my life list (2 Viewers)

[Jane Turner]

Same used to go for a few other minor rarities....I only just caught up with Lesserlegs last year and that was only becuse I'm keen on getting my county list to 300 (would be quite a thing for Cheshire)

 

[kingfisher]

Well done on your life list Erik, very immpressive as well, god knows how you managed to remember all of them, i keep all my listings in a spreadsheet format and update it all the time i go birding. Plus i keep a species list for a RSPB reserve in Devon called Bowling Green Marsh and that now stands at 115.

 

[erik]

Hi everyone, Fulmar was right on the tree sparrow, error from my side... the other ones michael, i guess you quite understood what i meant, so the errors shouldnt be that huge... Kingfisher, its just flipping through your birdbook and remember whether i have seen it or not, it only deals with 9 years of birding, so that's not such a long period!

 

[Michael Frankis]

Hi Erik,

I guess what surprised me most about your list was the absence of any Calidris waders - Knot, Sanderling, Little Stint, Curlew Sandpiper, Dunlin, Ruff. Are you sure you've never seen any of them, or could you have missed some out?

Also Golden and Grey Plovers!

Michael

 

[erik]

That's the problem with the waders, they don't impress me very much due to my lack of knowledge on these birds. So i might have seen some of them but can't remember if i did. So i just wait til i see them (again). Then I'll add them to my list.

 

[Michael Frankis]

Hey Erik, they're brilliant birds! Some of the best! Real character, and they go places too . . . if you see a Curlew Sandpiper, you know you're seeing a bird that was born 6,000km away in the far north of Siberia, and that it is just stopping in Netherlands for a few days before going on another 5,000km to Africa . . . You get yourself down to the Wad as soon as you can! Go see 500,000 Knots!

Michael

 

[HH75]

Hi Erik,
No Bearded Tit/Reedling??Thought they were common enough in the Netherlands?
Also,could you lot be a bit more understanding when describing how things have changed with regard to Red-flanked Bluetails:we still await our first record here in Ireland!
Have a list of 301 without seeing Tree Pipit and Spotted Crake(has bred here in the past,and may do so sporadically still?)!Until this year,had only seen ONE individual Common Crossbill,despite lots of searching for more!Have yet to see such semi-regular species as Black-throated Diver in Co.Cork!
Harry H

 

[Jasonbirder]

Also,could you lot be a bit more understanding when describing how things have changed with regard to Red-flanked Bluetails:we still await our first record here in Ireland!
Harry H

Don`t worry Harry - I bird mainly in Eastern England and i`ve never seen one either - dipped twice on them in the last two years :-(

 

[erik]

I know, i am very anxious to see a bearded tit but they always seem to be gone asa i appear...My mission for this upcoming winter is at least Waxwing!

 

[Michael Frankis]

Hi Erik,

Good luck on the Beardies - choose a calm day to look for them, as soon as it gets even slightly breezy they disappear into the bottom of the reeds.

With any luck you should be getting some 'pest birds' soon, they're on the move o

Michael

 

[erik]

Michael, since we were both wondering where the dutch name of Waxwing (Pestvogel = pestbird) came from, i did an online search and found the following on a french site. I translated it to english:

It is a translation of its Dutch name (Pestvogel) which points out the invasions that this species makes sometimes, thorough by the famine, in our areas and who were supposed to announce a catastrophe, for example the plague.

That explains it pretty much i think

 

[Edward]

Hi Erik,

The only Bearded Tits I've ever seen were in the Netherlands, at Oostvaardersplassen. Try there although they were not easy to see at all.

The Dutch name for Waxwing reminds me that the name for Hoopoe in most Nordic languages is "army bird" i.e. herfugl in Icelandic, because they were thought to appear before battles.

E

 

[erik]

Edward, i've never been to the oostvaardersplassen yet, due to lack of transportation, but i'll probably go by public transport sooner or later. We just call Hoopoe 'Hop'. We see them as an ingredient of beer

 

[Michael Frankis]

Hi Erik,
Thanks for checking out the origin of Pestvogel

I had been wondering if it was that, or because they were thought of as pests because they might 'steal' fruit from orchards

Michael

 

[Nancy]

Congratulations Eric, not only on the number of birds seen but also on your big effoert in listing and translating them to English for us.

I keep putting off the day when I get mine typed up. I have records in all sorts of note books but it will be a big job. I have been birdwatching all over Australia for a long time so have a big total.

 

[Nancy]

Congratulations on your life list and also on making the big effort to get them all typed up. You are misssing out on some really exciting birds by not bothering with the waders, they provide a great challenge and are not all that hard once you sort out the basic ID features.
I notice that well over half of your Dutch birds are birds associated with water. I guess there is a much higher percentage of non-passerines in the European area, is this so?
Perhaps I will get my Australian list into order sometime soon, it will take a long time as I have been birwatching all over Aus for a long time. They are all recorded in a pile of notebooks hidden away in a cupboard. I hope the pages haven't fallen apart yet!

 

[erik]

Well good luck on that Nancy! I think we do hae a lot of waterbirds and shorebirds. Holland is known for its good foraging places, so especially in winter we have loads of migrators stopping by here. And lots of them are non-passerines indeed. I grew up with the woods myself, so i am much better with passerines and forestbirds. The shorebirds will come though, i'll be going on a weekend trip to one of the dutch isles and then i'll get my chance

 

[Michael Frankis]

Hi Erik

Good luck on the trip to the islands! Which one(s) are you going to?

Michael

 

[Edward]

I would sure love to see you Australian list sometime Nancy, I think I remember from another thread that you had seen over 600 species there, right? I'll be you haven't seen Night Parrot yet though! How many Grasswrens?

As for Erik's island I'll go for Texel, or perhaps Terschelling?

E

 

[Nancy]

I duplicated on that previous post. I thought the first one hadn't gone so sent a second. There appears to be a delay in posting lately, probably part of the recent changeover that wil eventually get sorted out