How is your 2008 List Going? (1 Viewer)

[Nightjar61]

Went out this morning and added a new bird to my Year List, which is now up to 765.

765. Great Gray Shrike

Dave

 

[Nightjar61]

A slow day's birding, but I did manage to add a new bird to my Year List, which is now at 766.

766. Whooping Crane

Dave

 

[ovenbird43]

Up to 391, with Nelson's Sharp-tailed Sparrow and Seaside Sparrow over the weekend in Mississippi. Also bumped my Bigby list up to 195 with a bike ride to Lake Sequoyah last week, producing among others an American White Pelican, a species I wasn't counting on. Whee!

 

[Nightjar61]

Braved bitter cold weather to spend most of the day birding. I added a new bird to my Year List, bringing it up to 767.

767. Trumpeter Swan

Dave

 

[Nightjar61]

This morning I managed to pick up a bird I thought I was going to miss for the year, so I'm now up to 768 on my Year List.

768. American Treecreeper

Dave

 

[JeffMoh]

Slow going

213. Canada Goose (Don't know how I missed this earlier in the year.)
214. Dark-eyed Junco (The first I've seen in Texas in 6 years.)
215. Horned Lark

This is my best year list for Texas so far and I hope to be adding to it on a visit to the Big Bend / Marathon area later this week.

Jeff

 

[Charles Harper]

Kanto Year List

.
I didn't bird outside central Honshu at all this year, and with the last month winding to a close, I doubt I'll add anything more to 2008, which now stands at 188 species.

This year's highlights: Chinese Egret, Hodgson's Hawk-Eagle, Japanese Quail, Lesser Yellowlegs and Asiatic Dowitcher. After almost 20 years here, all were firsts for my Japan list.

Onwards to 2009!
.

 

[Larry Lade]

Five (5) 'lifers" after twenty (20) years on your "home turf" is pretty awesome, Charles!

Way to go!

 

[Pete Mella]

I'm making semi-plans to hopefully get at least merlin, hen harrier, whooper swan and water rail before the end of the year, but if I don't I may end it on my current total of 166. Seeing as my year's taget was 150 I'm happy with that...

I've set myself a target of 200 in 2009! Will I rise to the challenge?!

 

[Nightjar61]

Yesterday I participated in the third annual Goose Pond Christmas Bird Count not too far from here. In addition to all the great species I saw, I added two regionally rare birds to my Year List, which is now up to 770.

769. Black Scoter
770. Prairie Falcon

Dave

 

[Tero]

We have a christamas bird count coming up Jan 3, so none of those birds will help, so I came in somewhere just under 210. But there were some lifers this year so life list is around 320.

 

[Steve Lister]

This month has added three....

261 Bittern
262 Long-eared Owl
263 Common Redpoll

Don't expect any more now. I have only bettered this once.

Steve

 

[Larry Lade]

We had our Saint Joseph Christmas Bird Count (CBC) yesterday, the 20th. My group got the Prairie Falcon for a "good" bird of the day. That, however, was not a "year bird". I was able to add a "new" year bird (not a new species), a Northern Flicker! What is so special about a Northern Flicker you might ask? Well, it was the "red-shafted" variety, not the normal "yellow-shafted" which is the usual one we get here in Missouri.

This Red-shafted, Northern Flicker was the first one I had seen this year in Missouri!

 

[Larry Lade]

My last bird for Missouri this year was:

253. Rough-legged Hawk, December 5, 2008 at Monkey Mountain Conservation Area, near Forbes, Missouri.

So unless I see a Snowy Owl, Snow Bunting, or some other new bird, I will end up this year this a total of 253 birds.

 

[Dave B Smith]

My 2008 Year List for Trinidad wrapped up with an outing in the Nariva Swamp where our target and the last bird of the day, White-tailed Hawk, became #271.

 

[Larry Lade]

In post # 614 I said unless I see a Snowy Owl, Snow Bunting or some such thing I would probably not add any new year birds for Missouri in 2008.

Well, my wife, Brenda, and I drove down to Smithville Lake, Smithville, Missouri, to look for the reported Snowy Owl there. Lo and behold, we did find it after looking for only about 15 minutes! It appears to be a first year female bird. It almost looks black with the massive black barring on all the feathers except the face!

* I decided to count the Red-shafted, Northern Flicker as # 254 (even though it is considered to be the same species as the Yellow-shafted). So, it looks like my total for Missouri for 2008 is going to be 255.

 

[Larry Lade]

To see photos of this heavily barred Snowy Owl Brenda and I saw at Smithville Lake, Smithville, Missouri, click here.

 

[JeffMoh]

Big Bend Additions

Just before Christmas we spent 6 days in the Marathon / Big Bend area of Texas. I missed several hoped-for birds but added 30 species (including 5 lifers) to my year list:

216 Black-tailed Gnatcatcher (lifer)
217 Canyon Wren
218 Green-tailed Towhee
219 Swamp Sparrow
220 Rufous-crowned Sparrow
221 Black-throated Sparrow
222 Black Phoebe
223 Say's Phoebe
224 Wild Turkey
225 Greater Roadrunner
226 Ladder-backed Woodpecker
227 Golden-fronted Woodpecker
228 Cactus Wren
229 Canyon Towhee (lifer)
230 Vermilion Flycatcher
231 Common Raven
232 Western Bluebird
233 Acorn Woodpecker
234 Red-naped Sapsucker (lifer)
235 Clay-colored Sparrow (lifer)
236 Phainopepla
237 Verdin
238 Ash-throated Flyatcher
239 Lark Bunting (lifer)
240 Rock Wren
241 Mexican Jay
242 Black-crested Titmouse
243 Lesser Goldfinch
244 Common Yellowthroat
245 Marsh Wren

This makes 2008 my best year in the USA since I started birding in 1997.

Jeff

 

[jtibbetts]

Am now on 775 after a trip to The Gambia last month plus a last few in the UK, my last bird of the year (probably!) being Waxwing (23 birds) on Boxing Day!

I've also made it to the 1000 life species mark this year (now on 1020), my 1000th species was African Emerald Cuckoo in The Gambia.

 

[Larry Lade]

I got an unexpected "year bird" for Missouri this morning at the Saint Joseph Stockyards, Saint Joseph, Missouri. My bird was in with a small flock of Eurasian Collared-Doves which were perched in a small, leafless, deciduous tree in the stockyards area.

256. White-winged Dove