You're quite right, the mongoose plague that shocked me was on Maui.
You have the experience on Kauai, I've never been on it, just helicoptered over it, a natural paradise.
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ABA Big Year 2016 (1 Viewer)
- Thread starter Mysticete
- Start date
You're quite right, the mongoose plague that shocked me was on Maui.
You have the experience on Kauai, I've never been on it, just helicoptered over it, a natural paradise.
Go when you can, they are just wonderful, even though the lowlands are dominated by imported birds.
Sadly lacking is the willingness to sacrifice a little now to preserve the biological treasures that remain. Using the islands to test GM crop varieties is an illustration of this mindset, as is the lack of concern about feral pigs decimating the native plants. Nobody important speaks for the natural wealth of the state, so it is dribbling away.
Jon Turner
Well-known member
Save up and go. It's wonderful. :t:
Jon Turner
Well-known member
Lovely pics of I'iwi. I looked and looked, but sadly missed this beauty!
Two weeks from today!
I'll be happier once John gets the Smith's Longspur and Christian gets the Dovekie; three birders nailing all the Code 1 and Code 2 species in one year, which hadn't happened even once before this year. Laura won't be the first Big Year birder to miss Mottled Petrel...
Neil Hayward came the closest prior to this year, missing only Common Ringed Plover (Code 2); John Vanderpoel missed two Code 2 birds: Mottled Petrel and Wood Sandpiper.
Joe
I'll be happier once John gets the Smith's Longspur and Christian gets the Dovekie; three birders nailing all the Code 1 and Code 2 species in one year, which hadn't happened even once before this year. Laura won't be the first Big Year birder to miss Mottled Petrel...
Neil Hayward came the closest prior to this year, missing only Common Ringed Plover (Code 2); John Vanderpoel missed two Code 2 birds: Mottled Petrel and Wood Sandpiper.
Joe
Paul Chapman
Well-known member
Joe
Presumably cleaning up Code 1 & 2 species is made significantly easier by Internet information (particularly eBird with the United States dataset)?
All the best
No question. Even before this Biggest Year, I had a sequence of slides about "The Changing Game" included in my Big Year program. The first one features the Pettingill Guides, then the Lane Guides, ABA birdfinding guides, etc. until we reach the Internet. Listserves and eBird are huge factors, of course. On a local level, cell phones.
My favorite story about the changing game: in 2007 I finished conducting a rehearsal, checked my email, called my wife to tell her there was a White-winged Dove at Montrose (20 minutes away) that a guy had in his scope. State bird for me at the time. Drove down, walked up and looked through the scope, as the bird hadn't moved an inch. A fairly common occurance now, of course, but that was the first time it had happened like that for me, and it was because the birder posted to the Illinois listserve from his cellphone. Game-changer.
Joe
My favorite story about the changing game: in 2007 I finished conducting a rehearsal, checked my email, called my wife to tell her there was a White-winged Dove at Montrose (20 minutes away) that a guy had in his scope. State bird for me at the time. Drove down, walked up and looked through the scope, as the bird hadn't moved an inch. A fairly common occurance now, of course, but that was the first time it had happened like that for me, and it was because the birder posted to the Illinois listserve from his cellphone. Game-changer.
Joe
Mysticete
Well-known member
Code 1 and 2 birds should be relatively easy. I blame lack of code updates on why some of these get missed. Wood Sandpiper really should not be a code 2 bird at all.
Update on Olaf's blog on his 2nd trip to Hawaii:
http://olafsbigyear.blogspot.com/2016_12_01_archive.html
Jan in MT
http://olafsbigyear.blogspot.com/2016_12_01_archive.html
Jan in MT
Nutcracker
Stop Brexit!
Thought they'd both had all the regulars a while back?
Paul Chapman
Well-known member
I think currently that 779 plays 777.
John has nine species on Olaf:-
Smew
Hawaiian Petrel
White-tailed Tropicbird
Common Sandpiper
Long-toed Stint
Pin-tailed Snipe
Kelp Gull
Gray-headed Chickadee
Red-flanked Bluetail
Olaf has seven species on John:-
Trinidade Petrel
Red-footed Booby
Marsh Sandpiper
Great Knot* (subject of some discussion)
Siberian Rubythroat
Smith's Longspur
Yellow Grosbeak
(I'll be glad when Joe has checked that.)
John has photographed all bar c50 species and of the missing ones, some should have been pretty straightforward to photograph on multiple occasions eg Purple Martin and Wood Stork so presumably he'll dig out photos at some point? A quarter of those not photographed were understandable Owls, Rails and Nightjars.
All the best
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Both Rosy-Finches for Laura today!
Paul's list looks correct to me.
I don't know; the Great Knot story works for me. I would not have wanted him to flush the birds for a good photo when the other guys got the perfect photos, but, hey, I'm not the committee.
http://olafsbigyear.blogspot.com/2016/06/if-shoe-fits.html
Here's the eBird checklist from the day before:
http://ebird.org/ebird/view/checklist/S30130922
And here's Olaf's:
http://ebird.org/ebird/view/checklist/S30149140
Joe
Paul's list looks correct to me.
I don't know; the Great Knot story works for me. I would not have wanted him to flush the birds for a good photo when the other guys got the perfect photos, but, hey, I'm not the committee.
http://olafsbigyear.blogspot.com/2016/06/if-shoe-fits.html
Here's the eBird checklist from the day before:
http://ebird.org/ebird/view/checklist/S30130922
And here's Olaf's:
http://ebird.org/ebird/view/checklist/S30149140
Joe
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Paul Chapman
Well-known member
Joe
I'm fine with the Great Knots. But others suggest otherwise on the photos saying that they plainly show Red Knot. Still can't see it:-
http://olafsbigyear.blogspot.co.uk/2016/06/where-to-next-magellan.html
All the best
I'm fine with the Great Knots. But others suggest otherwise on the photos saying that they plainly show Red Knot. Still can't see it:-
http://olafsbigyear.blogspot.co.uk/2016/06/where-to-next-magellan.html
All the best
Admittedly, I've never seen a Great Knot, but we get Red Knots here in various plumages. These aren't Red Knots in any plumage I've ever seen.
It's interesting that Sibley mentions this about Great Knots: "Breeding plumage of adult resembles breeding plumage of Surfbird." So I look up his drawings of Surfbird and I totally get it.
Joe
It's interesting that Sibley mentions this about Great Knots: "Breeding plumage of adult resembles breeding plumage of Surfbird." So I look up his drawings of Surfbird and I totally get it.
Joe
guy_incognito
Well-known member
The twist to the Knot story that I heard, and am hopefully remembering the details correctly, is that others prior to Olaf thought they had the Great Knots. I think they made the call to let others (including Olaf) know about them, but then later realized that the birds were not Great Knots. Instead, I believe they might have been Rock Sandpipers. At those extreme viewing distances, confusing a Rock Sandpiper for a Great Knot is understandable.
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