How many lifers seen in a single day? (1 Viewer)

[Maroon Jay]

How many lifers have you seen in a single day. I got 27 a couple of days ago. Amazon Peru.

 

[lockbreeze926]

Got 24 in the first 15 minutes of the day once in Ecuador. No idea how many the day provided.

Problem was, if you'd asked me an hour later to call any of the 24, I'd've managed about three and might have guessed others by dumb luck.

 

[opisska]

I can't find the data, so I had to hand-measure from my own plots at SAR, Botswana, Namibia and so on - Novemeber 2018 But the best day in Africa 2018 seems to be 29 in Caprivi Strip (Ngepi, Mahango to Kasane) and I doubt we had something better for lifers than this trip.

 

[angusmcoatup]

I’m not sure of mine but you can’t beat the first days of a long haul foreign birding trip to somewhere well away from previous destinations. Updating the notepad & thumbing through the field guide over a beer is a satisfying end to the day.

 

[Maroon Jay]

I’m not sure of mine but you can’t beat the first days of a long haul foreign birding trip to somewhere well away from previous destinations. Updating the notepad & thumbing through the field guide over a beer is a satisfying end to the day.

Yes. I am in Peru and almost every bird is new to me.

 

[Maroon Jay]

I can't find the data, so I had to hand-measure from my own plots at SAR, Botswana, Namibia and so on - Novemeber 2018 But the best day in Africa 2018 seems to be 29 in Caprivi Strip (Ngepi, Mahango to Kasane) and I doubt we had something better for lifers than this trip.

Namibia is my next stop.

 

[JWN Andrewes]

48 on the first day of my first (and to date only) visit to South East Asia, at Doi Lang in northern Thailand. Too many highlights to list, but Giant Nuthatch deserves a mention.

 

[James Lowther]

66 (I think) on my first day in kenya, spent in Nairobi NP
Cheers,
James

 

[Maroon Jay]

66 (I think) on my first day in kenya, spent in Nairobi NP
Cheers,
James

Wow!

 

[Xenospiza]

66 along the Mandala Road in Arunachal Pradesh, India in 2009.

Quite a few more days with over 40 lifers:
Zambia (56, 49, 42 – first time in tropical Africa), Brazil (46, 43), Cameroon (45), Papua New Guinea (44 – first time in Oceania), Venezuela (43 – first time in the Neotropics, on my own) and Colombia (41).

 

[Maroon Jay]

66 along the Mandala Road in Arunachal Pradesh, India in 2009.

Quite a few more days with over 40 lifers:
Zambia (56, 49, 42 – first time in tropical Africa), Brazil (46, 43), Cameroon (45), Papua New Guinea (44 – first time in Oceania), Venezuela (43 – first time in the Neotropics, on my own) and Colombia (41).

Wow. That is quite a haul. Guess I need to travel more.

 

[Jacana]

Looks like it was in Peru for me too, 65 species on the journey down the Manu road from Cuzco to Pantiacolla.

 

[earlytorise]

Though my personal record wouldn't be a high number,

somebody who e.g. had never been outside the Americas and comes to Hong Kong for a day of birding could get 100 lifers in a day.

 

[Maroon Jay]

Though my personal record wouldn't be a high number,

somebody who e.g. had never been outside the Americas and comes to Hong Kong for a day of birding could get 100 lifers in a day.

I saw only 24 in HK. Did not make it to Mai Po.

 

[MiddleRiver]

36 in Nepal. Admittedly, I had never birded that hemisphere, so they were ALL new to me. Quite a thrill, but also somewhat overwhelming. As someone said elsewhere, if you asked me the next day what I had seen earlier, I would prob draw a blank!

 

[cajanuma]

Around 70 on my first day in Cameroon, traveling from Douala to Nyassoso at the foot of Mount Kupé, which was also my first time in Sub-Saharan Africa.

 

[opisska]

We have really spoiled this effect for us by having travelled a lot before really getting into birding. So for most parts of the world, we had a gradual start, where we would get some common species upon the first visit and then some more when visiting again and actually looking for birds. The south Africa trip in 2018 was different because we had not been south of the Sahara before and so we got over 300 lifers from the trip. Yet still we did not get that dramatic daily lifer counts because we started in very dry and rather lifeless areas and thus it was building up slowly. Then we were in Kenya last winter, we saw over 400 species total, but less than 200 lifers simply because of the previous trip to southern Africa and it was never such a boom of species.

Another part of the world where we never went pre-birding was Australia - but on the first visit, we went to Tasmania which doesn't have THAT many species.

So yeah, if there are any new-worlders who have never been to Europe, come to Poland in spring, I will make you a 100-lifer day with some effort But it's surprisingly difficult if you had travelled before birding.

 

[Paul Chapman]

I am currently:-

Thailand - 68 - 6th November 2022 (first day in south east Asia)
Uganda - 55 - 4th March 2019 (first day in sub-Saharan Africa)
Thailand - 53 - 7th November 2022 (second day in south east Asia)

The Thailand total may reduce as I did go on a cricket tour to Sri Lanka in 1985/86 and there is a list of birds around here somewhere... Not a very long one.

I plan to beat that total at least once or twice next year. Hopefully...

All the best

Paul

 

[Mark Harper]

77 is my best, which was on my first day in Australia.

After that I have had 50 to 55 lifers on 6 occasions, which included my 1st, 2nd and 7th day in Ecuador, the 7th being the day I moved from the west of the Andes to the eastern lowlands, the others being my 1st days in Nepal and Brazil and 2nd day in Ghana.

 

[lammergeier05]

I’ve never gotten past 50 despite forays to every continent save Africa. Depends how you set up your first day, I suppose.

46 Ebro Delta, Spain

44 Reserva Costanera Sur, Buenos Aires, Argentina

43 La Selva, Costa Rica

43 Royal National Park and Sydney Botanical Garden

40 Sacha Lodge, Ecuador