    13.9 KB · Views: 59
I'll have a look tonight and compare. I got c720 with additional gettables on my Codes 1 to 3. The difference may be the Category C species. I got 750 as possible.

All the best
 
Last edited:
Captain_of_Crunch said:
I put together a target list of the most gettable species for the team this year, and suggested locations based on their itinerary.

Any suggestions/improvements would be welcome.
Click to expand...

Half the fun is the unexpected and I dont want to steal Paul's thunder. A few thoughts

King Eider - probably get in Svalbad
Caspian Snowcock- almost impossible in Georgia and certainly not where they are going. Turkey is the place
Rock Partridge Croatia, Italy, Alps - this could be one they struggle with
Cape Verde Shearwater Cape Verdes - probably too late
Little Shearwater - now two species (Macronesian & Boyd's)- CV, Azores and Madeira - their itinerary may help with this winter breeder
Wilson's Storm Petrel UK is probably more likely
Dalmatian Pelican neither Greece, Bulgaria on their current schedule. Turkey?
Hobby Georgia - I didnt see any in Georgia and may be difficult there, but plenty of other locations
Red-footed Falcon Ural Mtns - I did see in Georgia!
Great Snipe Ural Mtns is best bet
Sabine's Gull maybe Svalbad
White-winged Black Tern unlikely in Georgia (you need to be in the south) but Turkey/Ural delta?
Snowy Owl - good question - Varanger in November?
Plain Swift they should get it in Madeira first.
Pechora Pipit- I would be surprised if they get it in Ural Mtns - not sure where they will
Radde's Accentor - only present in Lesser Caucaus so not on their Georgia itinerary - Turkey
Red-flanked Bluetail Should get in Ural Mountains
Persian Wheatear already seen in Kuwait
Aquatic Warbler Portugal - this is what they have said but seems very brave
Grasshopper Warbler this is another easy one that could slip through the net. They need to get in the Ural Mtns otherwise they will have stopped reeling by the time they are back in Sweden etc
Iberian Chiffchaff -may get in Morocco
Canary Islands Firecrest - not a true species under IOC, lumped under Goldcrest
Algerian Nuthatch - Algeria - not on itinerary
Wallcreeper - relatively common at Kazbegi
Rose-coloured Starling - only in the south of Georgia when I was there. Turkey more likely
Red-fronted Serin- should get in Kazbegi first.
 
Captain_of_Crunch said:
I put together a target list of the most gettable species for the team this year, and suggested locations based on their itinerary. It doesn't include any Cat C species or vagrants as these are so unpredictable. Getting all the birds would put them on around 700 species. The Azores could easily add another 10-15 species to this, plus the various Cat C and other vagrant ticks.

Any suggestions/improvements would be welcome.
Click to expand...

I believe your omissions are from the following (including some perhaps unlikely):-

Egypt - Brown Booby, Pink-backed Pelican, Yellow Bittern, Goliath Heron, Yellow-billed Stork, Lappet-faced Vulture, African Swamphen, Greater Painted Snipe, Three-banded Plover, Sooty Gull, Saunders's Tern, African Skimmer, Chestnut-bellied Sandgrouse, Senegal Coucal, African Pied Wagtail, Nike Valley Sunbird (;)), Streaked Weaver

Georgia - Ring Ouzel, Common Rosefinch, European Honey-buzzard

Cyprus - Cyprus Scops Owl

Russia - Azure Tit, Little Bunting, Pin-tailed Snipe, Swinhoe's Snipe, Oriental Turtle Dove, Pallas's Reed Bunting

Italy - Sacred Ibis, Red-billed Leiothrix, Northern Bobwhite

Corsica - California Quail

Mallorca - Mediterranean Flycatcher

France - Reeve's Pheasant

Portugal - Yellow-crowned Bishop, Black-headed Weaver, Red Avadavat

Sweden - Willow Ptarmigan, Rock Ptarmigan

Azores - Monteiro's Storm-petrel, Sooty Tern, Azores Bullfinch

Cape Verde - Fea's Petrel, Boyd's Shearwater, Red-billed Tropicbird, Helmeted Guineafowl, Cape Verde Swift, Grey-headed Kingfisher (photo), Iago Sparrow (photo), Magnificent Frigatebird, Cape Verde Buzzard, Raso Lark (photo), Cape Verde Warbler (photo)

Canaries - Nanday Parakeet, Fuerteventura Chat (photo)

All the best

Paul
 

Attachments

  • Grey-headed Kingfisher.jpg
    Grey-headed Kingfisher.jpg
    318.6 KB · Views: 42
  • Iago Sparrow.jpg
    Iago Sparrow.jpg
    276.7 KB · Views: 44
  • Raso Lark.jpg
    Raso Lark.jpg
    361.7 KB · Views: 44
  • Cape Verde Warbler.jpg
    Cape Verde Warbler.jpg
    336 KB · Views: 47
  • Fuerteventura Chat.jpg
    Fuerteventura Chat.jpg
    401.4 KB · Views: 43
Last edited:
Muppit17 said:
Half the fun is the unexpected and I dont want to steal Paul's thunder. A few thoughts

Caspian Snowcock- almost impossible in Georgia and certainly not where they are going. Turkey is the place
Rock Partridge Croatia, Italy, Alps - this could be one they struggle with
Click to expand...

What's so hard about seeing Caspian Snowcock in Georgia? There are some reliable places and but maybe a bit harder to reach than Demircazik.

Rock Partridge should be fairly easy in e.g. Croatia, but a bit less so in the Alps.
 
Thanks for that, and will update the spreadsheet in the next few days. Some good information, especially on Georgia which I haven't visited.

Agreed that hopefully they will get plenty of unexpected birds, and this spreadsheet is more of an attempt to list what commoner/expected species they are still missing which is getting more complicated the more species they are accumulating.

Muppit17 said:
Half the fun is the unexpected and I dont want to steal Paul's thunder. A few thoughts

King Eider - probably get in Svalbad
Caspian Snowcock- almost impossible in Georgia and certainly not where they are going. Turkey is the place
Rock Partridge Croatia, Italy, Alps - this could be one they struggle with
Cape Verde Shearwater Cape Verdes - probably too late
Little Shearwater - now two species (Macronesian & Boyd's)- CV, Azores and Madeira - their itinerary may help with this winter breeder
Wilson's Storm Petrel UK is probably more likely
Dalmatian Pelican neither Greece, Bulgaria on their current schedule. Turkey?
Hobby Georgia - I didnt see any in Georgia and may be difficult there, but plenty of other locations
Red-footed Falcon Ural Mtns - I did see in Georgia!
Great Snipe Ural Mtns is best bet
Sabine's Gull maybe Svalbad
White-winged Black Tern unlikely in Georgia (you need to be in the south) but Turkey/Ural delta?
Snowy Owl - good question - Varanger in November?
Plain Swift they should get it in Madeira first.
Pechora Pipit- I would be surprised if they get it in Ural Mtns - not sure where they will
Radde's Accentor - only present in Lesser Caucaus so not on their Georgia itinerary - Turkey
Red-flanked Bluetail Should get in Ural Mountains
Persian Wheatear already seen in Kuwait
Aquatic Warbler Portugal - this is what they have said but seems very brave
Grasshopper Warbler this is another easy one that could slip through the net. They need to get in the Ural Mtns otherwise they will have stopped reeling by the time they are back in Sweden etc
Iberian Chiffchaff -may get in Morocco
Canary Islands Firecrest - not a true species under IOC, lumped under Goldcrest
Algerian Nuthatch - Algeria - not on itinerary
Wallcreeper - relatively common at Kazbegi
Rose-coloured Starling - only in the south of Georgia when I was there. Turkey more likely
Red-fronted Serin- should get in Kazbegi first.
Click to expand...
 
flownek said:
As it was feared by some, all equipment confiscated at Egyptian customs, according to Fatzebook. Very bad.
Click to expand...

Another country off the birding maps for a while.

But hadn't they been forewarned? Did they also try to bring in telescopes or big telephotos? Not very clever to arrive with high profile optics when the warning of confiscation was already out there - they should have just brought discreet compacts or something.

I guess they could get hold of some cheap binoculars or something to get all the required species, but that's a bit of a spanner in the works!
 
Last edited:
flownek said:
As far as I know Nanday Parakeet is not officially established on the Canaries and therefore not countable.
Click to expand...

Paul Chapman said:
I don't think I would have much confidence in Scottish Crossbill (difficult, need a sound-recording and taxonomically suspect) or Lady Amherst's Pheasant (very difficult or extinct) but they will have plenty of European time in September so maybe?
t
Click to expand...

So a species with maybe one or a few birds left is still countable, while another species with plenty of birds isn't.
Is the clasifcation as 'C' for the Lady Amherst wrong, and it should be reclassified to 'E', also for old records. As obvious it never was self sustaining, given it is extinct now... (or will be soon)
 
The WHite-throated Bee-eater at Dakhla was reported yesterday again, so they could have had it if they'd gone for it.
I wonder what their strategy will be in Egypt now? Will they get help from the local birding community? Or will they do it on their own?
 
JeroenVanheuverswyn said:
Is the clasifcation as 'C' for the Lady Amherst wrong, and it should be reclassified to 'E', also for old records. As obvious it never was self sustaining, given it is extinct now... (or will be soon)
Click to expand...

There are papers detailing the causes of decline as habitat destruction and disturbance (from memory) so it is considered by some at least to have been properly categorised and is now placed in C6.

I hope that we have positive news on their optics situation asap.

All the best
 
They flew from Casablanca to Hurghada via Cairo, where the optics were confiscated. Now they left Egypt and will try to reenter with a direct flight to Hurghada from Istanbul. Hopefully they'll have better luck this time.

Two days lost. Does anyone have an idea how much time they'd need to find most of the priority targets?
 

Similar threads

opisska
WP not-so-big years
2
Replies
25
Views
3K
Paul Chapman
Paul Chapman
Mysticete
AI and rare birds
2 3 4
Replies
67
Views
4K
Mysticete
Mysticete
G
Binocular recommendations???
Replies
14
Views
2K
Marina Foster
M
G
  • Article
GreenSand's 2023
Replies
3
Views
429
Stonefaction
Stonefaction
D
Hello Everyone!
Replies
5
Views
401
Fritz73
Fritz73

Users who are viewing this thread

Total: 5 (members: 0, guests: 5)
Back
Top