Top 5 of 2019 (1 Viewer)

[Mysticete]

I don't know if I have specific species as highlights, more general birding highlights

#1: Two Snowy Owls, one at close range, at Terrell Island. Not a lifer, but I have struggled to get good lucks at one since my initial lifer almost 20 years ago, either dipping completely or just getting very distant owl lump sightings. Their have been a handful of what I would consider truly magical birding moments in my life, and this was one of them.

#2: Spring Migration at High Cliff State Park. My first spring visit here at this local hotspot was truly phenomenal, while I didn't get the diversity at some more famous spots, I certainly got the experience you would find at Point Pelee or Crane Creek.

#3: Whitefish Point: Even though I am from Michigan, I never managed to hit this hotspot. Birding was super slow most of the time I was there, but a couple of good days resulted in me adding Pacific Loon and Franklin's Gull to my State Checklist, both pretty good birds.

#4: Just generally becoming more active in the local birding clubs

#5: My sole lifers of the year, a Southern Red-backed Vole at Heckrodt, and a Sedge Wren at Shady Lane. The latter was especially nice, as it was the last "regularly occurring" Wren I needed for the ABA area.

 

[Andy Adcock]

Hi Andy,

There's a population of them in the forest between Manila and Infante. We saw one, and heard two more.

I was asked by the local guide not to be any more specific than that, to protect the birds, since the area is so close to Manila.

JH

All much easier these days then I assume, could be a horrible hike in to Hamut when it's wet!

 

[Julie50]

Actually turns out not to be my rarities!

Hi all

I saw some rarities this year, e.g. the long-billed dowitcher at Frampton, but it turns out my favourites were:

1. Regular sightings of barn owls hunting at Upton Warren.
2. Spoonbills at Frampton Marshes.
3. Female Marsh Harrier feeding in the middle of a pool at Ham Walls.
4. Pair of juvenile water rails at Upton Warren.
5. Bitterns booming at Ham Walls.

A great year

PS. Sorry the photos came out backwards order!

 

[Jeff Hopkins]

All much easier these days then I assume, could be a horrible hike in to Hamut when it's wet!

I suppose easy is a relative thing. 8-P

The first attempt was a mad climb down boulders in a rocky gully, and after trying for an hour, we only heard the bird. The second bird was so far away we couldn't even attempt to go after it. The third was a muddy scramble in the rain up a hillside into the forest.

The local guide took a picture of us actually looking at the bird. That's me on the right in the pale green shirt. It's hard to see, but I was soaked to the skin - partially with sweat and partially with rain. The thumbnail photo (copyright David Hoddinott) is the actual bird we saw.

 

[Andy Adcock]

I suppose easy is a relative thing. 8-P

The first attempt was a mad climb down boulders in a rocky gully, and after trying for an hour, we only heard the bird. The second bird was so far away we couldn't even attempt to go after it. The third was a muddy scramble in the rain up a hillside into the forest.

The local guide took a picture of us actually looking at the bird. That's me on the right in the pale green shirt. It's hard to see, but I was soaked to the skin - partially with sweat and partially with rain. The thumbnail photo (copyright David Hoddinott) is the actual bird we saw.

View attachment 713428

Nice, still nice when you have to work for em a bit eh, no worm bait!

 

[Paul Chapman]

I am going with the following:-

5. Alder Kitten - a patch moth tick - an absolute cracker was my favourite moth of the year.

4. Otter - a patch mammal tick - with superb views on both sightings and both within a mile or so of home where I stop on the way to work to grab 5 minutes of birding.

3. Shoebill - a world lifer - Mabamba Swamp in Uganda on a trip in March with my wife and a fellow patch birder and his wife.

2. Leopard - a world lifer - Murchison Falls National Park on the same trip.

1. Tengmalm's Owl - a British tick - on Shetland twitching with a good friend the day after I returned from a spring birding trip to Israel after it had been missing for a day. (Other British ticks were Brown Booby and possibly Paddyfield Pipit. Sinai Rosefinch from the Israel trip - third time lucky - was very close to the list........)

All the best

Paul

 

[foresttwitcher]

Wow, Paul, that's one hell of an otter sighting & photo!

 

[Britseye]

Isn't it amazing that we can be held spellbound by such contrasting creatures as the Leopard and the Alder Kitten! Well done on being able to pare down your choices to a nice tight fabulous fivesome, Paul.

 

[ovenbird43]

With fantastic trips to Alaska and Panama, it's hard to pick just 5 for the year. Harpy and Crested Eagles, all 4 eiders, breeding shorebirds... top notch but I have to pass over most of them and go with:

5. Sabine's Gull - been wanting this species for some time, and saw them in breeding plumage in Barrow. Then again during migration off the California coast, and then a surprise fly-by of a juvenile on the Mississippi coast, where it is exceedingly rare.

4. Bluethroat - I've missed this species on previous trips to Europe and Africa, and thought I was going to miss it again in Nome since I was there after they stopped singing, but I stumbled upon a nest near the end of the trip and able to see the parents return to feed the chicks. Wow!

3. Bristle-thighed Curlew - amazing to experience it displaying on its breeding grounds, with stunning scenery in the background.

2. Bare-crowned Antbird - a species I was hoping for but not targeting in Panama, been wanting to see this one forever!

1. Black-crowned Antpitta - even more than the eagles, this was probably my most-wanted species in Panama. Seen in the Darien Gap.

I didn't get even a half-decent shot of a Bluethroat, so instead I'm adding as an honorable mention Snowshoe Hare, a long-awaited mammal sighting.

 

[pbjosh]

Hard to pick five, but:

Lear’s Macaw
Banded Cotinga
Helmeted Hornbill
Bornean Ground-Cuckoo
Rail-babbler

 

[Trystan]

For me:

1. Picking up the endemics of Jamaica, loved the whole trip so not going to choose a favourite.
2. Houbara bustard on Fuerteventura, the second time I came across two birds which loitered close to the car was amazing.
3. Twitching Red-eyed vireo at Spurn and picking up world lifer, Great snipe on the same day
4. 11 warbler species in a day including UK tick, Savis warbler at Attenborough nature reserve
5. Going to give last slot to half a day at Potteric Carr where I had the pleasure to observe an altercation between a Spotted crake and a Water rail and then to see a courting pair of bitterns cross a gap in the reeds with the male in pursuit all puffed up like a peacock!

If the Great wall of China was a bird, it would be on the list!

 

[kb57]

This is inevitably going to have a Colombian theme for me, but here goes...

1. Chestnut-naped Antpitta - actually having one on my hand eating a worm was my birding highlight of 2019

2. Andean Cock-of-the-Rock - another tick on my bucket list, visiting a lek with close-up views of at least 9 noisy males

3. Oilbird - standing outside an oilbird cave at dusk should be on everyone's bucket list...except for those of a 'nervous disposition'

4. Shining Sunbeam - apart from having a great name, this edges out more spectacular hummers by virtue of being self-found, not at a feeder - and isn't too shabby looking either

5. A difficult choice for #5...any flowerpiercer would do, but Masked Flowerpiercer wins

 

[Warixenjalka]

#5. Founding spontaneously and photoing / videoing Red-throated Divers in Lofoten, Norway. (All previous RtD's have been flying overs.)
#4. Puffin. Lifer from Norwegian trip.
#3. Otter. Lifer from almost neighborhood.
#2. Kingfisher. Lifer - at first from Estonia, and couple months later from my hoods. I have been waiting this species so long.
#1. Orca. Lifer and also my first whales ever from Andenes, Norway. They were pretty amazing. :king:

 

[Paul Longland]

Hmm hard one. My Uk birding was seriously curtailed last year for various reasons and littered with tales of woeful dips so I am going to pick from my first overseas birding trip to the Camargue. There were so many lifers and fantastic birds but I have managed to whittle it down to the following. This is not just based on rarity but my experience of the birds themselves.

1 Singing, male rock thrush. what a stunning bird. Gave us views from every angle
2 Huge flocks of greater flamingos, point blank range. didn't realise they made so much noise!
3 All three marsh terns in summer plumage in one view doing aerobatics
4 Pair of Iberian Grey Shrikes Mating
5 Rollers. nothing has the same impact as seeing your first rollers.

Honourable mentions to Western Orphean Warbler, mixed flocks of vultures riding the thermals and the sight of three nightingales having an almighty squabble and then signing at each other from clear sight halfway up trees.