How's your 2021 list going? (1 Viewer)

[AlexC]

This morning I went to a high intermontane valley in a neighboring county and saw three species of boreal finches.

76. Evening Grosbeak
77. Pine Siskin
78. Common Redpoll

Dave

I was trying for redpolls today as well! In CT. No luck, but did have a few new adds this weekend:
202. Common Eider
203. Red Crossbill
204. Eastern Bluebird
205. Barred Owl
206. Horned Lark
207. Tundra Swan

 

[Andy Hurley]

Paderborn Südstadt 20th Feb:

77 Red Kite

Also already seen, large numbers (several flights of 200 to 250 birds) of Common Crane moving though the region direction NW

 

[Nightjar61]

A quick stop on my way home from work at a nearby farm pond produced one new bird for the year.

79. Wilson’s Snipe

Earlier this week there was about two feet of snow on the ground, but most of it is gone after a week of pleasantly warm weather. The bird activity has started to pick up, with the very earliest spring migrants starting to come in.

Dave

 

[Wombal]

I had a successful trip around Shropshire today, netting a few good species for the county.


1. Eurasian Blue Tit
2. Great Spotted Woodpecker
3. Common Blackbird
4. Great Tit
5. Common Wood Pigeon
6. Northern Raven
7. Common Chaffinch
8. European Robin
9. Dunnock
10. Eurasian Wren
11. Common Buzzard
12. Common Pheasant
13. Eurasian Jay
14. European Greenfinch
15. Carrion Crow
16. Mistle Thrush
17. Rook
18. Fieldfare
19. Eurasian Magpie
20. Stock Dove
21. Western Jackdaw
22. Common Linnet
23. Song Thrush
24. Long-tailed Tit
25. Goldcrest
26. European Goldfinch
27. Eurasian Siskin
28. White Wagtail
29. Eurasian Collared Dove
30. Black-headed Gull
31. Lesser Black-backed Gull
32. House Sparrow
33. Grey Heron
34. Mallard
35. Mute Swan
36. Greylag Goose
37. Tufted Duck
38. Great Cormorant
39. Common Kingfisher
40. Great Crested Grebe
41. Eurasian Coot
42. Northern Lapwing
43. Eurasian Bullfinch
44. Great Northern Diver
45. Canada Goose
46. Redwing
47. Meadow Pipit
48. Eurasian Skylark
49. Eurasian Sparrowhawk
50. Eurasian Nuthatch
51. Common Snipe
52. Eurasian Teal
53. Common Kestrel
54. Water Rail
55. Jack Snipe
56. Common Moorhen
57. Grey Wagtail
58. Marsh Tit
59. Eurasian Treecreeper
60. Rock Dove
61. European Herring Gull
62. Goosander
63. Little Egret
64. Whooper Swan
65. Common Shelduck
66. Northern Shoveler
67. Yellowhammer
68. Common Reed Bunting
69. Little Grebe

Hi great spotting just interested to know how you identify all these bird species, from experience or do you have other means of reference please advise I'm really limited in my knowledge on identifying species and the difference within each thanks for your post ATB 👍

 

[Jacana]

Hi great spotting just interested to know how you identify all these bird species, from experience or do you have other means of reference please advise I'm really limited in my knowledge on identifying species and the difference within each thanks for your post ATB 👍

Long years of practice for me.

It can seem quite overwhelming at first, so don't worry about that. Get yourself a good field guide (paper and/or digital) and start small, with just the birds coming into your garden or at the park. If you're overwhelmed, don't worry about identifying everything you see, just do what you can.

 

[Andy Hurley]

Hi great spotting just interested to know how you identify all these bird species, from experience or do you have other means of reference please advise I'm really limited in my knowledge on identifying species and the difference within each thanks for your post ATB 👍

Experience, Field guides, Bird Forum (don't be afraid to ask when you can't identify a bird) and taking photos of everything I could at the start of my birding hobby. Subsequently, I realised my camera and lenses and field guides were too limited, so I asked for advice on BF and went for the Collins Bird Guide 2nd Ed "The most complete guide to the birds of Britain and Europe" Svensson et al and a Sigma 150 - 500 mm lense for my Nikon D 60. Since then I've added guides for every country or region I planned on going to well in advance so that I could be at least a wee bit familiar with the birds and comfortably familiar with the field guide. I've also upgraded my cameras and lenses. I try to draw or paint birds too. Not brilliant, but it helps to remember the various features of the birds I draw. If you have a good ear www.Xeno-Canto.org is a great resource for bird song and calls and it has a vast data base. I copy a call and song for each species and put it in each species folder. Organisation is important to store and find the photos for each species. Once again there are many options. I use a free app, Open Office and create new folders for each species, which gets further divided by subspecies, year and country. Good luck in finding a system that works for you and happy birding!

I forgot to mention binoculars! I use 8x42 Nikon Monarch, but the choice is massive and for me price was a major factor. Leave them next to a window at home where birds are most often seen and remember them when you go out!

Also I take a waterproof pocket size note book(General Office) and pencil (writes even when wet or frozen) with me to list birds I know and to describe the ones I don't so I can check at home against field guides and photos , or the internet ie our own Opus. Some folk use specialist birding note books, but I prefer a blank note book that is not formatted, so is more flexible for me to use as is needed.

 

[Andy Hurley]

27 Feb Paderborn:

78 Black Redstart

 

[Nightjar61]

Ponds that have been frozen over for most of the winter have started to thaw after a week of warm weather. That means ducks are starting to show up, which should give my Year List a nice boost over the next month or so. I found two ducks today.

80. Wood Duck
81. Green-winged Teal

Dave

 

[Nightjar61]

Heavy rain put a damper on birding this morning, but I did find one new bird for the year.

82. Northern Pintail

Dave

 

[Nightjar61]

Then later in the afternoon in the yard...

83. Common Grackle

Dave

 

[AlexC]

Able to get out a couple times between work and rain:
208. Golden-crowned Kinglet
209. Common Grackle
210. Common Redpoll (lifer)
211. Hoary Redpoll (lifer)
212. Pine Warbler
213. Cape May Warbler (ABA lifer - winter rarity)
214. Iceland Gull
215. Glaucous Gull

 

[Nightjar61]

Now that the ice has gone, ducks are starting to move through.

84. American Wigeon
85. Redhead
86. Greater Scaup

Dave

 

[Andy Hurley]

2 March Fischteiche near the jogging path in Paderborn:

79 Crested Tit

 

[Andy Hurley]

3rd March. The River Lippe between Marienloh and Bad Lippspringe:

80 White Throated Dipper
81 Grey Wagtail
82 Song Thrush
83 Short toed Treecreeper

 

[AlexC]

The slow churn of northeastern winter species, plus a nice winter invasion finch specialty:
216. Field Sparrow
217. Wood Duck
218. Wild Turkey
219. Evening Grosbeak

 

[Nightjar61]

The ducks continue, with a new one this afternoon.

87. Northern Shoveler

Dave

 

[Andy Hurley]

5 March Steinhorster Becken:

84 Green Sandpiper
85 White Wagtail
86 Lesser Spotted Woodpecker
87 Common Gull
88 Willow Tit

 

[Nightjar61]

Another new duck this afternoon.

88. Red-breasted Merganser

Dave