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

How is your 2012 List Going? (1 Viewer)

01/02/12 at Campus

123. Siskin

03/02/12 West Cornwall

124. Smew
125. Common Sandpiper
126. Firecrest
127. Goldeneye
128. Snipe
129. Sanderling
130. Water Pipit

Racing ahead, no doubt it'll grind to a halt sooner or later!
 
Well, I missed both species of waxwing during a recent trip to Minnesota, but this morning I did see forty (40) of these:

91. Cedar Waxwing
 
a lifer today,

131. Iceland Gull in Newlyn harbour

Nice to get this after a couple of failed attempts! No sign of the Glaucous Gull though which would have been a nice year tick...
 
A remarkable birding day today. A Hooded Crane had been seen over several weeks in eastern Tennessee and was last seen there toward the end of January. Since it is traveling with Sandhill Cranes, and because Sandhill Cranes that migrate from their wintering areas in the southeast pass through Indiana, local birders have been keeping an eye out for it. It showed up at my "local patch" yesterday afternoon and I went to look for it this morning. I found my target, plus another bird, so I'm up to 115 for the year.

114. Hooded Crane
115. Loggerhead Shrike

I am counting this bird as a year tick and on my personal life list because indications are that last fall it migrated from its home range in Siberia to North America with Sandhill Cranes that nest in the same region. (The rare Common Crane that shows up in North America generally follows this pattern as well). However, I can't count it on my ABA Area list, my "official" life list that I submit to the ABA, or my Indiana list until and unless it is accepted by the ABA Checklist Committee and the Indiana Bird Records Committee, respectively. There is always a possibility that a rare crane escaped from captivity. However, when it was in Tennessee, it is my understanding that a check with zoos and private collections found that no escapes were reported.

Dave
 
wasn't there a report of a Hooded Crane escaping from a collection in Idaho a few years back that turned up a few years later somewhere else in the US? Sincerely hope it is genuine though!
 
wasn't there a report of a Hooded Crane escaping from a collection in Idaho a few years back that turned up a few years later somewhere else in the US? Sincerely hope it is genuine though!

When I first heard of the bird when it was in Tennessee, I immediately thought is was an escape and not worth chasing. However, as the story unfolds, it seems the bird could be wild. There are valid agruments for and against.

Hooded Cranes are not numerous in captivity in North America, numbering only a few dozen. A check has apparently revealed that all but the Idaho birds are accounted for. The four Hooded Cranes that escaped from a private collection in Idaho a few years ago were all female, so breeding in the wild (which could conceivably have produced the bird in question) would have been impossible. Three of the four had leg bands, and all were surgically pinioned, which means their outer primaries were permanently removed and long-distance sustained flight would therefore be impossible. The bird that's being seen here has no leg bands, has all of its primaries, and has no trouble flying.

However, for this bird to be wild, it would have to do a "reverse migration" in order to join the Siberian Sandhill Cranes on their migration to North America. It would have to fly about 1,200 miles northeast from its natural summer range in Mongolia and central Siberia, rather than south to China, Korea, and Japan, which is its natural wintering range. Birds do get lost all the time during migration though.

So who knows? It's up to two state checklist committees and the ABA Checklist Committee to hash it all out. I also sure hope they do decide it is wild.

Dave
 
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When I first heard of the bird when it was in Tennessee, I immediately thought is was an escape and not worth chasing. However, as the story unfolds, it seems the bird could be wild. There are valid agruments for and against.

Hooded Cranes are not numerous in captivity in North America, numbering only a few dozen. A check has apparently revealed that all but the Idaho birds are accounted for. The four Hooded Cranes that escaped from a private collection in Idaho a few years ago were all female, so breeding in the wild (which could conceivably have produced the bird in question) would have been impossible. Three of the four had leg bands, and all were surgically pinioned, which means their outer primaries were permanently removed and long-distance sustained flight would therefore be impossible. The bird that's being seen here has no leg bands, has all of its primaries, and has no trouble flying.

However, for this bird to be wild, it would have to do a "reverse migration" in order to join the Siberian Sandhill Cranes on their migration to North America. It would have to fly about 1,200 miles northeast from its natural summer range in Mongolia and central Siberia, rather than south to China, Korea, and Japan, which is its natural wintering range. Birds do get lost all the time during migration though.

So who knows? It's up to two state checklist committees and the ABA Checklist Committee to hash it all out. I also sure hope they do decide it is wild.

Dave

fingers crossed! Certainly better to go for it, especially if it's by your back door!
 
This evening at dusk I heard a displaying woodcock in the wet field behind my house. I went out and saw it do its aerial display, and even had a spotlight on it as it "peented" on the ground.

This is the earliest I have ever seen a woodcock due to the extremely mild and warm winter we've been having. They usually don't show up until mid to late March.

116. American Woodcock

Dave
 
a few more from the past few days.

14/02/12
132. Whimbrel- off Pendennis in Falmouth

16/02/12
133. Purple Sandpiper
134. Eider
135. Common Scoter
136. Surf Scoter

all off Penzance

137. Greenshank- Penryn

and from today:
138. Lesser Scaup- Siblyback
139. Ring-necked Duck- Par
140. Cirl Bunting
141. Red-breasted Merganser- Carrick Roads
 
142. Glaucous Gull
143. Yellow-browed Warbler

Been to Newlyn several times for the Glauc, only just got it today. The Yellow-brow was at Carnon Downs sewage works
 
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