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Your Most Recent "Life" Bird (10 Viewers)

1416. Pied Flycatcher
My second lifer of the day, again near Uzes in France. I will hopefully be able to add some more over the next three weeks around the Camargue and Les Alpilles.
 
A quite unexpected addition yesterday on a cycle ride out from my in-laws' place near Alicante in Spain. I decided to take a late afternoon ride to El Hondo, but had very
little time to stay long enough to expect anything unusual, but on the way there, two mystery birds took off from a track I was cycling along - seen only as they lifted and flew over the reeds, but large and brown with black/white wing tips. A more cautious return ride along the same track 40 minutes later, the same two birds were present, also taking off pretty quickly.... But not before I got a good look at them skulking on their knees and then scuttling off crouched down! And a clearer, longer view confirmed them as stone curlew
 
1417. Western Bonelli's Warbler
Several at the Pont du Gard in France this morning, not that I could see any difference between them and the Eastern Bonelli's Warblers I saw in Jordan last year! But as they are currently split, it was a new species for me.
 
I spent all day exploring the Camargue in France, and was rewarded with two lifers. The first was one of my favourite ever birds and a complete surprise given that it is a very scarce passage migrant to the area, a stunning adult male red-footed falcon perched on a roadside electricity wire right next to our car near the town of Le Sambuc. The other was a single Temminck's stint at l'Etang du Fangassier. Certainly a great day! This takes my life list to 1420.
 
Just got through the Clements updates. I netted a 4 species increase.

I actually lost 3 to lumps, gained 6 from splits, and added 1 newly described species, (Cambodian tailorbird).

My total now stands at 3799. They couldn't give me one more split!?!
 
Just got through the Clements updates. I netted a 4 species increase.

I actually lost 3 to lumps, gained 6 from splits, and added 1 newly described species, (Cambodian tailorbird).

My total now stands at 3799. They couldn't give me one more split!?!

nice armchair birding, your birding solution for a rainy day.

But seriously, if a bird was considered as only a ssp or another is subsequently lumped, at the time you observed the said birds, they were (in)valid ticks. You could always jump lists to gain the extra tick, though.;)
 
nice armchair birding, your birding solution for a rainy day.

But seriously, if a bird was considered as only a ssp or another is subsequently lumped, at the time you observed the said birds, they were (in)valid ticks. You could always jump lists to gain the extra tick, though.;)

Yeah, I could. But the ABA uses Clements/Cornell as their official list, so for the most part, I go with that, especially for the western hemisphere. Unfortunately, my beloved alma mater is so far behind when it comes to Africa, I count a few splits there that aren't in Clements.
 
That's quite an armchair tick! Congrats! Just curious: as what species had you noted it down intially?

Cambodian Tailorbird. ;)

I saw it back in March on a Birdquest tour to Cambodia led by Craig Robson. The bird was on our route during the tour (intentionally, I'm sure). So we made a quick stop to see it to break up a long driving day. They were along a major highway near Phnom Penh only a few meters from the road. We actually saw three of them and several of the tour patrons got pictures. We were told what it was, we just weren't sure what it was going to be called (although we suspected what the English name would be). It's actually described in the tour report as "Tailorbird, Orthotomus sp."

Craig knew the paper officially describing the species was being drafted because he was a consultant on it. But because the authors had not gone public with their conclusions, he swore us to secrecy until the description was issued. Once the paper was issued a couple months ago, I just needed to wait until Clements "officially" accepted it.

Which fortunately, they did. :t:
 
Crested Tit, and a very exciting species (particularly as it is a vagrant here): ELEONORA'S FALCON, at Mont Ventoux, Provence, France today.
 

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