I thought about going for that bird. Maybe tomorrow on the way home from the Bullock's Oriole in NJ. 🙃Just one addition to the US list, I think, but it's a big one.
Pink-footed Goose
at my local reservoir, found yesterday by another local birder!
The identification issue with the former Great Tits of Hong Kong are based on which list you use. IOC/Clements/etc lump the local sub-species with Japanese Tit, while the Hong Kong Bird Watching Society lumps them with Cinereous Tit. (Had noticed that MKinHK had used Cinereous in his list from San Tin last year, so wanted to make sure no accidental duplicates.)Team East Asia (Hong Kong plus Singapore) on 74, or 73 if we're not allowed one that was only identified as being one of two species. Or less again if there are duplicates due to my total lack of knowledge of Asian birds.
...
japanese tit / cinereous tit hkbws
...
Dawn at Popa Falls on the Okavango River, the amazing Mahnago National Park just a few kilometres down the river. After a very good period in these areas, then drove 200km west to Rundu, many stops inthe excellent forestland on route. Afternoon and evening primarily at hte highly productive Rundu Settling Pools and associated floodplain.
166 species of bird, 20 species of mammals, good number of butterflies.
Ostrich
Little Grebe
Reed Cormorant
African Darter
Purple Heron
Goliath Heron
Grey Heron
Great White Egret
Intermediate Heron
Little Egret
Cattle Egret
Black Heron
Squacco Heron
Black-crowned Night Heron
Little Bittern
Green-backed Heron
Glossy Ibis
Yellow-billed Stork
Openbill Stork
Saddle-billed Stork
Hammerkop
African Sacred Ibis
Spur-winged Goose
Egyptian Goose
African Pygmy Goose
White-fronted Whistling Duck
Comb Duck
Red-billed Teal
Cape Teal
Hottentot Teal
Cape Shoveler
Southern Pochard
White-backed Vulture
Bateleur
African Fish Eagle
Yellow-billed Kite
Honey Buzzard
Booted Eagle
Steppe Buzzard
African Harrier-Hawk
African Cuckoo-Hawk
Gabar Goshawk
Red-billed Francolin
Crested Francolin
Helmeted Guineafowl
Red-knobbed Coot
Common Moorhen
African Purple Swamphen
Allen's Gallinule
Black Crake
African Jacana
Lesser Jacana
Wattled Crane
Black-winged Stilt
Painted Snipe
Three-banded Plover
Long-toed Lapwing
Blacksmith Lapwing
Greenshank
Marsh Sandpiper
Ruff
Little Stint
Common Sandpiper
Wood Sandpiper
Rock Pratincole
Collared Pratincole
Water Thick-knee
Temminck's Courser
Whiskered Tern
Yellow-throated Sandgrouse
Red-eyed Dove
African Mourning Dove
Cape Turtle Dove
Laughing Dove
Emerald-spotted Wood-Dove
Meyer's Parrot
Grey Go-away Bird
Black Cuckoo
Diderick Cuckoo
Jacobin Cuckoo
Senegal Coucal
Coppery-tailed Coucal
Palm Swift
Red-faced Mousebird
Grey Hornbill
Southern Yellow-billed Hornbill
Pied Kingfisher
Giant Kingfisher
Wood Kingfisher
Grey-headed Kingfisher
Malachite Kingfisher
Blue-cheeked Bee-eater
European Bee-eater
Southern Carmine Bee-eater
Little Bee-eater
Lilac-breasted Roller
Broad-billed Roller
Green Wood-Hoopoe
Common Scimitarbill
African Hoopoe
Golden-tailed Woodpecker
Cardinal Woodpecker
Dusky Lark
Sabota Lark
Red-breasted Swallow
Barn Swallow
Banded Martin
Fork-tailed Drongo
European Golden Oriole
African Golden Oriole
Pied Crow
Hartlaub's Babbler
Southern Black Tit
Dark-eyed Bulbul
Terrestrial Brownbul
Yellow-bellied Greenbul
Kurrichane Thrush
Groundscraper Thrush
Northern Wheatear
White-browed Robin Chat
Bearded Scrub Robin
White-browed Scrub Robin
Grey-backed Camaroptera
Long-billed Crombec
Lesser Swamp Warbler
African Reed Warbler
Great Reed Warbler
Sedge Warbler
Willow Warbler
Tinkling Cisticola
Wood Pipit
African Pipit
Plain-backed Pipit
Spotted Flycatcher
Pale Flycatcher
Marico Flycatcher
African Paradise Flycatcher
African Yellow White-eye
Magpie Shrike
Red-backed Shrike
Black-backed Puffback
Black-crowned Tchagra
Greater Blue-eared Starling
Burchell's Starling
Meve's Long-tailed Starling
Violet-backed Starling
Yellow-billed Oxpecker
Scarlet-chested Sunbird
Amethyst Sunbird
White-bellied Sunbird
Yellow-throated Petronia
White-browed Sparrow-Weaver
Grey-headed Sparrow
Thick-billed Weaver
Lesser Masked Weaver
Village Weaver
Fan-tailed Widow
Southern Red Bishop
Red-billed Firefinch
Blue Waxbill
Common Waxbill
Pin-tailed Whydah
Green-winged Pytilia
Locustfinch
Yellow-fronted Canary
Golden-breasted Bunting
A lot of our summer visitors winter down thereNot being familiar with southern Africa myself, I was quite surprised how many species were on both the UK and Namibia lists.
Ah, right. Thanks. We get this problem from time to time when trying to combine lists from places that use different taxonomies. The one that used to come up regularly was that Common Redpoll and Lesser Redpoll used to be lumped in most of Europe but split in the UK. Whatever we call it, it definitely counts for the total. So 74 for East Asia pending any more lists coming in.The identification issue with the former Great Tits of Hong Kong are based on which list you use. IOC/Clements/etc lump the local sub-species with Japanese Tit, while the Hong Kong Bird Watching Society lumps them with Cinereous Tit. (Had noticed that MKinHK had used Cinereous in his list from San Tin last year, so wanted to make sure no accidental duplicates.)
Now to see whether Mike went back to San Tin yesterday or got wrapped up with his friendly Burmese Python on New Year's Eve.
Bradley Beach, New Jersey 1/1/21
Muscovite Ducks
Herring Gulls
Mallards
Great Blue Heron
Great Black Back Gull
Hooded Mergansers
Common Loon
Mute Swan
Canada Geese
Savannah Sparrow
House sparrow
You are invited to join in the eighth annual Birdforum joint lists for 1st January. The idea is that those who want to take part provide a list of what they've seen or heard on 1 January and we produce joint lists for areas such as the UK, the USA, Europe, Australia, or wherever we get enough people interested.
The rules are simple - birds can be seen or heard, as long as the ID is firm. "Cat C" birds (that's UK jargon for introduced species with self-sustaining breeding populations) are OK as long as the bird was from the self-sustaining population. No escapes or captive birds, obviously. Birds must be encountered between midnight and midnight on 1 Jan, local time.
For this year there's an extra rule - please follow whatever Covid safety procedures you would follow on any other day. This is just a bit of fun, not something to take risks for.
Each year we've done this, we've had some surprising relatively common omissions, so there's scope for everyone to contribute, even if you're only going out for a short walk or even just watching from your window. The aim is to use the wide spread of Birdforum members around the various countries to increase the total by seeing species where they're easy.
It's supposed to be a bit of innocent fun, don't change your plans specially. Having said which, if we can encourage one or two people to go out rather than stay in, great.
Here's a link to last year's thread so you can see how it works. Each year's thread has a link to the previous year in its first post.
Last year's totals: North America 130 (USA 116, Canada 14, Barbados 8), Europe 196 (UK 170, rest of Europe 129)
Plus single lists of: Costa Rica 44, New Zealand 49, Falklands 23, Hong Kong 74.
2019 figures: USA 227, Europe 205 (UK 176, Rest of Europe 126), Australia 85, East Asia 84
2018 figures: USA 120, Europe 194 (UK 163, Rest of Europe 115)
2017 figures: USA 172, Europe 197 (UK 156, Rest of Europe 127), East Asia 87, Canada 16 (North America 180)
2016 figures: USA 205, Europe 167 (UK 150, rest of Europe 94), Australia 43.
2015 figures: USA 158, Europe 175 (UK 145, rest of Europe 119), Australia 89.
2014 figures: USA 185, UK 155.
Whatever you see on 1 Jan, please post a list either of everything you've seen or (easier for me) everything you've seen that you think may not have been reported yet. I'm hoping to be out and about most of the day so if anyone's online during the day and fancies doing some running totals, that would be great. If not, I'll catch up once I'm back online.
Muscovy are questionable here, so you decide. Your country, your rules😂😂The US list lost 2 due to the correction above but has just gained 6 and is now at 72. I'm assuming Muscovy Duck is established and tickable in New Jersey, as I have no idea what local rules are (in the UK there's a long-running argument about whether our one self-sustaining population is genuinely self-sustaining, and we're not allowed to count them).
The other new ones are American Herring Gull, Great Blue Heron, Great Black-backed Gull, Common Loon and Savannah Sparrow.
That sounds quite probable. I don’t count them on ebird here in Northeastern US . I wasn’t sure of protocol here. I’m a beginner, so it’s great to get this information!I believe Muscovy Ducks are only tickable in the Rio Grande Valley of Texas where truly wild birds are rare vagrants, and in Florida where they are an established exotic. Anyone with updated or new information correct me if I’m wrong.
Dave
It was one of the discussions we had in the first year of doing this - how to set rules when every country seems to do things slightly differently. As it's an informal thing, we sort of leave it up to individuals to work out if something they can't normally count would be OK for this. Most people I think wouldn't count something that looks like it belongs to someone, or has only recently escaped (like the black swan at my local country park).That sounds quite probable. I don’t count them on ebird here in Northeastern US . I wasn’t sure of protocol here. I’m a beginner, so it’s great to get this information!