2024 Targets (1 Viewer)

[Kirk Roth]

Weird. I wonder why they would be declining in WI and increasing in OH. climate related maybe?

The conventional thinking is that Bell's Vireo has been experiencing climate-related increases in range, not decreases. And that would include Wisconsin - note that their range map in the 1st edition of Sibley (2000) barely touches the state. Now they are a regular breeding bird north to the Twin Cities.

Head to some shrubby areas at Sauk Prairie in May or June and brush up (so to speak) on their song. You can find them.

 

[Mysticete]

The conventional thinking is that Bell's Vireo has been experiencing climate-related increases in range, not decreases. And that would include Wisconsin - note that their range map in the 1st edition of Sibley (2000) barely touches the state. Now they are a regular breeding bird north to the Twin Cities.

Head to some shrubby areas at Sauk Prairie in May or June and brush up (so to speak) on their song. You can find them.

I was basing my inference of the Wisconsin bird finding guide, which seems to list them for a lot of sites where they are just not present. Local birders I have talked to have also noted there disappearance from some former reliable sites. Sauk Prairie and a few other spots are of course still reliable, but they are practically now the go to spots.

Granted I can't remember the baseline of information used in the edition of the bird finding guide I had. It might be that they were more present, than declined, now are more coming back. I'm not a native of Wisconsin so "shrugs"

 

[Owene]

As far as birds go

1. Capercaillie. Failed to see one in Scotland the only time I went for it but a real category A one would be lovely.

2 shoebill. Have always wanted to see one. Seen so many amazing photos Hopefully the trip will bring some mammal species I’ve wanted to see all my life too

3 roseate tern. No idea if I’ll manage it but I love terns and have only ever seen the one. Which i didn’t photograph

Plus just some fun twitches, a few photo ticks and cool insects and plants closer to home.

 

[Kirk Roth]

I was basing my inference of the Wisconsin bird finding guide, which seems to list them for a lot of sites where they are just not present. Local birders I have talked to have also noted there disappearance from some former reliable sites. Sauk Prairie and a few other spots are of course still reliable, but they are practically now the go to spots.

Granted I can't remember the baseline of information used in the edition of the bird finding guide I had. It might be that they were more present, than declined, now are more coming back. I'm not a native of Wisconsin so "shrugs"

Keep in mind this is a species that prefers successional scrub-shrub habitats, so by their nature any "Bell's Vireo site" may be ephemeral by default.

Here in Indiana, they are consistent at areas managed for prairie vegetation, reclaimed mines (where soil quality tends to stunt fast succession), and areas that approximate a riparian prairie corridor (often managed or unmanaged rural ditches - "true" prairie riparian zones are exceedingly rare here). Otherwise, they tend to pop up in random shrubby places - sometimes only for a single season.

If you mean the Wisconsin Society for Ornithology guide - I'm not certain WSO even publishes those anymore? I have an edition with a Ruddy Turnstone on the front but I haven't cracked it open in years. eBird is the new bird-finding guide for the U.S. - making my collection of "Lane Guides" and friends mostly obsolete!

 

[Mysticete]

Yep I have the WSO guide. My understanding is that they have a new edition that has either just come out, or is about to come out.

I've complained before about ebird not really replacing lane guides or equivalent sources. Knowing a bird has been spotted in a hotspot that maybe as large as a good-sized state park is not the same as a reference that provides detailed driving instructions, specific trail information, hours of operation, or the history of rarities at the site. But that is rant for another thread

 

[Richard Prior]

So far for 2024, I only have one trip planned but it's a non-birding trip to Italy in January. I still have one target bird there : Red-Billed Leiothrix.

Then of course, I'd like to add some species to my Corsican list : I have to try for Long Eared Owl, it's a localised breeding species here but the data suggest that there might be a nice population in the Northwest of the island. I guess I'll try this in February/March.
Then I don't know what migration will bring but hopefully a few new birds for my regional list (the ones I can think of now are Bar Tailed Godwit, Greater Scaup and Yellow Browed Warbler) and maybe even some lifers !
My Corsican list is currently at 247 species and it would be nice to reach 250 in 2024

My 2024 targets will include the three species local to us that I’ve still not seen - Rock Partridge, Tengmalm’s Owl and Three-toed Woodpecker, I’ve heard but not seen the first two, so a bit more effort and time in the field needed on my part!
If all goes to plan we’ll be bringing our little car over to the Scented Isle in June Val so I might pick your brains for a bit of your local knowledge

 

[Val35]

My 2024 targets will include the three species local to us that I’ve still not seen - Rock Partridge, Tengmalm’s Owl and Three-toed Woodpecker, I’ve heard but not seen the first two, so a bit more effort and time in the field needed on my part!
If all goes to plan we’ll be bringing our little car over to the Scented Isle in June Val so I might pick your brains for a bit of your local knowledge

The same species I missed during my 2019 trip to the Alps...but I didn't plan carefully enough.

Sure, you can send me or start a Corsica thread, I will answer !

 

[Steve Babbs]

Photographing the remaining birds I've seen in Britain but not photographed here. To put that in perspective I think the easiest ones are Icterine Warbler, Black Stork and Wilson's Petrel.

John

Tbh the shed load of mega ticks that you'll get on your travels should trump that!

 

[lmans66]

Green King Fisher....I have seen this in South American but not in my North American bird checklist...so my goal for 2024.

 

[David_]

Just booked a trip to Sierra de Andújar for February. So main target for the year is not a bird but Iberian Lynx. For birds my main targets for the year are:

1. Lesser Spotted Eagle - currently planning a trip to eastern Germany with my father. LSE will be the main target but also looking for Common Rosefinch, Barred Warbler and Thrush Nightingale
2. Trumpeter Finch - after searching for the Lynx I will have a few days to look for some bird targets in Andalucia. Besides the finches the main targets for the trip are Black Vulture, eagles (Spanish Imperial and Bonelli‘s) and larks
3. Little Owl - I see Little Owls quite often but still haven‘t see one in Düsseldorf. There are ca. 20 breeding pairs around so this shouldn’t be too hard.
4. Add at least two waders to my city list. Jack Snipe, Woodcock, Greenshank and Whimbrel are still missing and are definitely possible
5. Raptor migration - don’t know yet where I will go but definitely want to spent a week at a migration hotspot in autumn

 

[Prestdj]

more birding of my local areas king cross halifax west yorkshire mostly urban and mytholmroyd/hebden bridge lots of moorland, urban birding is more harder but rewarding though mostly flyovers and moorland birding can be bleak but stunning, i do love walking the moors

 

[wolfbirder]

2023 was such a superb year for vagrants here in Britain, but that may be a result of global warming which is worrying. Nevertheless, I managed an unprecedented 13 lifers (14 including the Grackle in Wales), which has put me in touching distance of 500 British species (actually now on 491 BOU).

Originally I set my self a target of 500 before I pass through the curtains to my favourite Oasis tune -, but that total is now certainly in reach within the next two years I would hope.

Species I would love to see on these shores include Black-throated Blue Warbler, Blue-cheeked Bee-eater, and Black and White Warbler (yes I know 2023 presented a few opportunities for the latter). Realistically, I should perhaps hope for Lesser Kestrel, Pechora Pipit, Lanceolated Warbler, Audouin's Gull, Rose-breasted Grosbeak, Blackpoll Warbler, Scopoli's Shearwater, maybe even a Fea's Petrel.

 

[Kirk Roth]

Yep I have the WSO guide. My understanding is that they have a new edition that has either just come out, or is about to come out.

I've complained before about ebird not really replacing lane guides or equivalent sources. Knowing a bird has been spotted in a hotspot that maybe as large as a good-sized state park is not the same as a reference that provides detailed driving instructions, specific trail information, hours of operation, or the history of rarities at the site. But that is rant for another thread

This is very true... but it needs to be added that many of the Lane etc. guides can be just as unhelpful in their precision.

From a birder's utility perspective, it is difficult to paint eBird with a broad brush - so much depends on both the input (e.g. for our example - how precise is someone's checklist location, or do they provide a description of the location; are they using a specific hotspot or the "historic" or "please consider using a more specific location" version, etc. etc.) and also the interpretation (e.g. do I believe this person's accuracy, do I believe this bird is a vagrant or resident, is this the fringe of the range or a core breeding location, is this a heard-only observation, how much time does one need to invest at this hotspot or that to find the bird, etc. etc.)

In other words, there is some art to birdfinding with eBird, but the same could be said about skillfully using a guidebook. The difference is that eBird is updated by the minute. I recently gave away my Lane guide to the Lower Rio Grande Valley, only to somewhat embarrassingly find that the book is older than the recipient - so caveats such as "there may be some newer parks that aren't in this book" were necessary. But I still expect it to be useful to an inquisitive and intelligent birder.

But as you said, this is probably for another thread. To circle back to the real topic - barring a Christmas miracle, it looks like I will end the year with 699 species on my all-time ABA "classic" area list. And there is a Red-flanked Bluetail in New Jersey just waiting for me to get a free weekend....

 

[Patudo]

1. see hobbies doing more cool stuff - display and especially hunting. Going to need careful time management as the best time of year for display is also pretty good for peregrines, and (probably) the best spots to see hunting are at the edge of my birding range.

2. see peregrines (at home and while abroad) doing cool stuff. Missed a large chunk of the best time of the year this year to illness, followed by losing another big chunk watching hobbies (that ended up being unsuccessful). Gotta try and make up for it in 2024. Decisions decisions.

3. just to simply spend more time "in the field" (on concrete would better describe most of my birding).

 

[Bewick]

Have much more goals, but this list will just include the more probable species- not including possible twitches nor possible holidays:
0. Siskin, still yet to see one
1. Tawny pipit (France)
2. Water pipit (UK)
3. Common crane (UK)
4. Rock sparrow (France)
5. Black woodpecker (France)

Edit- Would like to surpass 300 birds- On 263. A goal of 220 birds and 41 lifers are my count goals for 2024.

Finally got the siskin.

 

[dandsblair]

My targets for 2024 are ill defined with only one trip (Chile in January planned) target birds are many but main one for me is Diademed Sandpiper Plover, Sarah wants Magallenic Woodpecker which she missed a few years ago.
If thing work out we should do a few additional trips later in the year in which case we should get to 6000 seen birds.

 

[condor1992]

My targets for 2024 are as follows:
UK
1) Snowy owl. I hope that one of them will visit this winter or the next, and give views like those at Snettisham in 2018
2) Baikal teal. I've longed to see one for years, but they keep appearing just too far away from me
3) Pallid harrier. I will see it quite soon. I just hope it will not be near-dark when it arrives, or that it is too far away to do anything about it
4) Lesser white-fronted goose. There is currently one at WWT Slimbridge, so hopefully I can find a time to go and see it before it leaves
5) Common eider. I just need to visit one specific island in the summer in Lancashire

World
1) Spanish imperial eagle. A pair likes to hang out by a specific pylon near Madrid, so hopefully I can see them there again
2) Northern bald ibis. Hopefully I can find them in the summer, although shouldn't be too bad near Vejer
3) Ruppell's griffon. An August visit should surely bring me luck...
4) Eagle-owl. This will be a problem. Although there is one area near that Bonelli's eagle nest which I keep 'forgetting' to visit...
5) Pallid harrier. I require a male, and luckily they seem to be appearing periodically in the Madrid area

 

[Paul Chapman]

I have settled on the following:-

1. Get my 2023 world photo list completed. Lots of processing to do & photos to upload to eBird. 1,800+ species photographed in the end this year;

2. Get an up to date world list into eBird with at least one photo of each species that I have photographed to the end of 2023;

3. Get a British & Irish moth list input into BUBO - a moth life list is long overdue for me - too many random spreadsheets etc;

4. Add 50 moths to my British & Irish moth list - rather dependent on getting the life list sorted;

5. Record my world bird & Britain & Ireland moth lists throughout the entire year - eBird & BUBO;

6. Record over 1,500 bird species during the year;

7. Photograph over 500 new bird species worldwide in 2024 - this should be possible with the trips planned but some trips need to be firmed up; &

8. Spend more time in the field moth trapping - a poor year in 2023 for me with maybe a dozen nights - so a minimum of twenty nights targeted including recording on some of my previous local sites to update recording.

All the best

Paul

 

[Frank van Drogen]

I'd like to go see some shorebirds, and get at least moderately comfortable in IDing the common raptors and gulls around me.

And, I'll try to keep having fun and enjoying the learning process

 

[Julie50]

I've been a bit dry on bittern walking around recently - would like some of those in 2024. Also have never seen a lesser spotted woodpecker would like one of those 😁