Cheshire Birder
Well-known member
So as we head rapidly towards 2014, what's your bird of the year? Maybe it was on your local patch or maybe you travelled to a far-flung location to twitch it.
CB
CB
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Bird of the year? (1 Viewer)
- Thread starter Cheshire Birder
- Start date
Grey Phalarope for me. Down at Penclacwydd in the summer.
I went to Namibia this year and saw many great birds including the colourful Lilac breasted Roller, but for me, because of conditions and that its native to Germany where I live, it has to be the Long tailed Duck, seen up in Darß-Zingst in Mecklenburg-Vorpommern in winter. It was well worth the Baltic conditions.
birdboybowley
Well-known member.....apparently so ;)
Hawk Owl for sure
martin kitching
Obsessed seawatcher
Sangahyando
Well-known member
Xenospiza
Distracted
Stresemann's Bristlefront is hard to surpass — although with a better view, the Gorsachius Night Heron I saw on Seram could have toppled even that.
Locally, Thrush Nightingale pleased me more than the (rarer) Parrot Crossbills, especially as the latter were not cooperative at all!
The Dutch bird of the year would be (what I consider to be) a hybrid Rufous-tailed × Blue Rock-Thrush, which must be one of the rarest birds I have ever seen.
Locally, Thrush Nightingale pleased me more than the (rarer) Parrot Crossbills, especially as the latter were not cooperative at all!
The Dutch bird of the year would be (what I consider to be) a hybrid Rufous-tailed × Blue Rock-Thrush, which must be one of the rarest birds I have ever seen.
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Stonefaction
Dundee Birding....(target 150 in 2024).
My own personal best bird of the year has to be my first ever (and self found) Red Flanked Bluetail in Denburn Wood, Crail in October. Was very surprised (having just remarked that I never found anything good in Denburn Wood) and there was a bit of a panic when the bird vanished before I could get a photo, or anyone else had seen it. Thankfully it was relocated and showed quite well for 2 days before disappearing.
Honourary mentions to the very tame and photogenic Pectoral Sandpiper (Forfar Loch) and Grey Phalarope (Carnoustie), and also my first ever Red Backed Shrike on my patch at Riverside Nature Park in Dundee.
Honourary mentions to the very tame and photogenic Pectoral Sandpiper (Forfar Loch) and Grey Phalarope (Carnoustie), and also my first ever Red Backed Shrike on my patch at Riverside Nature Park in Dundee.
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West End Birder
Well-known member
Good thread. I guess mine would be the Semi Palmated Plover on Hayling Island but only because it was a lifer. Grey Partridge was good, hadn't see one for years.
eddy the eagle
Well-known member
For me it was the visit in the spring of a beautiful male sub alpine warbler to my small patio in the centre of town.Fed on greenfly twice within a morning but did not get a picture.2014 must keep a camera in the house!!!Good excuse to get another camera....Eddy
two votes
David - Nutcracker
Sarah - King Eider
David - Nutcracker
Sarah - King Eider
Farnboro John
Well-known member
Nightjar61
David Daniels
Successful chases that involve a long drive and have something of a story or adventure behind them tend to make the rare birds I do find on those chases memorable. I had several this year, as I've begun to chase birds within a day's drive that would be ABA Area lifers or world lifers.
My "best" bird of the year is probably Spotted Redshank. They are very rare in North America, and one showed up in Indiana in late March, coincidentally at one of my former local patches. (I moved from Indiana to West Virginia a year and a half ago). I made the 16-hour round-trip drive to see it, leaving at 3:00 am, taking an hour to see the bird, and then getting back home at 8:00 pm.
Close runner up would be Barnacle Goose, because it was a lifer and because I had dipped on Barnacle Goose about five times before seeing this one. I actually drove to eastern Pennsylvania where one had been reported, but it hadn't been seen the morning I arrived. I then made the decision to drive onward another hour and a half to an industrial area in New Jersey, just across the river from Manhattan. It had been in a city park for a month or so in the company of Canada Geese. That was also another long day in which I left at 3:00 am and didn't get back until late in the evening.
Dave
My "best" bird of the year is probably Spotted Redshank. They are very rare in North America, and one showed up in Indiana in late March, coincidentally at one of my former local patches. (I moved from Indiana to West Virginia a year and a half ago). I made the 16-hour round-trip drive to see it, leaving at 3:00 am, taking an hour to see the bird, and then getting back home at 8:00 pm.
Close runner up would be Barnacle Goose, because it was a lifer and because I had dipped on Barnacle Goose about five times before seeing this one. I actually drove to eastern Pennsylvania where one had been reported, but it hadn't been seen the morning I arrived. I then made the decision to drive onward another hour and a half to an industrial area in New Jersey, just across the river from Manhattan. It had been in a city park for a month or so in the company of Canada Geese. That was also another long day in which I left at 3:00 am and didn't get back until late in the evening.
Dave
Richard Klim
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Just checked my diary and found that the only 'birding' that I've done this year was a 10km twitch in February for Pied-billed Grebe (a county tick). Must get out more...
