Finds list (1 Viewer)

Ok! so you've got your life list, county list, year list, site list, holiday list etc. How many people keep a finds list? - that is species they have gone out, found and identified themselves, not twitched or had shown to them.

It is great fun to do and can throw up a few surprises. For instance I have seen 22 Richard's Pipits in Britain but never found one. Conversely I've only seen 12 Tawny Pipits but have found 4.

Looking at my list today I see that I've never found a Honey Buzzard - that's all the incentive I need to get out there next month and scan the skies.

My finds list for Britain is 256 - which I'm quite happy with. It does include a few "forms" ie Pale-bellied Brent, Scandinavian Lesser Black-backed gull - but hey, it's my list right?

Have a go - it's addictive


Darrell

Hi Darrell

I have to be honest and say that I not entirely sure what you mean by this. I keep a life list, a year list and a list of what I see every time I go out birding. As its just Jan and myself, its just us two who ID every bird on that 'daily' list. If we aren't sure what it is, it dunna get put in.

But as you say, its your list and your method. There's enough of us to go round with with what ever lists we want to keep. I remember reading in oneof the birduing mags about people who keep lists of birds they see on telly to ... in several different forms, like wild-life programs, westerns, adventure films ... and it can get just a wee bit silly IMHO.

Ah well ... back to doing what I do best I supoose ... now where's that bottle of Old Hen ... ... ... ... ... ...

Ron

I keep a finds list as well, Its a far better list than one which includes the titched birds, I alwasy have a problem though, If you know a bird will be at a site, does it count as a find, for example, if you were to go to Titchwell and see bearded tit, is it a find or not? I know they are there but have to find them myself! My list is not yet at the 250 mark but its getting up there, another few years like last two years (Subalpine, Probable pechora and Ortolan, last year and Waxwing this) and I'll be well away.

All birds are finds unless someone points them out to you, simple as that?

Hi Darrell,
I have also attempted to make out a self-found list,but have many problem birds(too many grey areas!).I'll send you a private message with the contentious birds(ID certain,but not sure if they count as finds!).Below 200 finds(185-190 odd),but we get fewer species here to start with,so I'm happy enough so far!
New self-finds this year include Little Ringed Plover.Have never found a Richard's Pipit,and have only seen one.Have yet to see a Tawny Pipit(wish the bird on Dursey last Thurs had stayed!).
HAVE found Red-necked Stint,5 Alpine Swifts,Hawfinch,Buff-B Sand,RB Fly,Rosefinch etc.
Think that I'll have to find my own Red-rumped Swallow:ANOTHER one found today,this time in Wexford,but only passed through.
VERY hard to twitch one here,jealous of the photos on the net of the recent Cheshire birds.
Harry

If anyone wants to have a go look at this site http://www.osme.org/uk250/ and follow the link to the rules. It should answer both Harry and Ashley's questions

Darrell

Hi Darrell,

I'm on 254-ish, but that's using the BOU list; includes one Richard's Pipit (St Mary's Island, Northumbs., 16/10/99) though not Tawny Pipit. But I did find Northumberland's first ever Olive-backed Pipit (also St Mary's, way back in 1986), argualbly my best ever find (my only county first) tho' Fea's Petrel (Newbiggin) is probably a rarer find

Michael

Surfbirds have a self found British list category on their Listers Page - obviously plenty of people, me included, value finding their own birds.

I have a county self-found list here in Leics/Rutland; currently 208, out of my total list of 238. Not a bad proportion.

Steve

Hi Darrel,

My list stands over 800. Until this thread I had not considered "found birds". I was on a guided trip to Ecuador during which I recorded 261 species of which I found about 20. Previously I had never been guided although birding pals have pointed out a few. I would guess my self-found and identified must be close to 500. Most of my birds come on vacations with my wife where I'm the only birder in sight. It certainly is more rewarding landing them on your own. Undoubtedly it is more educational as I tend to retain the ability to re-ID those species. I would be hard pressed to reconfirm some of those I saw in Ecuador.

dennis

I'm living in Scotland and most people up here call it a Purity List. In my opinion its the most important list that you have. For a bird to find its way onto your purity list you need to have found it or to have been "in on" the finding of a species. I reckon anything over about 250 for Britain puts you in the respectable end of purity listing.

Don't misunderstand this, as has previously been said, lists are personal things, and I acknowledge the right of anyone to make any kind of list.

But let me pose a few scenarios.

In a totally different thread, (where I was being equally "mischievous"), I pointed out that, except in some very rare circumstances, people generally do not accumulate knowledge or information from genuinely emprical data.

Perhaps I have misunderstood the "rules" of the Finds List.

Darrell, you say your finds list stands at 256 (well done, BTW, my LIFE list is only 159!!!), but did you genuinely FIND all of those.

I'm sure there is nothing wrong with the integrity of your list, but this is where my lack of understanding comes in.

Let's use Izzy the Ibis as an example.

Although he seems to have moved on, I know from this Forum that Izzy has spent a considerable amount of time at Bowling Green Marsh.

So, if I go to BGM and see him - then I take it that's not a "find", because through BF, I have been previously informed of his whereabouts.

But, if I were to go to the next estuary along (complete with the knowledge that he is at BGM) and simple wait until he pops in, does that make him a "find" at the new location.

Also, as it happens, I don't actually know where BGM is, so if I were to stumble across it by accident and see Izzy, can I count him as a "find" - even if it subsequently proven that I saw him at BGM, but I genuinely did not utilise that previous knowledge to find him.

Now those scenarios are for a specific individual bird.

What about, say, Avocet. If I were to say there are Avocet at such and such a location, then again, by the "rules" I take it that you could not claim that as a find.

But you know the habitat of Avocet, you know the likely distribution of Avocet both by geography and by season - so once again, can you install yourself at a suitable location, and wait for a flock to appear - and claim a find?

I use Avocet simply as they are not ten a penny, but they are easy enough to find if you know where to look. Clearly, if you saw one on top of Ben Nevis - that would seem like a find, but then it is wrong habitat, and you wouldn't expect to see one there.

Lastly, what about Blackbird.

I guess they are as common in Cornwall as they are in most places in the UK.

If you see one in you Garden, is it a find? Obviously no-one has told you there's a Blackbird, but everyone knows you get Blackbirds in you garden.

I'm not trying suggest you are wrong, or anything... I'm just curious!

(I'm not even gonna ask about being lucky enough to visit a whole new continent, and deciding whether or not everything is a find!!!)

Just for interest I tried to work out my 'find' list (for UK). It's about 224 though I have to admit I did it in a rush. Some of the birds go back 20+ years and it's not always easy to remember the exact circumstances. As others have indicated there are grey areas. For example, I've not counted pomarine skua but I remember watching a passage of them at St Ives. People were calling out, 'Arctic skua, bonxie, pomarine skua' as they passed but I may have picked one of them up myself!
I didn't count Cirl bunting because I went to a known stretch of coastline in Cornwall for them (this was a long time ago). But from what I gather of the UK 250 club rules I can count it.
But I 'm not too fussed to be honest.
The only rarities I've claimed are ferruginous duck (well it was then) and whiskered tern.
One or two species might be considered dodgy--ruddy shelduck (3 seen flying over Frodsham Marshes, Cheshire) and red-crested pochard.
If I counted my world self-found list it would be rather longer (but I am not that keen).

Next to my local patch list, my found list is the one I take most interet in.

288 in the UK (BOU)

I have a few problems with he UK 250 club definition genuine surprise...I've never been surprised by eg Ptarmigan.... I'm up a big mountain in Cairngorm...oh look there is a Ptarmigan...though the ones on the cliff top at Cape Wrath are a little unexpected.


I've added three in the last 5 years (WR Sand, White-winged BT and rather amazingly Wryneck) 300 in my lifetime looks beyond me unless I move to Shetland!

I've never found a Honey buzz either.

I have recently reached the 'holy grail' target of 250 finds with a Long-eared Owl I called in flight, and it then alighted on a tussock about 70 yards away and afforded excellent views to all present. It was an enjoyable moment and a double celebration because it was also the 250th species I have seen in Wales this year. Like Jane, I very much doubt whether I can reach 300 finds, as I am a bit long in the tooth! Since then I have added two species, Waxwing and Hume's Warbler to the yearlist, both found by others.

this is the only one that really matters

of all the birds on my life list (world) 99 % are self-found

and Jane you're right, 300 in the UK is bloody hard - don't know if I'll ever make that!

As I suggested.. 5 consecutive late Mays and Sept-Oct on eg Out Skerries would probably sort it.

I tried to work this out recently and I reckoned I was pretty much at 250 found in the UK, although like anyone else's found list there may be a few grey areas there. I do most birding on my own though, so I suppose that makes it easier to work out. I think 250 found is okay given a British list that has only just scraped past 300. Pretty much everything I've ever seen abroad has been self found too. On the Richard's Pipit tip - I've only ever seen 3 in the UK but I found them all!

that's a good strike rate Fifey

wonder how many other folk can boast over 80% self found....

I can scrape in at 80.5% If I am generous with myself on the "what consitute self-found/genuine surprise." Things like Breckland Stone Curlew....

77% if I am absolutely strict with the guidelines

Sounds like we are around the same sort of mark Fifebirder. I don't twitch much at all now and only ever went relatively short distances in any case. My UK lists (BOU) are on 319 and 249 so 78%.

Set myself the target of maximizing my local finds this year. Out of a possible 204 I have so far seen 175 and found 159 of them - a find rate of 91% (78% of the total for the area).

The grey areas are a bit tricky. We had a White Stork wandering around for a few weeks this year. I saw it in the original area it was found but a few days later saw it flying over Peterborough Town Centre some distance away from that area. I was genuinely surprised, didn't know what it was at first, had to stop to identify it and then to identify it was the same individual (by some missing primaries). Is that a find?