Happy New Year, everyone - better late to report than never! Took some time to organize my lists before I could dig into 2018’s species count, but I finally finished tallying 2017 (
519 species), and the Cambodia/Vietnam saga continued January 1st resetting the clock for another year of listing. Siem Reap, Jan 1st:
1. Zebra Dove
2. Yellow-vented Bulbul
3. Plain-throated Sunbird
4. Barn Swallow
5. Asian Brown Flycatcher
6. Asian Palm-Swift
7. Streak-eared Bulbul (lifer)
8. Common Myna
9. Shikra
Jan 2nd: I found a really fantastic organization in Siem Reap called the Sam Veasna Center (
https://samveasna.org/) which focuses on bringing conservation to locals, curbing poaching, and creating ecotourism jobs and opportunities. They lead a lot of great bird tours around the country - to start out my year right, I arranged a day trip to the Prek Toal bird sanctuary:
10. Chinese Pond-Heron
11. Asian Openbill (lifer)
12. Little Cormorant (lifer)
13. Oriental Darter
14. Grey Heron
15. Brown Shrike (lifer)
16. Little Egret
17. White-throated Kingfisher
18. Large-billed Crow (lifer)
19. Rock Pigeon
20. Blue-tailed Bee-eater (lifer)
21. Great Cormorant
22. Indian Cormorant (lifer)
23. Greater Coucal
24. Racket-tailed Treepie (lifer)
25. Black Drongo
26. Striated Heron
27. Eurasian Tree Sparrow
28. Spot-billed Pelican (lifer)
29. Laced Woodpecker (lifer)
30. Intermediate Egret (lifer)
31. Cattle Egret
32. Black-headed Ibis (lifer)
33. Painted Stork (lifer)
34. Milky Stork (lifer)
35. Lesser Adjutant (lifer)
36. Greater Adjutant (lifer)
37. Purple Heron (lifer)
38. Olive-backed Sunbird
39. Dark-necked Tailorbird
40. Grey-headed Fish-Eagle (lifer)
41. Yellow-bellied Prinia (lifer)
42. Pin-striped Tit-Babbler (lifer)
43. Malaysian Pied-Fantail (lifer)
44. Whiskered Tern (lifer)
45. House Sparrow
46. Germain's Swiftlet
47. Red Collared-Dove (lifer)
48. Pied Bushchat (lifer)
49. Green Bee-eater (lifer)
50. Black-collared Starling (lifer)
51. Pied Kingfisher (lifer)
52. Indian Roller (lifer)
Bidding goodbye to Cambodia, the next leg of the trip was beach bound - Vietnam’s Phu Quoc island. Great seafood, decent beaches, and of course, a few good birds. Jan 4th-9th:
53. Brahminy Kite (lifer)
54. Spotted Dove
55. Oriental Pied-Hornbill (lifer)
56. Thick-billed Green-Pigeon (lifer)
57. Common Sandpiper
Jan 12: After a couple days in Ho Chi Minh City / Saigon, barely making our connection in Seoul, and 20 travel hours later… we found ourselves back in LA. On the drive home through the City of Angels:
58. Western Gull
59. Western Meadowlark
60. Red-tailed Hawk
61. Eurasian Collared-Dove
62. Cooper’s Hawk
63. Mourning Dove
I’m still recovering from jet lag, but in my efforts to snap out of it went for a walk through my local patch, Jan 14:
64. Northern Mockingbird
65. Yellow-rumped Warbler
66. Band-tailed Pigeon
67. Allen’s Hummingbird
68. White-throated Swift
69. Lesser Goldfinch
70. California Gull
71. California Scrub-Jay
72. Bewick’s Wren
73. House Finch
74. Acorn Woodpecker
75. California Thrasher
76. White-crowned Sparrow
77. Wrentit
78. Common Raven
79. California Towhee
80. Herring Gull
81. Cedar Waxwing
82. Spotted Towhee
83. Northern Flicker
A couple in the neighborhood:
84. European Starling
85. Red-whiskered Bulbul
A minor “chase” of a new state bird, Jan 17:
86. American Coot
87. Canada Goose
88. American Wigeon
89. Mallard
90. Brewer’s Blackbird
91. Brown-headed Cowbird
92. Great Egret
93. Anna’s Hummingbird
94. Rusty Blackbird (state lifer)
A few more around town, just driving:
95. Mitred Parakeet
96. Cassin’s Kingbird
97. Red-crowned Parrot
98. Yellow-chevroned Parakeet
99. American Crow