Bird and/or Birding event of 2012 (1 Viewer)

So with the year drawing to a close what would be your birding highlight of the year:
1. Local patch or recording area
2. County / Essex wide
3. UK wide
4. Best or rarest bird find
5. Worldwide

It doesn't have to be an individual bird but what ever really floated your boat during the year.

And then looking forward to 2013 what would be the bird or birds you would want to see the most.

So for starters I will have:
1. Adding Glossy Ibis and Great White Egret to my SOG list at the same time; the birds were visible at the same time on the same marsh and adding Honey Buzzard to my garden list.
2. The Abberton Desert Wheatear, superb bird
3. My annual visit to Fair Isle and all its beauty and back to back rarities topped off with the UK' second ever, and first in 30years, Magnolia Warbler. The Hornemann's Arctic Redpoll in Suffolk a few weeks ago was a super way to see the year out.
4. Finding an ultra confiding Arctic Warbler on Fair Isle or the Buff-bellied Pipit Bryher, Scilly in October
5. The shear spectacle of 15000 Steppe Buzzards migrating through the Eilat Mountains in Israel in one morning was a special highlight.

and bird that I want to see in 2013 more than any other is a White-throated Needle-tail (Black Bush Robin when I go back to Israel in the spring as I didn't get it this year).

I was chuffed to see a Corncrake with my old man on Iona this year. Also had my first SEO quickly followed by approx. 9 others on the same trip.

Rich

1. Great White Egret on Bowers Marsh

2. Olive-backed Pipit at Gunners Park

3. Sooty Shearwater off Bridlington on "The Yorkshire Belle"

4. The best experience had to be the Sooty, the people on the boat went crazy!!

5. No overseas birding this year so the bird of the year had to be the Sooty

As for 2013, I would dearly love to see a Glossy Ibis at Vange Marsh (or anywhere else in Essex), a Flycatcher in Essex would be great and a Whooper Swan would do as well!

1/ Goshawk on broadfield farm,only problem was not getting great views
2/ desert wheatear at Abberton
3/ really liked the red flanked Bluetail at Stiffkey or the arctic warbler down the road
4/ probably the goshawk
5/ no overseas for me

Would really like a decent wader on my local patch,or a long eared owl.

1. Local patch or recording area - Common and Velvet Scoter, Goldeneye and LTDuck in the same morning after the November storm and easterlies, within a mile from home on Thames at Mucking.

2. County / Essex wide - 200 different species ticked after starting to focus on County year list in September, having spent 7 weeks of Spring migration overseas missing plenty of usual ticks. Downside - the twitchy feel to this towards the end of the year nearing 200, so next year my goal is different species on my local patch.

3. UK wide - April : Self Finding my first ever Ring Ouzel at Dungeness.

4. Best or rarest bird find - September : Scottish Highlands, Spotting a Golden Eagle (juvenile) at dusk soaring 30yards from and alongside our train as we travelled home. We'd spent 3 days visiting tried and tested places to see them and had given up as the weather was lousy. Awesome Highlight! And we saw a pine martin too in the wild, self found, within 10 yards without peanut butter and jam!
PS If you haven't ridden the railway from Glasgow Queen street to Fort William, you ought to! And take it onwards to Mallaig and ferry to Skye!

In contrast - October : Spotting the first record of a central London magpie while on top of Tower 42 with David Lindo and the Tower 42 birdgroup autumn migration watch, THEN Spotting a group of 5 buzzards migrating together that flew right over our heads over the City - the largest group of raptors recorded together. Felt well chuffed with myself! But man, birdwatching up there is bleak - Birds are certainly scarce in the City and it made me really appreciate my home patch!

5. Worldwide July - Bald Eagle self found while attending a weekend retreat in the Sierra Nevada's, California. (My wife just reminded me that the following was 2011 (sure has been a full year!) : Europe May:- Counting approx 13 nightingales singing at the same time, most of the night, from different locations within earshot of my accommodation in the Lure Region of Albania, along with daytime hoopoes)

Looking forward to 2013 : Glossy Ibis in Essex - been a bogey bird as 3 times this year I've missed one by 20 minutes or less in 3 different locations. White Tailed Eagle over Chadwell, cos if that flys over (again?), I'm sure I'd see it from my patch - what a tick! Familiarising myself with the birds of North America (West). Essex Bewick Swans would complete the set. UK Hoopoe and Golden Oriole. To hear or see a Turtle Dove again on my patch - noticably absent this year, unless they were seen/heard while I was away.

In appreciation of a great year of birding.

Steve, a Linford Birder

1. Spotted flycatchers in Heybridge - great patch tick and found by me!!
2. er.............just for a chaange just HAS to be Dessie at Abberton!
3. Bee eater at Glandford - a lifer, we had been wanting to see one for years!!
4. Haven't found anything rare this year so 4 = 1 in this instance!
5. Haven't been abroad so not applicable....

For next year - this year tried to do mainly Essex due to fuel costs but didn't really see too much,will have to bite the bullet and get a bit further afield I think - and keep improving the photography!

1. Ummm, SEO's at beginning of the year at Limbourne were always great, though Gannet was a surprise and Purple Sand was a lifer, hard to choose.

2. That bird in the Abberton car park lol. But 6 Buzzards and 2 Red Kites on thermals above the hill at Blue House Farm was pretty cool, distant though.

3. Great views of Spoonbill up in Norfolk, not a lifer but first time I've been able to seem them properly

4. Honey Buzzard soaring with Marsh Harrier that no one else noticed up at Minsmere

5. N/A

Pretty average year to be honest, hard to think of many moments that stood out. Next year I'm really hoping to get out more, and get some great images too. Hoping for either an Essex Osprey, Hoopoe, Shrike or Red-footed Falcon LOL

I had a spoonbill in Thornham harbour,we spotted it about half a mile away,by the time we got to the car park it had entered a little creek next to us and I got to within 20 feet of it,magic

Steve Arlow said:

So for starters I will have:
1. Adding Glossy Ibis and Great White Egret to my SOG list at the same time; the birds were visible at the same time on the same marsh and adding Honey Buzzard to my garden list.
2. The Abberton Desert Wheatear, superb bird
3. My annual visit to Fair Isle and all its beauty and back to back rarities topped off with the UK' second ever, and first in 30years, Magnolia Warbler. The Hornemann's Arctic Redpoll in Suffolk a few weeks ago was a super way to see the year out.
4. Finding an ultra confiding Arctic Warbler on Fair Isle or the Buff-bellied Pipit Bryher, Scilly in October
5. The shear spectacle of 15000 Steppe Buzzards migrating through the Eilat Mountains in Israel in one morning was a special highlight.

and bird that I want to see in 2013 more than any other is a White-throated Needle-tail (Black Bush Robin when I go back to Israel in the spring as I didn't get it this year).

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Magnolia Warbler you say? When was that then, don't seem to recall you mentioning it..

1 - Probably the Shore Lark and Olive-backed Pipit, my only two SOG ticks this year.

Also, a Long-tailed Skua flying in tandem with a fully spooned Pom Skua and 5 Sabine's Gulls in a few hours from Canvey were all pretty good.

2 - A few good county birds this year, but favourite was the Leyton Melodious Warbler.

3 - Common Yellowthroat in Wales and Hornemann's Arctic Redpoll in Suffolk -both great birds which both showed really well.

4 - A few bits and bobs. Locally, finally pinning down the aforementioned Shore Lark, and finding the first drake Smew for 25 years was nice.

5 - Worldwide, only been to Burma this year. Always hard to pick a highlight, but enjoyed watching Tree Sparrows in downtown Rangoon (why are they so common over there?!?) with House (Little) Swifts zooming around overhead.

And looking forward to 2013.. hopefully Buff-bellied Pipit(s) on New Year's Day and a nice American wood warbler on Scilly in October, as long as it's not another sodding Blackpoll! :eek!:

1, Probably Wood Sand. in what's been an exceedingly poor year for waders.
2, Desert Wheatear
3, Horny Redpoll
4, Great Grey Shrike
5, Not been abroad this year so would have to say my real highlight of the year would have to be the fall in the fog back in October. Pretty spectacular, even though I actually saw very little!

Phil

1. Arctic Tern and Waxwing from the flat were nice. Let a Great White Egret slip by though - won't get another one of them from home.

2. Desert wheatear.

3. Baillons Crake at Rainham - found the night before my wedding, couldn't go for it. Amazed to hear it was still present when we got back from honeymoon, bagged it the next day - brilliant. After that, Ptarmigan in the Cairngorms were pretty special - missed them from the restaurant so did it the hard way and walked up to find our own.

4. Found a few bits this year, for the first time ever; found our own Rough-Legged Buzzard and Great White Egret in Norfolk, had a Yellow Browed Warbler in Devon and found various Waxwings in the last couple of weeks.

5. Blue Rock Thrushes and a flyover Black Stork in Italy.

waxwings

no wonder i had a bad signal this was my highlight

foxydave said:

no wonder i had a bad signal this was my highlight

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The Waxwings photo is excellent, says a lot about the winter. I used to live in Benfleet and work Wat Tyler & Hadleigh Downs, and was lucky enough to spend a bit of time visiting family this year. So...

1. My local Patch (home/farm) best was White-throated Nightjar hawking around my head, 1 metre away, while fishing for Australian Bass in the dam in northern NSW Australia, with an old school friend, magic.

2. In Essex, having a first-light coffee at my brothers place in Benfleet, and watching a flock of c25 Little Egrets head west, overhead, from Two Tree Island direction. When I left UK Little Egrets were still rare, only 14 years ago.

3. Red Kites bleeding everywhere!!! Same story as Little Egrets.

4. Masked Owls breeding on our property, they're a Threatened Species, there's nestboxes with cameras going up if I have my way!

5. Yellow Bittern, Singapore Botanic Gardens. It's a Bittern, and I actually saw it, doesn't happen to me often. Got a dodgy record photo too. http://birdranger.wildiaries.com/trips/10955-Fast-Birding-Singapore-Kuala-Lumpur

Just returned from Thailand, where one day with Gerry Brett around Laem Pak Bia yielded 34 species of Shorebird including:

Malaysian Plover
Grey-headed Lapwing
Asian Dowitcher
Nordmann's Greenshank
Great Knot (about 5,000)
Spoon-billed Sandpiper
Broad-billed Sandpiper and
Long-toed Stint.

Great birds in great company: what more can one want?

Dave you can add to this list Chinese Egret and "White-faced Plover"; the former is very much sought after; obvviously the status of the latter is the issue at the moment. Yes it was a lovely day, good by any standards.

Dave you can add to this list Chinese Egret and "White-faced Plover"

And it goes on and on Kingfishers etc. etc. I was keeping to the shorebird lifers -- although Broad-billed Sandpiper was not one of them. Believe me "Portnoy" I had absolutely no complaints.

vangerover said:

As for 2013, I would dearly love to see a Glossy Ibis at Vange Marsh (or anywhere else in Essex), a Flycatcher in Essex would be great and a Whooper Swan would do as well!

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I saw the Glossy Ibis on Vange Marsh, did anyone else see a "hoped-for" bird in 2013?

Terry

Yup I got an Essex Osprey and an Essex Shrike! (Red-backed)

Reaallly want a Hoopoe though

Yes but not in Essex - got the Horsey Roller, been wanting to see one of those for years.

Local highlights for 2013 were: Rough-legged Buzzard on Foulness from Wallasea in December and long awaiting addition to my SOG list (also seen beginning of this year), Cattle Egret, Glossy Ibis, 2 rediculously close Red-backed Shrikes, female Red-necked Phalarope, Pectoral Sandpiper, the female Long-tailed Duck and CommonScoter at Gunners Park at beginning of the year, the Great White Egret experience at the Paglesham Roost etc whilst biggest misses being the Parrot Crossbills (was away), Spotted Crake (was away), Lesser Yellowlegs (ill), the seabirds off Canvey-Leach's Petrels etc (ill) the adult Glaucous Gull on Canvey (was away) and Nuthatch (all but extinct locally now ||.

Away from local birding the highlight was the stunning White's Thrush on Fair Isle, being on Fair Isle again and the only twitch of my year, for the Portland Brunnich's Guillemot and as always the desert birding in Israel with its residents and migrants.