ABA Big Year 2016 (2 Viewers)

[JThomas139]

Cuban Vireo you mean? If the Kelp Gull is stuck in the ABA area I guess it depends on if it stays stuck (ie it hasn't gone south); in which case it's bound to get refound at some point? And Ruddy Ground Dove - good chance this winter??

I have been mixing up Cuban Pewee/Vireo ever since it was sighted... edited the original post.

You are right about Ruddy Ground Dove. I checked eBird and there are plenty of Fall/winter sightings, especially in SE AZ. So that should be L. Not sure about the same Kelp Gull showing up again, Gulls are so mobile.

Jeff

 

[JThomas139]

Checklist changes

Here is an article on the ABA website summarizing the latest AOU supplement:

http://blog.aba.org/2016/07/2016-aou-supplement.html

 

[Kratter]

Olaf scored the Green Wioletear for real (a new bird in Texas)

eBird alert:

Location
US-TX-Rio Medina-78066 - 29.5097x-98.9181, Medina County, Texas, US ( Map )
Date and Effort
Fri Jul 08, 2016 11:41 AM

Protocol:
Stationary

Party Size:
2

Duration:
1 hour(s), 3 minute(s)

Observers:
Olaf Danielson

Species
2 species total
1

Green Violetear Colibri thalassinus

Continuing bird photos will be on bigyear2026.com within 24 hours. Seen at feeder and in cedar tree. Twice fly by.
6

Black-chinned Hummingbird Archilochus alexandri

 

[Gyrfalcon400]

I have been following this pretty closely. He was only a few species off the record last I checked! Hope he can get them in the next six months.

 

[Mysticete]

Olaf needs what...5 species for the new record? I don't see that being all that difficult for him to achieve given he has most of 6 months left...

 

[dantheman]

Olaf needs what...5 species for the new record? I don't see that being all that difficult for him to achieve given he has most of 6 months left...

... except there's a very realistic chance John will get there before him in the next couple of weeks. And Olaf won't ever be able to catch him/retake the lead ...

 

[dantheman]

Brief update from Christian (Second half of post below)-

http://www.thebirdingproject.com/blog/2016/jason

---

Laura Keene seems to have reached the present day with King Rail for 662 on the 8th July.

---

Both tropicbirds been seen recently, the Maine Red-billed and White-tailed from Hatteras pelagic. Will Olaf be trying?*



*(Edit - yes, looks like Olaf is booked on a flight to Maine ... )

 

[dantheman]

New blogpost from Olaf -

http://olafsbigyear.blogspot.co.uk/

Inching closer!

 

[JThomas139]

And John has just updated his list as well. He has seen all three rare hummers in AZ seen by Olaf, plus Rufous. Four new birds plus the Scrub-Jay split takes him to 743!

He trails Olaf by four, 747-743. However, for the purpose of breaking the ABA record during the year it is 746-741 since Pine Flycatcher (which they both have) and Cuban Vireo (which only John has) can't be counted yet.

Jeff

 

[bernerjc]

Green Violetear. John W got it in the morning. Olaf got it late morning/early PM. Per Jan M their stays didn't overlap. I drove over and got it next after Olaf in mid-afternoon. Very pretty bird (& lifer for me too). i guess i just missed the ABA Big Year heavy hitters. I assume Olaf will be taking a boat trip to seal island, maine next. Jan & her husband were VERY accommodating--considering we were camped out right in the middle of her house to see the bird.

 

[Chris_D]

With pine flycatcher a gimme, Olaf's next bird breaks the record; I hope he gets the tropicbird and a nice photograph of it.
B B B

 

[dantheman]

John's put a blog post up too -

http://www.birdingfordevils.com/2016/07/hummingbird-express.html

... he went for the other violetear at Utopia a couple of weeks ago too. Presumably he reported his White-eared Hummingbird to ebird now he is up to speed on that side of things ...


(Apparently Laura Keene saw the Green Violetear the day previous to John - first non-Alaskan rarity we actually know she's seen?!)

 

[dantheman]

With pine flycatcher a gimme, Olaf's next bird breaks the record; I hope he gets the tropicbird and a nice photograph of it.

Think your line should be on 750 though; Neil Hayward had 749 in 2013, so 749 to equal, 750 to better it. The Pine Flycatcher can't count until it's been officially added to the checklist ...

Green Violetear. John W got it in the morning. Olaf got it late morning/early PM. Per Jan M their stays didn't overlap. I drove over and got it next after Olaf in mid-afternoon. Very pretty bird (& lifer for me too). i guess i just missed the ABA Big Year heavy hitters. I assume Olaf will be taking a boat trip to seal island, maine next. Jan & her husband were VERY accommodating--considering we were camped out right in the middle of her house to see the bird.

Nice! Would have been interesting perhaps if you'd all managed to be there at the same time! They must cross paths again, perhaps later in the fall or the next big rare ...

... maybe they were even at that last violetear stakeout together 2 weeks ago? ... but would never admit it publicly lol

 

[dantheman]

And John has just updated his list as well. He has seen all three rare hummers in AZ seen by Olaf, plus Rufous. Four new birds plus the Scrub-Jay split takes him to 743!

He trails Olaf by four, 747-743. However, for the purpose of breaking the ABA record during the year it is 746-741 since Pine Flycatcher (which they both have) and Cuban Vireo (which only John has) can't be counted yet.

Jeff

So John needs 9 new species to break the record ...

I make it 10 code 1 and 2's that are currently 'available' to fill the missing slots -

Hudsonian Godwit
Red Knot
Baird's Sandpiper
Vaux's Swift
MacGillivray's Warbler
Himalayan Snowcock
Gray Partridge
Spruce Grouse
Black Swift
Island Scrub-Jay

The first 3 shorebirds perhaps trickier and almost certainly requiring interstate twitching, ironically.

Olaf needs 4 new species to break the record -

He has only two code 3 birds readily available -

Red-billed Tropicbird
White-tailed Tropicbird

He's already dipped the first one once in Maine, the other is not certain at all. He can also go back to St Paul's Alaska for Red-faced Cormorant and Greenshank (if still there) ... if he wants to get the record before John he may well have to do that.

 

[Mysticete]

Nice! Would have been interesting perhaps if you'd all managed to be there at the same time! They must cross paths again, perhaps later in the fall or the next big rare ...

I mean they have been in close proximity at least once, since they were on the same multi-day cruise ship pelagic. Either they didn't recognize each other or are intentionally avoiding contact (conflict?)

It will be interesting to see the AK plans. I assume both will overlap at some point there, and it's not like Gambell or St. Paul are big places.

If I was John I would plan on targeting the Island Scrub-Jay soon; the ferry to the island can actually be decent at times for pelagics, and I think both participants haven't done well on the Socal seabirds (and with the Leach's split, there is one more, Townsend's Storm-Petrel to see). MacGillivray's Warbler and both swifts would also be a priority; both species will be gone from the ABA area in a few months entirely.

 

[Paul Chapman]

Certainly a new ABA record imminent. Olaf effectively on 747 and John effectively on 743. Have I updated my spreadsheet properly?

Olaf needs no Code 1 species & 4 Code 2 species:-
Red-faced Cormorant
Wood Sandpiper
Mottled Petrel
Buller's Shearwater

John needs 8 Code 1 species:-
Ross's Goose
Hudsonian Godwit
Red Knot
Baird's Sandpiper
Buff-breasted Sandpiper
Vaux's Swift
MacGillivray's Warbler
Harris's Sparrow

John also needs 10 Code 2 species:-
Himalayan Snowcock
Gray Partridge
Spruce Grouse
Yellow Rail
Black Swift
Island Scrub-Jay
Smith's Longspur
McKay's Bunting
Mottled Petrel
Buller's Shearwater

How quickly could John get seven Code 1 and 2 additional species if he made that his next priority?

Olaf has 4 Code 3+ species on John:-
Trindade Petrel
Great Skua
Great Knot
Hawfinch

John has 14 Code 3+ species on Olaf:-
Smew
Hawaiian Petrel
White-tailed Tropicbird
Red-billed Tropicbird
Common Sandpiper
Gray-tailed Tattler
Long-toed Stint
Ruddy Ground-Dove
Rustic Bunting
Brambling
Yellow-legged Gull
Kelp Gull
Pin-tailed Snipe
Cuban Vireo

Absent no Code 1 or 2 advantage between the two, John has an effective lead of ten species.

All the best

 

[dantheman]

Certainly a new ABA record imminent. Olaf effectively on 747 and John effectively on 743. Have I updated my spreadsheet properly?

It's just 746 and 741 if you adjust for the provisionals (Pine Fly and Cuban Vireo) which aren't officially countable yet.

How quickly could John get seven Code 1 and 2 additional species if he made that his next priority?

He will ... As per earlier posts a week or so perhaps, a little longer if he has to interrupt for disparate rares turning up.

 

[Paul Chapman]

It's just 746 and 741 if you adjust for the provisionals (Pine Fly and Cuban Vireo) which aren't officially countable yet.

True so 4 and 9 currently needed.

All the best

 

[Paul Chapman]

Our predictions were 756 to 774:-

756

Personally I suspect both will miss non-coded birds but both break the record by at least ten.

As far as ending record, I think someone is going to hit 760, or at least get close.

I'll bite of course ...

774

Dan looks in pole position and in reality, it needs 770 in my view to beat Sandy Komito like for like.

http://ebird.org/ebird/top100?locInfo.regionCode=aba&yr=cur

http://www.birdingfordevils.com/p/this-is-listing-of-species-so-far.html

http://www.thebirdingproject.com/birdlist/

http://olafsbigyear.blogspot.co.uk/

All the best

 

[JThomas139]

Did anyone notice that John was wearing an eBird t-shirt when he saw the violetear?
Either he is trolling us or we should expect to see his list up soon on the top 100.

Jeff