What’s your nemesis bird? (1 Viewer)

[Andy Lakin]

I've never seen a Little Owl in a tree. I'd look more on roofs, poles, walls etc...

They are very regularly seen in trees over here usually quite conspicuous as opposed to some other owl species that prefer dense cover.

 

[bugmat]

The Black-faced ant-thrush - heard it many times but yet to see it or get a photo. I guess the Little tinamou can also sit on that ledge.

 

[Nohatch]

I know a few of the finches calls and the only calls I’ve heard are goldfinches and greenfinches- rarely do I ever hear something that I don’t recognise. I have spent quite a few hours just watching through finch flocks ad focusing on the only local bird feeder that gets any attention apart from house sparrows and the only finches that haven’t been the norm of greenfinches, chaffinches and goldfinches have been lesser redpolls and the bullfinches.

Theirs also not much local reports of them either- apart from the opposite side of where I live- probably due to my side having a lack of trees and forest. They seem to be uncommon but regularly reported from the opposite side of the city I live in but it’s quite inconvenient to get there.

I tried to go for a hawfinch a few weeks back but sadly I wasn’t successful- I’m hoping to return and have another go when I visit my family. There’s also a group of jack snipe that have been in the Lee for a while so I might attempt to visit there as well. Currently not too rushed to get the siskins and would just like to naturally get them through birding my regular spots- only last year did I spend three months to get bullfinches naturally and now I get them whenever I visit my local patches, same with yellowhammers. They are common enough that I should eventually get a group in my local patch.

If you'd like to visit the New Forest on a nice clear day in March I can get you both Siskin and Hawfinch with very little effort 😊

 

[Bewick]

If you'd like to visit the New Forest on a nice clear day in March I can get you both Siskin and Hawfinch with very little effort 😊

Managed the hawfinch but have yet to be lucky for the Siskin. Got a hawfinch in the front lawn of my grand parents house in France.

 

[foresttwitcher]

For Siskin in southern UK in winter find an area with some stands of Common Alder and listen / look for movement in the canopy.

 

[Swindon Addick]

Managed the hawfinch but have yet to be lucky for the Siskin. Got a hawfinch in the front lawn of my grand parents house in France.

Blashford Lakes, near Ringwood on the edge of the New Forest, has siskin come to feeders in numbers most days, at least in winter. They have a dedicated woodland hide with feeders which get siskin regularly and brambling and redpoll with a bit more luck. It's my easiest local option for all three, although I often don't get the redpoll. It also happens to be a good place for more traditional birding.

 

[pbjosh]

Tiny Hawk for me. I've seen, for instance, Semicollared Hawk (meant to be harder) numerous times, Harpy numerous times, etc, but have yet to have a for sure Tiny Hawk, just a few flushed very small things that could have been. For the amount of neotropical birding I've done, I should have seen it by now, probably many times, and it is the most likely lifer for me in a stack of countries per eBird

 

[temmie]

From a W-European perspective, and some places I have been and the birds are known to occur (seasonally):

• Lesser Scaup (inexplicably missed in Cuba, yearly vagrant in the Netherlands but too lazy to go for)
• Eleonora's Falcon (never been in S-Europe in the optimal time window, been to Madagascar a bit too early)
• Black-headed Bunting (never been in E/SE Europe in the right time of year, but I also painfully missed a known bird in France, because I left the known site after searching some hours in the heat of the day, while it was mostly seen in morning and evenings, as well as the evening on the day I was there).

 

[cajanuma]

Tiny Hawk for me. I've seen, for instance, Semicollared Hawk (meant to be harder) numerous times, Harpy numerous times, etc, but have yet to have a for sure Tiny Hawk, just a few flushed very small things that could have been. For the amount of neotropical birding I've done, I should have seen it by now, probably many times, and it is the most likely lifer for me in a stack of countries per eBird

Replace "Tiny" with "Bicolored" for me. If anything Bicolored Hawk is even more widespread than Tiny but I've never run into one. It took me a while to see my first Tiny Hawk as well, but after that first one I've run into it a number of times. And I have seen Semicollared as well (albeit just once).

 

[cajanuma]

From a W-European perspective, and some places I have been and the birds are known to occur (seasonally):

• Lesser Scaup (inexplicably missed in Cuba, yearly vagrant in the Netherlands but too lazy to go for)
• Eleonora's Falcon (never been in S-Europe in the optimal time window, been to Madagascar a bit too early)
• Black-headed Bunting (never been in E/SE Europe in the right time of year, but I also painfully missed a known bird in France, because I left the known site after searching some hours in the heat of the day, while it was mostly seen in morning and evenings, as well as the evening on the day I was there).

Sounds like a trip to Italy is in order! Linosa in October should get you your Eleonora's 😉

 

[temmie]

Sounds like a trip to Italy is in order! Linosa in October should get you your Eleonora's 😉

you're right! But first I will try Madagascar again this autumn, just 2 weeks later than my previous trip so trying to be just a bit luckier...

 

[Xenospiza]

From a W-European perspective, and some places I have been and the birds are known to occur (seasonally):

• Lesser Scaup (inexplicably missed in Cuba, yearly vagrant in the Netherlands but too lazy to go for)

It is indeed the least exciting vagrant ever. I think I've seen two too many in the Netherlands (and more in the UK and US).

I finally saw Hazel Grouse which was high on my "should have seen" list: I would say Rock Partridge makes a nice substitute as nemesis bird based on my amount of visits to Switzerland (where it widespread, if not easy).

Red-tailed Tropicbird is probably the most widespread bird I haven't seen, but I have a really dismal seabird list anyway.

 

[Euan Buchan]

Green Woodpecker I’ve been Birding 21 years and I’ve still never seen one.

 

[Bewick]

Blashford Lakes, near Ringwood on the edge of the New Forest, has siskin come to feeders in numbers most days, at least in winter. They have a dedicated woodland hide with feeders which get siskin regularly and brambling and redpoll with a bit more luck. It's my easiest local option for all three, although I often don't get the redpoll. It also happens to be a good place for more traditional birding.

The ironic thing is that I get brambling and redpoll quite regularly in the winter… my local patch gets redpolls occasionally and lee valley is pretty good for brambling.

The siskin are another story- sadly I don’t live near the new forest… they do get reported in my area but are extremely on and off. However visiting feeders might be a good way to get them eventually.

 

[opisska]

Green Woodpecker I’ve been Birding 21 years and I’ve still never seen one.

Come to Prague, you can get Green Woodpecker while looking over the downtown, Charles Bridge and the Castle That's a bit of a stretch - it's not that common in these parks - but there a good sites within few kms from downtown.

 

[Bewick]

Green Woodpecker I’ve been Birding 21 years and I’ve still never seen one.

Go to any large London park... you'd be hard pressed to not see one, you'll definitely hear a few.

 

[Euan Buchan]

Go to any large London park... you'd be hard pressed to not see one, you'll definitely hear a few.

Thank you I’m going to London end of September so I will keep a eye out.

 

[Bewick]

Thank you I’m going to London end of September so I will keep a eye out.

If you are going to north London then I recommend Trent Park. If you walk on the fields towards eastern side of the park then you will definitely get one.

 

[hookem2010]

Scott's oriole evades me yet again. I may give up on the 45-minute trip to the nearest spot for them and take a longer journey to a higher-density location at some point.

 

[Mike Ball]

Great Grey Shrike. Three failed twitches encounting ...