[Runcorn Birder]

What are the most common and obvious birds missing from your lists, and how many birds are on each member's lists ?

I have 306 but still need...

Mealy Redpoll (simply can't motivate myself)
Sooty Shearwater (bogey bird)
Scottish specials (Ptarmigan, Capercaillie, Scot Crossbill, pure Rock Dove)
European Storm Petrel
Montagu's Harrier
Marsh Warbler
Wryneck

Is there anybody with 400 plus with any real howlers outstanding ?

[Harry Hussey]

Hi 'Runcorn Birder',
Well, I'm not sure exactly how many species I've seen in Ireland now, but it would be in the region of 315-320 (I'd say), which isn't bad.
Despite this, however, I still have yet to see the following here:
Tree Pipit (a regular but scarce passage migrant)
Spotted Crake (as for Tree Pipit, except that it probably breeds most years)
Blue-winged Teal (not that uncommon a rarity)
Black-winged Stilt (now a very rare bird here, but there was a spate of them from 1987-1995, and the bird this year turned up AND left while I was in Spain)

Not too concerned, however!
Of your bogey list, I have seen Sooty Shearwater, (European) Storm-petrel, Montagu's Harrier,Marsh Warbler (a mega here) and Wryneck in Ireland (and 'pure' Rock Dove also). We don't recognise Mealy Redpoll as a distinct species, and the others aren't possible.
Harry

[Phil Carter]

I'm on 390ish and still need Purple Heron and the Scottish jobs.

Phil

[CJW]

460+
Fea's Petrel

[Phil Carter]

Does Fea's Petrel count as a real howler?

Phil

[Harry Hussey]

Hi Chris,
While annual, Fea's Petrel hardly counts as a 'tart's tick'?
Hope to connect with that species myself this year: more of an ambition than a 'needed tick'...a few weeks at the Bridges should do it....
Harry

[CJW]

Originally Posted by frecklezgecko

Does Fea's Petrel count as a real howler?

Phil

Probably not Phil, but it's the most regularly occurring one I still need.

[Edward woodwood]

yeah

was over 400 when i stopped at about 26 in 1995ish... had a very few minor flings since such as Black Lark but any gaps will now only be plugged by birds in Norfolk

'worst' miss is perhaps Black-winged Pratincole. There were a few in late 80s early 90s but i never went. Looking a bit ominous now...

but Sociable Plover (1990 Cambridge) from the same neck of the woods, central Asia, is looking like a good decision...

Tim

[Runcorn Birder]

Harry,

I've seen all your dodgy ones at some point but they're all more common over here.

Even though I'm more inclined to do special trips to see the rarer stuff, (Belted Kingfisher, Snowy Egret, ST Treecreeper etc) I appreciate the tarts more when I finally knock each one off.

I think it's because I'm more familiar with them from my books as a child. The blockers have only become known to me during the last couple of years.

[Harry Hussey]

Hi 'RB',
I just never expect to claw back those 'blockers' that I have missed...all the sweeter then when I manage to do so!
I reckon that Hermit Thrush was a bad one to miss, though...ah well, can't complain!
Harry

[Runcorn Birder]

CJW / Tim,

I've been reading this forum for a while now without posting so I'm fairly familiar with personalities and opinions.

You both appear to be anti-twitching yet you both have totals that suggest some hard hours and effort.

What's made you change your thoughts ? Money ? Time ? Futility of it all
And why so hard on the twitching fraternity (is it current code of conduct or the reformed smoker syndrome) ?

Chris,

I have Fea's Petrel but not Sooty Shearwater ?!?!?! but having said that I've only been birding for four years and some strange omissions are to be expected.

[Harry Hussey]

Hi RB,
You have Fea's Petrel after FOUR years of birding?? Wow! It's my most wanted bird, and I've put in the hours over the last few years.
I believe that I can sort of understand where Chris and Tim are coming from, as, while I still twitch, I must admit that the lure of the 'list' and some of the 'drop everything and go' fanaticism have dwindled somewhat in recent years. CJW and Tim are just further along this continuum, I'd say?
Of course, the sheer NUMBER present at many British twitches these days could also put off birders who began twitching when far fewer turned up to see rarities. My only experience of a British twitch so far was the Black Lark (come on! A top-notch WP bird (and lifer) as close as Angelsey...who'd blame some of us Irish lads for going?): the bird had been present for over a week by the time that I saw it, and all of the 'great and good' had been and gone days before, but I STILL saw far more birders/twitchers there than I have seen at ANY Irish first that I've been fortunate enough to see!
I can recall looking at a second Irish record (SB Dowitcher) the day after the big twitch, and there only being one other birder present!!
My own feelings are that it doesn't matter whether one twitches or not, provided no harm comes to the birds (common or rare) or habitat as a result.
Regards,
Harry

[Jos Stratford]

Originally Posted by Harry Hussey

Of course, the sheer NUMBER present at many British twitches these days could also put off birders who began twitching when far fewer turned up to see rarities.

Were there ever days when fewer people turned up? Tim will remember the same big crowds as I ...what about that Golden-winged Warbler? Must have been one of the all time big crowds ...and boy, when the bird reappeared further along in the estated, it was like a herd of bison charging! What good business for Tesco coffee shop...

[Harry Hussey]

Hi Jos,
Okay, I apologise for forgetting to take the large crowds of the late 80's/early 90's into account! I would imagine, however, that far fewer birders would have been present to twitch second-rate rarities or scarcities back then? I gather that Ring-billeds Gulls and the like would draw a decent crowd in the UK nowadays?
Harry

[Touty]

Originally Posted by Runcorn Birder

What are the most common and obvious birds missing from your lists, and how many birds are on each member's lists ?

I have 306 but still need...

Mealy Redpoll (simply can't motivate myself)
Sooty Shearwater (bogey bird)
Scottish specials (Ptarmigan, Capercaillie, Scot Crossbill, pure Rock Dove)
European Storm Petrel
Montagu's Harrier
Marsh Warbler
Wryneck

Is there anybody with 400 plus with any real howlers outstanding ?

I'm at 400+ on my Euro list and consistently manage to dodge incoming Great Spotted Cuckoos and Grey Phalaropes.

[Runcorn Birder]

The Fea's Petrel was (and is) just simply a there at the right time bird. The guy I was with has been birding for 25 years and was physically shaking after seeing it. I wish I had been like that because I've not been around long enough to appreciate that level of emotion on seeing something.

I was probably more elated having picked up a Golden Pheasant the other week after a 3½ hour stake-out (it got personal towards the end !)

I think over time each person has a bogey bird or mythical species that seems to transcend reality (I'm convinced there are some birds that are in the book as red herrings to make fools of stringers). The longer one sticks at it the more it will be put on a pedestal.

Wryneck is my current one, dipped numerous times. One turns up last week about ten miles from where I work and I have a bloody meeting and the thing disappears whilst it's taking place

[Pie Face]

468 and still need:
Great Shearwater
Pechora Pipit
Grey-cheeked Thrush.

Mark

[CJW]

Originally Posted by Runcorn Birder

CJW / Tim,

I've been reading this forum for a while now without posting so I'm fairly familiar with personalities and opinions.

You both appear to be anti-twitching yet you both have totals that suggest some hard hours and effort.

Hi RB,
I'm afraid you've got this one very wrong. I'm not anti-twitching in the slightest and I'm sure Tim feels the same.
I stopped because I moved to the IoM and we don't get owt to twitch! Well not very often

[CJW]

Originally Posted by Harry Hussey

the bird had been present for over a week by the time that I saw it, and all of the 'great and good' had been and gone days before,

Except me, presumably, Harry

[Harry Hussey]

Hi Chris,
Of course, sorry for the omission....
Harry

[Edward woodwood]

Hi RB

I stopped twitching as i decided to work abroad and do my birding on my travels. I had twitched a lot but as a kid i'd long wanted to see some of the birds my older birding/twitching mates had seen on their travels such as Pittas, Broadbills, Trogons, Antbirds and Cochoas etc. So i packed my bags and went tropical. I returned and moved to Norfolk and got involved big time with conservation and OBC. I figured it was the best part of UK to be in and I'd always wanted to live here as a kid lister too.

The birds i want to see now are the exotic/tricky/threatened foreign stuff like Koslov's Bunting, Tibetan Sandgrouse, Relict Gull etc which i'm after this summer. Teaching allows me the time to see these marvellous birds

I don't have anything against twitching, just the attitude of some of today's twitchers. It was something spiritual/mystical to see a RF Bluetail or Sibe Thrush in UK and then go to Thailand and see them there. It's no longer a stepping stone to anything but an end in itself.

maybe less a numbers game, more aesthetics?

Tim

[jtibbetts]

438 but still need such amazing ones as Black Guillemot, Spotted Crake and Leachs Petrel, all of which im going to get this year!

[Edward]

Originally Posted by Touty

I'm at 400+ on my Euro list and consistently manage to dodge incoming Great Spotted Cuckoos and Grey Phalaropes.

Touty, as someone who has done two spring trips to Spain in the last three years, seen 220 odd species there, had cracking views of birds such as Spanish Imperial Eagle, Wallcreeper, Dupont's Lark etc. I still, despite a lot of time spent in suitable areas, have not seen (or so much as heard) an effing Great Spotted Cuckoo and it is now my most wanted West Pal bird by a mile, so you have my every sympathy. Grey Phalarope I see every year of course, but only those bright red ones, not the lovely grey ones you get elsewhere in Europe.

Pomarine Skua is my biggest Icelandic omission. I was otherwise engaged when 3,000 turned up just off shore only 45 minutes' drive away in 1999, and numerous sea watches since have failed to turn up a thing.

E

[Clouseau]

How on EARTH do people reach 420+ without seeing Tysties, Leach's, BW Prats etc etc?????? I got the 'tarts out of the way' before I started twitching. Now I just 'need' a few 'blockers' (Wallcreeper, Hudsonian Godwit, Little Whimbrel, Fea's, South Polar Skua, Mag Frigate Bird, Chinese Pond Heron and Black Lark) to get me past Tim A! Mind, I still 'need' a couple of semi-tarts: Ross's Gull and Spectacled Warbler. C'est domage: I don't twitch any longer, so it may not happen.......

[Edward woodwood]

Hey inspector, don't include Leach's and Black guillies with BW Prats

different class of bird entirely and year ticks surely for a twitcher?

Tim