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ZEISS DTI thermal imaging cameras. For more discoveries at night, and during the day.

Rylirk's 2019 list (1 Viewer)

22/9/2019 - Southern Armenia

Raptor bonanza along the road from Yerevan to Tatev! First two from the bus, the first in the vicinity of Zangatakun in Ararat province, the second on an electricity pylon at Spandarian Reservoir:

427. European Honey Buzzard
428. * Short-Toed Snake Eagle

Then one over Shaki waterfall. Can't rule out this being either an Eastern Imperial or a Greater Spotted Eagle as the photos are poor, but any of those would be a lifer and a year tick so it doesn't change my numbers ;)

429. * Lesser Spotted Eagle

Then one more at Karahunj. It's likely I also had these at Shaki, but the first definitve ones came at Karahunj.

430. * Lesser Kestrel



Summary for September:

34 year ticks
21 lifers
 
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So once again I discovered there was a bird I forgot to add to the list. Again, rather than go back and update all the numbers, I'm just going to add it here. I've updated the totals for March to include this one.

3/3/2019 - Lubbock, TX, USA

431. Cooper's Hawk

Now onto the birds I actually saw today...

5/10/2019 - Lubbock, TX, USA

It took 48 hours to get back from Armenia due to some problems with flights, so I was rather ill for a week or so. Not 100% still but back to birding today. Got 1 somewhat expected lifer from Clapp today; good to have it finally off the wishlist though!

432. * Least Flycatcher
 
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13/10/2019 - Lubbock, TX, USA

Down to the cemetery today to see if the recent Northerly winds and cold weather had brought back some of the winter birds; and they had! Absolutely heaving with birds, including many I haven't seen since February/March time and 1 lifer.

433. * Red-Naped Sapsucker
 
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19/10/2019 - Lubbock, TX, USA

A full day's birding today in honour of the eBird big day! Ended up with 46 species over 4 sites... probably could have gotten a fair few more if I'd remembered to include a playa lake on my route, but c'est la vie! Three lifers among today's tally; one from Lubbock Lake Landmark and two from the cemetery.

434. * Eastern Meadowlark
435. * Yellow-Bellied Sapsucker
436. * Mountain Bluebird
 
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20/10/2019 - Becton, TX, USA

Cracking day's birding today with a local birder friend at the playas in the northeast corner of Lubbock county. Plenty of life, year and country ticks, and a whole host of rarities to boot! I really need to get me a car...

437. * Long-Billed Dowitcher
438. * Lark Bunting
439. * McCown's Longspur
440. Horned Grebe
441. * Cave Swallow
442. * American Golden Plover
 
21/10/2019 - Lubbock, TX, USA

I've been hunting high and low for this one all autumn, so of course I find it on my walk into work, and of course its on a day when I didn't bring my camera! Still, good to have this 'common' fall migrant sighted at last.

443. * Nashville Warbler



Summary for October:

12 year ticks
9 lifers
 
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2/11/2019 - Lubbock area, TX, USA

Another full day's birding today. Up way before dawn to go see some resident owls in Crosby county. I normally only count birds that I definitively see and, while we heard the owls very close at one point, it's not so clear that I saw them. Maybe I saw a black flash as one moved across the relatively bright sky... ;)

444. * Eastern Screech Owl

Then a tour around the various playas in Lubbock county. Picked up one more lifer at Becton:

445. * Chestnut-Collared Longspur
 
8/11/2019 - Lubbock, TX, USA

A pre-work trip to one of the city parks to look for gulls yielded two more for the life list; won't get too excited about the lifer, it's one that I assumed would just happen eventually ;)

446. * Ross's Goose
447. Bonaparte's Gull
 
9/11/2019 - Buffalo Springs, TX, USA

*sigh* ... are all my merlin sightings doomed to be dubious? A small, sleek, grey raptor swooped down onto a prairie dog town on the drive back from Buffalo Springs, missed whatever it was aiming for, and immediately flew off low. Definitely not right for either of the expected accipiter hawks here, so merlin is the only thing I can think it would be. So I'm calling it. I really hope to see one of these properly some day...

448. Merlin
 
11/11/2019 - Lubbock, TX, USA

A bit of an interesting one today. Popped into Clapp Park on the way back from a medical appointment, and was rather surprised to find an empid flycatcher! All empid flycatchers should be long gone from Lubbock by this point, which already made this sighting rather interesting. It didn't look right for either willow or least (the two most expected in the summer here), and (with help from this forum and the Lubbock birding email list) we've narrowed it down to one of Cordilleran, Acadian or Pacific Slope, any of which would be a lifer. Personally I'm on Team Cordilleran for this one, so that's what I'm recording it as for this list, but my numbers will not change if the bird turns out to be Acadian or Pacific Slope. In any case, always nice to find a rarity ;)

449. * Cordilleran Flycatcher
 
16/11/2019 - Spearman, TX, USA

Off for a weekend birding the upper Texas panhandle! Hit several sites today, but pretty much all the best birds (including the two lifers) were at our first stop at Lake Palo Duro (which confusingly is nowhere near Palo Duro Canyon):

450. * Harris's Sparrow
451. * American Tree Sparrow
 
17/11/2019 - Umbarger, TX, USA

One more lifer from the 2nd day of the trip; a shrike which has been reported at Buffalo Lake for a week or so now. Found it just as we were ready to give up:

452. * Northern Shrike
 
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23/11/2019 - Lubbock, TX, USA

Hmm, another slightly dubious one today from Lubbock cemetery. Massive grey-ish raptor flushed from distant trees by blue jays and flew off purposefully along the ground. Well, if it looks like an owl...

453. * Great Horned Owl
 
27/11/2019 - Doylestown, PA, USA

Going to visit family in Pennsylvania for this Thanksgiving thing that Americans do. Not really sure what that entails yet, but it was also entail some East Coast birding... got 1 lifer from an afternoon in Peace Valley Park in Doylestown:

454. * Golden-Crowned Kinglet
 
29/11/2019 - Smyrna, DE, USA

A trip down to Bombay Hook today yielded a lot of good birds, including 2 lifers and 2 US ticks (Dunlin and Tundra Swan). Maybe if the IOC re-splits Bewick's Swan again in the future, those 2 lifers will become three ;)

455. * American Black Duck
456. * Swamp Sparrow
 
30/11/2019 - Palmyra, NJ, USA & Alnwick, PA, USA

A last day of East Coast birding today, going for a couple of rare West-coast birds that have showed up over here. I guess it would have been easier for me to wait to see some of these birds in Texas, but a lifer's a lifer ;) . First to Palmyra Cove on the NJ/PA border for a long-staying Pacific-Slope Flycatcher:

457. * Winter Wren
458. Grey Catbird
459. * Pacific-Slope Flycatcher

At Palmyra, another birder told me about a Green-Tailed Towhee which had been showing well at the Pennypack Ecological Restoration Trust back in PA, so I had to go and try for that as well... pretty little bird!

460. * Green-Tailed Towhee



Summary for November:

17 year ticks
13 lifers
 
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Been a slow start to December... but that should change soon ;)

14/12/2019 - Lubbock, TX, USA

My first Christmas Bird Count today, which is apparently a thing American birders do! The whole Lubbock area was relatively quiet, but I did get one new bird for the year list:

461. Short-Eared Owl
 
Welp, I got a *lot* of birds to add over the last week or so! Apparently it's really easy to add birds to the list in Central America...

21/12/2019 - San Jose, Costa Rica

First full day of my trip to Costa Rica was spent birding a few sites in the capital. Not the easiest place to bird, but still got quite the haul!

First of all, from the National Park near my hotel:

462. * Hoffmann's Woodpecker
463. * Green-Breasted Mango
464. * Summer Tanager
465. * Greyish Saltator
466. * Blue-Grey Tanager
467. * Boat-Billed Flycatcher
468. * Tennessee Warbler

Then a handful more lifers walking through the city centre:

469. *Orange-Chinned Parakeet
470. *Tropical Kingbird
471. *Rufous-Collared Sparrow

Then onto the most succesful stop of the day, Sabana park!

472. * Melodious Blackbird
473. * Baltimore Oriole
474. * Muscovy Duck
475. * Rufous-Tailed Hummingbird
476. * Red-Billed Pigeon
477. * Finsch's Parakeet

And then one last one from a tiny little park (I forget the exact name?) right next to my hotel:

478. * Yellow-Headed Caracara
 
22/12/2019 - Costa Rica

First day of travelling in Costa Rica yielded my new record for most lifers in a day (sorry Corpus Christi!). First few birds from the list came from a break in the drive at a fruit market in Las Minas in extreme western Limon Province:

479. * Social Flycatcher
480. * Roadside Hawk
481. * Mangrove Swallow

Then onto the village of Juanilama near Santa Rosa de Pocosol. Low intensity afternoon wandering around the farms there, but my God were there a lot of birds!

482. * Groove-Billed Ani
483. * Golden-Hooded Tanager
484. * Black-Headed Saltator
485. * Streak-Headed Woodcreeper
486. * Rufous-Winged Woodpecker
487. * Scarlet-Rumped Tanager
488. * Red-Lored Amazon
489. * White-Collared Manakin
490. * Morelet's Seedeater
491. * Grey-Capped Flycatcher
492. * Palm Tanager
493. * Yellow-Throated Toucan
494. * White-Crowned Parrot

Also went for a hike in a private reserve adjoining the village, for a couple more lifers:

495. * Pale-Billed Woodpecker
496. * Stripe-Breasted Wren

And then one last one on the walk back to the house where I was staying:

497. * Montezuma Oropendola
 
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23/12/2019 - Los Chiles, Costa Rica

First stop this morning was at Cano Negro up near the border with Nicaragua. Took a boat down the river to see what we could see, and I got my first big target species of the trip: great potoo! Fantastic bird!

498. * Grey-Breasted Martin
499. * Snail Kite
500. * Limpkin
501. * Northern Jacana
502. * Lesser Yellow-Headed Vulture
503. * Bare-Throated Tiger Heron
504. * Sungrebe
505. * Green Kingfisher
506. * Prothonotary Warbler
507. * Amazon Kingfisher
508. * Chestnut-Sided Warbler
509. * Great Potoo

Then headed into the town of La Fortuna to stay the night. Got one year tick on the road on the way:

510. * Grey Hawk

Then one more lifer in the town of La Fortuna in the early evening:

511. * Scaly-Breasted Hummingbird
 

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