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

Lazza's 2017 lists (1 Viewer)

I also had a trip to Sweden with work in June, and managed an evening on the riverbank at Uppsala and then a couple of hours at Nyckelvikens Nature Reserve before heading home. 52 species including a lifer, so All-in-all, quite productive seeing as I was working!

At Arlanda Airport:
1. White wagtail
2. Hooded crow*
3. Common siwft

In Uppsala:
4. Feral pigeon
5. Magpie
6. Fieldfare
7. Mallard
8. Common gull
9. Lapwing
10. Canada Goose
11. Grey heron
12. Black-headed gull
13. Buzzard
14. Skylark
15. Greylag
16. Common tern
17. Yellow wagtail - new for Sweden
18. Snipe - new for Sweden
19. Herring gull
20. Teal
21. Blue tit
22. Chaffinch
23. Robin
24. Great spotted woodpecker
25. Song thrush
26. Wood warbler* - a lifer :)
27. Common whitethroat
28. Blackbird
29. Woodpigeon

From the motorway, at Upplands Vasby:
30. Jay

In central Stockholm:
31. Lesser black-backed gull
32. Great tit

In Sodertalje:
33. House sparrow
34. House martin

In Vasby, from the motorway:
35. Jackdaw

Finally, had a couple of hours to wander around Nyckelvikens Nature Reserve, on the outskirts of Stockholm, before heading back to the airport, and was amazed to find such a peaceful oasis of nature so close to the cicty:
36. Goldfinch
37. Willow warbler
38. Raven*
39. Barn swallow
40. Nuthatch
41. Tufted duck
42. Goldeneye
43. Goosander
44. Common sandpiper - new for Swedish list
45. Starling
46. Common redstart - new for my Swedish list
47. Cormorant
48. Mute swan
49. Barnacle goose*
50. Tree sparrow
51. Green woodpecker
52. Pied flycatcher

And for the mammal list, at Nyckelvikens: red squirrel [12]

* 4 species not on an earlier/higher list
 
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UK observation for July...

At Druridge Pools:
140. Wood sandpiper
141. Little Owl

At Prestwick Carr:
142. Grasshopper Warbler
143. Eurasian Treecreeper (really? my first of 2017?)

From Church Point, Newbiggin:
144. Gannet
145. Sooty Shearwater - a lifer :)
146. Common scoter
 
So, I'm back from 3 weeks in Florida for our family holiday. Most of the trip revolved around Theme Parks - Disney, Universal Studios, and SeaWorld parks - but we had one trip to a managed nature reserve (Wild Florida, which also has an Alligator sanctuary and runs Airboat trips out over the nearby swamp and lake), and even day-to-day visits to the parks resulted in some interesting - if rather brief - opportunities for birding.

All-in-all, I managed to see 41 confirmed species, of which 28 were lifers! In roughly chronological order:

At Detroit Airport, on the journey out:
1. House Sparrow

The first morning at our villa, in Polk County, east of Orlando, I got up early and stared out into the trees behind the villa for an hour or two. Loads of unknown bird songs and calls, but nothing I could actually get a visual on, but I did see:

2. Carolina wren* - lifer
3. Northern Mockingbird* - lifer
4. Common Ground Dove* - new for US list (which, to be honest, was less than 10 species!)

The a trip to Walmart to stock up added:
5. Common Grackle*
6. Boat-tailed Grackle* - lifer

Driving to our first theme park along US192, I spotted:
7. Snowy Egret* - new for US list
8. Cattle Egret - new for US list

And at Universal Studios/Islands of Adventure:
9. Double-crested Cormorant* - lifer
10. Mallard - new for US list
11. Feral Pigeon

Next, a visit to SeaWorld, where the feed for the numerous stars of the shows attracted large numbers of fish-eaters!
12. Black Vulture* - lifer
13. Great egret - new for US list
14. Wood stork* - lifer
15. Great Blue Heron* - lifer
16. Green Heron* - lifer
17. White Ibis* - lifer

12* species not on an earlier 2017 list
 
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At Disney Springs:
18. Little Blue Heron* - lifer

And at one of the Outlet centers:
19. Blue Jay* - lifer

We went for dinner one evening at the Disney hotel, Grand Floridian, and on the grass verge outside the hotel was a group of:
20. Wild Turkey* - lifer

Our only "wildlife" outing was to Wild Florida, south of Kissimmee. This is a wildlife reserve on the edge of a swamp and lake, which runs airboat tours and also houses a small zoo and alligator sanctuary. It was well away from anywhere built-up and would have been worth another visit to see more of the local wildlife, but a day there was definitely worthwhile.
21. Sharp-shinned Hawk* - lifer
22. Fish crow* - lifer
23. Collared Dove - new for US list
24. Osprey* - new for US list
Out on the Airboat, despite the load noise they make, we saw loads of birds (mostly herons) and a lot of other wildlife (thousands of dragonflies!). New species seen were:
25. Bald eagle* - lifer (WOW! What a bird!)
26. Glossy Ibis - new for US list
27. Sandhill Crane* - lifer
28. Limpkin* - lifer
29. Red-winged Blackbird* - lifer
30. Common Gallinule* - lifer

11* species new for 2017 overall list
 
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Second week schedule was rather busy, so even less time to keep a look out for interesting birds, but still managed to add a few to the list.

At Volcano Bay water park, a late afternoon lightning storm resulted in torrential rain, which brought in a few:
31. American Crow* - lifer

At Magic Kingdom, there was an
32. Anhinga* - lifer
preening on a boardwalk as we waited to meet Belle!!

And at Animal Kingdom, amongst the "jungle" in the Africa zone, I spotted a
33. Ruby-throated Hummingbird* - lifer

While at Blizzard Beach, I finally noticed that some of the creamy coloured doves were actually:
34. Mourning Dove*

Over the villa one evening there were a few:
35. Purple martin* - lifer
and a couple of unidentified raptors, including a slate-grey, fast, sparrowhawk-like bird (which I'm hoping to identify at some point)

In the last week, we headed to the Royal Pacific hotel near Universal Studios park for a couple of nights, where I added:
36. Northern Cardinal* - lifer (which was a relief, as the rest of my family had seen one at Volcano Bay a few days before, which I missed while I was getting drinks..."Dad! We just saw a beautiful red bird with a crest!"...cue panic from me!)

A later visit to Volcano Bay gave a surprise fly-over
37. Brown Pelican*

And another trip to Animal Kingdom added:
38. Turkey Vulture* - lifer

Then, an early evening stroll near the villa, across the golf-course to the nearby lake added:
39. Red-shouldered Hawk* - lifer
40. Common Nighthawk* - lifer
41. Eastern Bluebird* - lifer (what a beauty!)

Finally, on the journey home, we had to change planes in Boston, where I picked up a few
42. Ring-billed gulls*
over the airport.

All 12* species new for 2017
 
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More travel with work, gave me a chance to advance my year's Swiss and French lists.

In Switzerland, I made decent progress for the amount of free time I had.

A stop by the Lake on the way out of Geneva, at Geneve plage, added:
42. Great crested grebe
43. Little grebe
...and in the Parc de la Grange, a new addition to my Swiss list:
44. Pied flycatcher (I saw lots of these on this trip in various locations)

By the border into France, at Corsier:
45. Starling
46. Barn swallow
47. Merlin!*

A short stop at Pas de Morgins, one of my regular haunts (hoping for Black Woodpecker...!) added:
48. Bullfinch
49. Grey wagtail

Then in Martigny, by my hotel:
50. Collared dove
51. Common redstart - new for Switzerland for me

The next day, as I headed north, I picked up a
52. Grey heron
at Gruyere services

Then, another stop at a small Nature Reserve I found last year:
53. Black redstart
54. Eurasian treecreeper
55. Firecrest*
56. Marsh tit
(and loads more pied flycatchers)

* 2 species not on an earlier list
 
While on the above trip to Switzerland, I drove through France a short while, adding:
53. House martin - in DOuvaine
54. Dipper - Vallee d'Abondance
 
Then, back in the UK, out on my bike along the coast north from Amble to Seahouses at the weekend, I added:

148. Brent goose - 7 came into mudflats near Boulmer
 
Stopped off at St Mary's Island in Whitley Bay last week, coming back from the garage, and managed to hit both my target species, one that I knew was there, and a second that I hoped would be there:

149. Ruff
150. Yellow-browed Warbler (x2)
 
Was looking back through my 2017 year list and comparing to 2016's and realised that I have somehow missed listing two species this year. Rather than go back an edit all the earlier posts, I'll add them here:

151. Grey partridge (actually seen back in March at Cresswell Pond, species 98)
152. Kittiwake (actually seen on the Farne Islands in June, species 135)
 
Out at the weekend off up the coast on my bike on Saturday morning. And unusually, a potential lifer had stayed around. In fact, managed to add three species to my UK year list, quite unusual for October. Not only that, one was the target lifer, and another was new for my Northumberland life list (taking it 206).

At Druridge Pools:
153. Red-necked Phalarope - the lifer :)

Then on the beach at the mouth of Chevington burn:
154. Shore Lark

And finally, at East Chevington, an impressive, loudly singing
155. Cetti's Warbler (new for Northumberland, for me)
Plus
156. Lesser Redpoll (at last!)
 
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A trip to the caravan park north of Berwick-upon-Tweed at the end of October half-term was a nice family break, and as usual, I managed a few meanderings along the cliffs and beaches north of the town. As usual, waders were present in good numbers, including quite a few Grey Plover which are always on the same beach at this time of year. And I was pleased to also add:

157. Peregrine - seen hunting along the cliffs both mornings
158. Knot
 
Out on my bike at the weekend in search of some relative rarities in Northumberland. And very soon caught up with the small flock of

159. Hawfinch

seen at Abbey Fields, west of Morpeth. Lovely birds on a lovely sunny morning.

Headed down to Big Waters, and where the Red-crested Pochard pair was easy to spot, but I missed out on the White-fronted geese and the Red-breasted goose. I could see a flock of geese in fields on the Northern side of the lake, but they were mostly obscured by trees, and I couldn't find anywhere to get a good enough view to see the rarer species.
 
Out to the coast last weekend, hoping for some interesting sea-watching, but the half hour I could stand, in cold north winds, didn't turn up a great deal. Nevertheless, just as I was about to call it a day, I had two passing:

160. Long-tailed duck
 
A few final additions for the 2017 lists that I never got around to adding:

For Switzerland (in November), near Versoix, GE:
57. Hawfinch - new for my Swiss list :)

For France (also in November), in Meximieux:
55. Kestrel

And one last species for the 2017 UK list, added in the last week of December at East Chevington:
161. Water Rail
 
....meaning that my overall scores for 2017 were as follows:

Global species list: 250 (Woohoo! My best year total by far, and including 33 lifers)

Made up of:

UK: 161, with 4 lifers
Spain: 87 (of which 48 were seen on other lists, leaving 39 unique species)
Switzerland: 57 (of which 50 were seen on other lists, giving 7 unique species)
France: 55 (51 on other lists, leaving 4 unique species)
Sweden: 53, including 1 lifer (49 on other lists, leaving 4 unique species)
USA: 43, of which 28 were lifers!! (8 on other lists, giving 35 unique species)
 

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