|
|
 |
World Year Listing Review of 2008
Whatever your opinion of listing, it does remind us of the wonderful diversity of birds inhabiting this planet and the importance of conserving them. Some of this year's most dedicated listers raised money for conservation whilst others focussed on their local patches or seeing how many species they could see without burning up any fossil fuels.
For World Year Listers, 2005 was the year, that South African Jonathan Rossouw, handily surpassed the target of 3000 species in a single year. Three years later, and Alan Davies and Ruth Miller have just set a new world record, crossing the 4000 barrier in their much publicised Biggest Twitch.
But the year listing review isn't just about setting world records and travelling to all corners of the planet. This year, we also feature some of the top listers from all over the world in categories ranging from Local Patch, Self-found and Non-motorised.
 If you keep a life or year list for your country, state or even your local patch, why not enter your 2009 totals online in to the Surfbirds Rankings.
Click here to See a Complete Archive of all the 2008 Year Lists
Have a listing question or want to share your latest listing highs and lows? Please go to the Surfbirds Forum.
Top World Listers
No. 1 Alan Davies and Ruth Miller (Total 4341) New World Record
|
|
The plan was straightforward: to set a new world record for the number of species recorded in a single calendar year. The current record stood at 3,662 set by American Jim Clements back in 1989 so it was overdue to be broken. We put everything we had in to this, selling our homes to finance the trip and giving up our jobs to chase our dream. This was no half-hearted attempt and we planned to visit over twenty-five countries in pursuit of the record.
1st January 2008 saw us stood in the pre-dawn dark at Sweetwater Sewage Works in Tucson, Arizona waiting for bird number one of The Biggest Twitch. A movement in a cactus and there it was: a Cactus Wren and we were off! Three days in Arizona gave us 162 species and we flew south to Mexico. A fast pace race around the Yucatan Peninsula scored us some wonderful birds including Lesser Roadrunner, Ocellated Turkey, Cozomel Vireo and many more. With 431 species under our belts it was off to Ecuador. With our great friends from Tropical Birding we racked up crazy numbers of birds in a whirlwind tour of the north and five days at the incredible Sacha Lodge in the Amazon. Birding doesn’t get tougher than this leg but at the end of an exhausting 16 days we were on 1028 and it was only the end of January. If any one doubted we were serious about the challenge, then this score set the record straight.
We had a full day birding in the UK en route to Ethiopia where we spent 25 days and caught up with nearly all the endemics, where the undoubted highlight was Prince Ruspoli’s Turaco – what a bird! We had joined a Tropical Birding tour and the guides were amazing, helping us find over 570 species! Just mind-blowing, and putting us on 1604.
No more than one day in Kenya, we cut this trip short due to the tribal warring going on at that time! So we moved on quickly to Ghana in West Africa with its sweltering heat and humidity. But thanks to Mark Williams at Ashanti African Tours (www.ashantiafricantours.com) the birding was fast and furious with megas such as White-necked Rockfowl, Pel’s Fishing Owl and male Standard-Winged Nightjars, all wonderful chance-of-a- lifetime birds. Our days in Ghana flew by and we rocketed to 1835 in just 17 days of birding.
Next it was north to Europe and a week on Cyprus staying with birding friends Owen and Glynis Roberts. Predictably the birding was much slower than Africa but we still did well and of course added both Cyprus Wheatear and Warbler to the list, putting us on 1870.
Next stop was Spain. We flew into Madrid, grabbed a hire car and blasted down to Trujillo, Extremadura. We spent four days here mopping up all the specials of the area including breathtaking displaying Great Bustards and loads of raptors. We stayed at Casa Rural El Recuerdo (www.casaruralelrecuerdo.com) which was ideal as a birding base. From here we headed south to the Coto Donana NP where we met up with friends from North Wales and had a few idyllic days seeing wonderful birds. We had to drag ourselves away and north to the mountains of the Picos de Europa, via a successful detour for the hard-to-find Dupont’s Lark. In the mountains the weather was poor but we struggled on despite this, finding such goodies as both Black and Middle-spotted Woodpeckers. We flew from Spain to Texas on 12th April with 1913 species on our 2008 year list.
At High Island, Texas we again met up with friends from Tropical Birding and were soon adding new birds thick and fast. Birds we had drooled over in the American field guides for years were now in our binoculars. Scissor-tailed Flycatchers, Cerulean Warblers, Prothonotary Warblers and Worm-eating Warblers and many more joined the year list.
 |
| Resplendent Quetzal, Costa Rica, Savegre 16-Mar-2005 © Nick Athanas of Tropical Birding |
|
|
With migration a little slow at High Island we took a bold move and flew down to Panama for a quick boost to the list. We spent just four days of crazy-paced birding and hit wonderful birds. No doubt about the bird of this trip: Resplendent Quetzal! What a simply awesome bird!
With 333 species recorded in Panama on this flying visit we boosted our year list to an impressive 2,073 by the 21st April.
Back to Texas and we hit the hill country hard and fast, collecting all the great birds that reside here including the famous Golden-cheeked Warbler and Black-capped Vireo.
But with no time to dwell on success, we were off to California where we birded with a long-time friend from the UK, Hugh Ranson, and birding legend Guy McCaskie, who both helped us enormously. We birded the coast, mountains and even below sea-level at the Salton Sea, pure magic! We left on 2,157 species.
North to Canada next and we arrived in Vancouver to find it was still pretty much winter with many migrant birds still to arrive. We struggled to find new birds and to make matters worse our car was broken in to, and our video and stills cameras and a mobile phone was taken. We moved on from Canada on 12th May on 2,173 species.
We arrived at Cape May, New Jersey right in the middle of The World Series of Birding! We had a great time meeting so many other fanatical birders and of course benefited from all the extra pairs of eyes out looking.
On again and back to Europe, and our list was now on 2186 species for 2008. Four days in Eastern Turkey were just fantastic and we enjoyed such birds as Iraq Babbler, Caspian Snowcock, Pale Scops Owl and Trumpeter Finch. With 2230 under our belts we headed for northern Europe.
Arriving in Finland on 30th May we met up with a group of birding friends for an Early Bird Tour and as always the local guides delivered the goods. Owls and Woodpeckers came thick and fast and in the far north, Gyr Falcon, Steller’s Eider and close up and personal encounters with Pine Grosbeaks were all unforgettable. We left Finland on 12th June with a year list of 2286.
It was a bit of a shock going from the snow of Finland to the heat of the Pantanal, Brazil. But what a place we had come to! Caiman Lodge was definitely one of the real highlights of the year. It is heaving with wildlife and every where you looked birds and animals, and Caiman abound! Highlight birds are hard to pick with so many to choose from, but the Hyacinth Macaws were truly memorable and the huge Jabiru stood sentinel-like at the water’s edge, while a flock of 200 Nacunda Nighthawks flew in full daylight. For more check out www.caiman.com.br You will not be disappointed so book your trip now. We also visited the Amazon and the Atlantic Rainforest where we stayed at the wonderful REGUA Lodge, another stunning setting for birding. We took a side trip to Argentina for five days and enjoyed great birds and the best steaks ever! We left Brazil on 2,738 on 5th July.
Peru next and it has to be said we struggled here. Our ground agent disappeared just before we arrived so we were on our own and our cash was running out fast and we were still a long way from the world record. But we kept going, no thought of giving up after having put every thing we had in to this epic adventure. We birded the coast, the High Andes and the famous Manu Road and despite some set backs left Peru on 2,930.
Back to the UK for the British Birdfair to give a talk about The Biggest Twitch and, more importantly, to arrange some finance! So deeply in debt, we were back on the road, or plane, and heading for South Africa. Tropical Birding was again helping us out with top guides and we hurtled around this wonderful country seeing staggering numbers of birds and of course great mammals. We crossed borders visiting Zambia, Malawi and Namibia. We even braved the high seas off Cape Town and had eye-ball to eye-ball views of Albatrosses. 3,310 was our list total as we said good-bye to Africa and headed for Australia.
We birded Western Australia on our own and then flew to Ayer’s Rock to join a crazy paced Tropical Birding Tour with Iain Campbell who was taking no prisoners and had that world record well and truly in his sights. We were going to break the record with him, no doubt about it. We thrashed through the dust of the outback, took to sea to the Barrier Reef and braved the parrots of O’Reilly’s Rainforest Lodge where they come to you landing on your head! Then at last we were on 3, 662 species, just one more bird needed to break the world record, what would it be? Bluebonnet Parrot at Griffith Golf Course, on 31st October, a new world record in just ten months! Champagne corks were popped then it was straight back to the birding. We left Australia on 3,718, exhausted but elated at being World Record holders.
Malaysia next and we met our very good friend Keith Barnes, from Tropical Birding. Any thoughts of easing up were immediately dismissed. Keith is a birding machine and after just four days we were on 3,904 species.
Arriving in Delhi, India it was great to see our friend Peter Lobo smiling broadly in the chaos that is an Indian airport. We were soon out and driving through the night to Corbett National Park. This was the first of so many amazing destinations Peter took us to, each with wonderful birds and jaw-dropping scenery. Blue-bearded Bee-eater became bird 4,000 and we headed into in the Himalayas for Wren-babblers, Bugun Liocichla, Fire-tailed Myzornis, Tragopans and more! We said farewell to Peter and his amazing team of cooks, drivers and guides and left India on 4,226 species for The Biggest Twitch.
One last push and it was back to Ecuador to end the year with a flourish! This time we were heading for the southern half of the country, with Nick Athanas, from Tropical Birding. We had not birded this area before so we had the mouth-watering prospect of year ticks and lifers. One of many highlights was the discovery of a Tumbes Tyrant, a new species for Ecuador. In eight days of birding we finally reached the last day of The Biggest Twitch and laid our binoculars down at midnight and swapped them for champagne and toasted all those amazing birds, and all the wonderful people who had made our incredible adventure possible. Our final total was 4,341 species for the year 2008.
So what now? Well, we have a book to write about The Biggest Twitch, we’re giving talks on our year (and are available for bookings!) and of course we will still be birding but maybe just a little slower.
For more information log on to www.thebiggesttwitch.com
And for the best birding tours visit www.tropicalbirding.com
|
|
|
No. 2 David Shackelford (Total 3085 )
|
 |
| David with a Kagu |
|
|
It was another busy birding year in 2008 with travel to all seven continents and two of my greatest lifetime achievements including getting married (the very best bird of all!) and completing the bird families of the world. As always, most of my more than 3,000 bird species total this year was while leading tours for Rockjumper Birding Tours.
The year started with a cold-weather trip to Japan with great sightings ranging from Blakiston's Fish-Owl and Steller’s Sea-Eagle in the north to Okinawa Rail, Lidth's Jay and Amami Woodcock in the south.
I led a tour through Ethiopia that cleaned up ever endemic and near-endemic with some of my favorites including the bizarre Stresemann’s Bush-Crow, Red-naped Bush-Shrike, and Prince Ruspoli’s Turaco plus some great mammals such as Gelada and Ethiopian Wolf.
Next I took a group to the main Hawaiian Islands that included some amazingly adapted birds, especially the bizarre woodpecker-like honeycreeper called the Akiapola’au.
A short tour through northeast India yielded great experiences with Asian One-horned Rhinoceros and Hoolock Gibbon as well as great birds like Bengal Florican from the back of an elephant.
Among the usual highlights in Bhutan like Satyr Tragopan and Ward’s Trogon this year we also scored on the tough Sikkim Wedge-billed Wren-Babbler.
My wife and I honeymooned in northeast Brazil where attractive goodies like the Araripe Manakin competed with seeing half-the world’s remaining Lear’s Macaw at their cliff-face nest site.
A tour through Papua New Guinea is always a birding spectacle and it is tough to beat the 23 species of bird-of-paradise but this year some highlights included a remote trek for Long-bearded Melidectes and Forbe’s Forest-Rail that nearly walked across my feet! An almost unknown Yellow-legged Pigeon in New Britain was also a nice surprise.
The island of New Caledonia of course was one of the annual highlights for me as it offered a clean sweep of interesting endemics all overshadowed however by the remarkable Kagu – my final bird family of the world!
A nice get-away into Montana and Canada yielded a couple remaining ABA birds including a male Spruce Grouse in some fantastic Wild American scenery and experiences with Black and Grizzly Bears while hiking on foot.
A tour through central and northern Panama offered some pleasant tropical birding with a couple highlights including the attractive Rosy Thrush-Tanager and attractive Tody Motmot.
 |
| Horned Guan © David Shackelford |
|
|
Guatemala surely has to be one of the most underrated Central American birding countries as we had grand scenic and cultural experiences plus visiting the ruins of Tikal and one of the greatest birds of them all - Horned Guan.
A tour through southern Argentina was amazing with scope views of the rare Hooded Grebe and unbelievable encounters with the charismatic Magellanic Woodpecker.
My birding year concluded with my colleagues leading an unforgettable voyage to the Falkland Islands, absolutely phenomenal South Georgia, and of course landings on the Antarctic Peninsula itself with loads of fascinating cetaceans and pinnipeds plus Dark-mantled Sooty Albatross and the shear joy of being in middle of hundreds of thousands of King Penguins!
It looks like 2009 is shaping up to be just as busy...let’s go birding!
|
|
|
Top North American Listers
2008 ABA Year List
No. 1 Lynn Barber (Total 723)
|
|
My 2008 ABA big year grew out of my Texas big year in 2005, when I found 522 species, breaking the previous record by 11. My goal for 2008 was not so lofty, as I knew that previous record holders had gone to Attu on the Aleutian chain, which is no longer a place to which one can fly. As the year progressed, my original “realistic” goal of 650 species for 2008, changed to a goal of 700, which in turn changed to “just one more” until I reached 723 species at the end of December. In that quest, I visited 25 of the 50 states and 3 Canadian provinces, from Barrow, Alaska in the north to the Dry Tortugas in the south, and from St. John’s Newfoundland in the east to 2-days out in the Pacific Ocean on a pelagic trip from San Diego, California and to Adak, Alaska in the west.
I drove a total of over 65,000 miles in my car and in numerous rental cars, flew 92 flights for a total of over 110, 000 air-miles, and took 10 pelagic trips. All of this birding was done in 272 days away from my Fort Worth, Texas home, 195 days of which were outside of Texas.
While I missed quite a few birds, either because they left before I got to where they were, or because I could only be in one place at a time, I was very lucky in the some of the birds that stayed around long enough for me to find them, sometimes just long enough. Some of the highlights of my big year include the four Tundra Bean-Geese on Adak and the tens of thousands of Whiskered Auklets in the Alaskan waters off Adak, the Jack Snipe, Little Bunting and McKay’s Bunting on St. Lawrence Island, Alaska, the Ivory Gulls and the hundreds of Ross’s Gulls in Barrow, Alaska, the Gray-headed Chickadees in the Arctic National Wildlife Refuge (Alaska),
 |
| Sinaloa Wren, Arizona, Patagonia 22 Sep 2008 © John Puschock/Bird Treks/Zugunruhe Birding Tours. First record for ABA area. |
|
|
the Gunnison Sage-Grouse and White-tailed Ptarmigan in Colorado, the Gray Partridges in Washington, the Northern Lapwing in Newfoundland, the Wood Sandpiper in Oregon, the Black Noddies (2) and Smooth-billed Anis (7) in Florida, the Mountain Quail in California, the Himalayan Snowcock in Nevada, the Great Skua in North Carolina, the Green-breasted Mango in Georgia and the Plain-capped Starthroat in Arizona, the Masked Ducks, White-crested Elaenia and the Piratic Flycatcher in Texas, and the Sinaloa Wren, Aztec Thrush, Crescent-chested Warbler, Rufous-capped Warbler and Flame-colored Tanager in Arizona. Of the 723 species on my big year list, I photographed 503 of these species, saw 670 species in the lower 48, and 416 in Texas. Thirty-eight of the species on my 2008 list were new for my ABA life list, and 20 were “lifers”. The birds on my 2008 list appear on my web site (www.lynnbarber.com) in both chronological and taxonomic order It is my understanding that my total of 723 species is second only to the two previous totals of Sandy Komito, and is the highest annual ABA total without going to Attu, the highest total in the new millennium, and the highest total for a woman. It was a wonderful year, and if I had unlimited finances and was not completely in debt, I would do it over again in a heartbeat.
|
|
|
No. 6 Jennifer Rycenga (Total 523)
|
 |
| Jennifer Rycenga at Fort Morgan, April 10, 2008, having seen the Chuck-will's Widow. (Peggy Macres, photographer) |
|
|
The banner year that would be 2008 started for me on the final day of a great 10-day trip to Albuquerque, New Mexico. My partner Peggy Macres (also a birder but not a lister), my mother Dolores (loves the birds, but not a birder), and I had toured the state, enjoying O'Keeffe, UFOs, and Birds (identified flying objects, for the most part). On the morning of January 1st, we took my mother to the airport for an early flight. We then went into the neighborhood of the Rio Grande Nature Center, where we had the delight of ticking Greater Roadrunner on the first day. But our real goal was the winding road to Sandia Crest, where all three Rosy-Finches got themselves counted for 2008.
Back in California, the century mark for the new year was met on January 6th in the greater Santa Barbara area. Peggy and I had driven down from our home in Half Moon Bay to participate in the Santa Barbara CBC, and then spent the next day looking for Central Coast specialties. The ever-present flock of Snowy Plovers took me into triple digits, following a successful refinding of a Tennessee Warbler from the CBC. As January came to a close, I calculated what birds I was lacking in my neighborhood, and made a strategic run to a local hilltop cemetery to listen for the Red Crossbills. The flock was cooperative, feeding at the tops of younger, shorter pines. That meant I had reached 200 birds for the year by January 30th.
The first lifers of the year came on a very successful pelagic trip in North Carolina in late February. We booked a trip during Peggy's winter break (she teaches elementary ed, and I was on a brief sabbatical from my university teaching). We had great close-ups of Dovekie and a few views of Great Skua. The year list surpassed 250 on that boat ride. A few weeks later I was in New England, conducting research for my book on Abolitionist educator Prudence Crandall, when I followed up on reports of a Hoary Redpoll (#265) in Rhode Island, another lifer.
The most significant story of the birding year, though, happened in April. I had pursued a project of seeing at least one life bird in each of the fifty states. I was one state shy, and with the sabbatical, was able to time this with a trip to see Peggy's mother in Florida. The missing state was Alabama, and we hoped for Swainson's Warbler. We studied the Swainson's Warbler migration habits, abundance of them as migrants at Fort Morgan and Dauphin Island, looked at pictures and videos of them and all those things one does to prepare. We never saw a Swainson's Warbler. We were always arriving an hour after one was seen. Instead, as we circled, listening assiduously for leaf-litter tossing, we instead watched as a Chuck-will's Widow pivoted in front of us and dove under cover! This bird, the 350th of the year, completed my project most appropriately, since I had first heard (but not seen) the Chuck in Alabama, and the nightjars are my favorite family. Bird #400 was also a lifer, a Bay-breasted Warbler, at the conclusion of a Mother's Day excursion to the Owl Woods of Braddock Bay, near Rochester, New York, where Dolores lives.
 |
| Spotting the Giant Red Knot, 7/17/08, Slaughter Beach, Dow Center, Delaware. Photo by Peggy Macres |
|
|
So many highlights in a year of extensive travel! We met fellow Surfbirder Edge Wade in July at Bombay Hooks, where (thanks to her) we all got great looks at the Little Egret (#438 for the year). A day of staring at terns from Montauk Point brought us one definitive Roseate Tern (#444, another lifer). Then in mid-August, we teamed up with the man who introduced me to Surfbirds, Sean Williams, a fine young Massachusetts birder and currently an ornithology student at Ohio Wesleyan. He wanted to see California birds; we had a new car and a desire for adventure. Off we drove! Somehow, despite the combined brain power of Sean, Peggy and I, we decided to drive into Death Valley (somehow I doubt that is the recommended way to break in a new vehicle). When we stopped at the first "oasis," watching panting Brown-headed Cowbirds, we wondered why we were going further. But, there we were, and seeing as we had never birded Furnace Creek, we drove on. Well, with the temperature hovering over 120 degrees (the hottest day of the year, on the planet, apparently), we headed into the Furnace Creek golf area. What awaited us was the most extreme two hours of birding any of us have done - it pushed Peggy near to heat exhaustion - but the rewards were amazing. This place defines desert oasis! Every blade of grass, every tree, every drop of water, held some exhausted bird. A lifer bird - an exhausted Gray Vireo - tucked itself into a roost (#452); Lesser Nighthawks (my personal all-time favorite bird) swirled around us as dusk came; a flock of Solitary Sandpipers flew in; Scott's Orioles flew alongside other blackbirds, and Cooper's Hawks watched and waited, but seemed too exhausted to strike at the cafeteria of birds laid out before them. An exhausted Great Horned Owl stood on the lawn, panting at us, acting annoyed that we had seen it at such a moment of disgrace.
Labor Day weekend we flew to Arizona, and birded with our friends Jon Mann and Rob Lane. The rather vireo-like Northern Beardless-Tyrannulet (#464) and an Olive Warbler in Carr Canyon (#486) were the lifebirds
 |
| ABA bird number 500 for Jennifer was Flesh-footed Shearwater. This one was photographed in New Zealand, November 2008 © Rob Hutchinson/Birdtour Asia |
|
|
on the trip, somewhat making up for missing the Sinaloa Wren. A Flesh-footed Shearwater (my favorite tubenose) on a pelagic to the Farallones in September brought the year total to 500. The ABA year ended with a memorable brief sighting of our lifer Fork-tailed Flycatcher (#522) at the end of Thanksgiving with Peggy's Mother, and then bird #523 was the cooperative Harris's Sparrow coming to the backyard of birder Kumaran Arul in Santa Cruz. This meant I had established a personal best ABA year, beating my previous record of 521 from 2005. This despite the fact that we did not get to Texas, and missed some eminently gettable birds (like Vaux's Swift!).
Only the ABA year was done; the larger year was not over. Peggy and I spent the last nine days of 2008 in Costa Rica, our first neo-tropics trip. Our fabulous experiences birding there brought the final world total to 722. Miniscule but memorable for us.
I'd like to thank the people who made the year fun and memorable - my dear Peggy, my mother Dolores, my sisters Mary and Clara and their families, Edge Wade, Sean Williams, Andy Kleinhesselink, Gary Deghi, Shantanu Phukan, Jon Mann, Paul Pisano, and all the Gay Birders (check it out at http://groups.yahoo.com/group/gaybirding/ ). I'm forgetting lots of people, I know, and I did not name all the birds, either - forgive me!
|
|
|
2008 Lower 48 Year List
No. 1 Roy Morris (Total 564) and No. 3 ABA Year List
|
|
The year started out normal enough, local birding and a late spring trip to Texas were all I had planned for 2008, but where birds are concerned plans can change. I was planning to do a county Big Year for my home county, but it ended up as an exhausting race across the country!
First to interfere was the suggestion to bird Minnesota in February with my friend, Jim Laughlin, from California. This turned out to be one of four trips with Jim this year. We had three full days to bird the Duluth area and despite -20 degree temperatures we did extremely well. Key birds were Hawk Owl, Sharp-tailed Grouse, Three-toed and Black Back woodpeckers, Boreal Chickadees and Hoary Redpoll. The most incredible bird was the Snowy Owl sitting on a light pole beside the airport and Jim spotted it from the plane as it was taxing to the gate!
Local birding to work on my county Big Year and planning for the Great Texas trip occupied my efforts until late April. On April 24th I boarded a plane with three excellent birders from Florida; Larry Albright, Steve Gross and Chris Rasmussen, for a wonderful trip back and forth across Texas. Starting in San Antonio we headed west through the Hill Country to Fort Davis and Big Bend National Park with species like Golden-Cheeked and Colima Warbler, Black-capped and Gray Vireo, Common Black Hawk, Varied Bunting and Black-chinned Sparrow checked off, we headed east. Down the Rio Grande Valley for Muscovy Duck, White-collared Seedeaters, Red-billed Pigeon and the rest of the Lower Valley favorites. From McAllen we headed north for San Antonio and picked up White-tailed Hawk, Tropical Parula, Morning Warbler and Hudsonian Godwit. We finished The Great Texas Trip with 300 species and a fitting end was the killer views of the Piratic Flycatcher at Polly-Wog Pond!
It was shortly after this trip that Chris had the idea for a trying to see over 500 species, the only problem was the year was now half over. But we had to try! In June we traveled to south Florida and the Keys and finding a Bahama Mockingbird was the highlight.
Plans were made for a trip to SE Arizona in August, where Chris and I hooked up with Jim Laughlin again for a bird packed four days and 180 species. Highlights were the Berylline, Violet-crowned and White-eared Hummingbirds. The Flame-colored Tanager, Spotted Owl and Black-capped Gnatcatcher were great additions to our trip list. I added 50 species to the year list with total now over 470. Five hundred might be possible.
Business took to me central California and I added a couple days for birding. Dr. Harold Browning, an excellent birder and photographer, stayed after the meeting also and we birded very hard and were rewarded with great lifers, like Lawrence’s Goldfinch, Lewis’s and White-headed Woodpecker, Townsend’s Solitaire while in the mountains. The coast was fantastic, Point Reyes was non stop and highlights of Heermann’s Gull and Elegant Tern, Black Oystercatcher, Pigeon Guillemot plus many wonderful species added 40 species to the year list and now I was over 500! The big question was with 75 days left how far could I go. Five fifty? Six hundred?
October is a great month in central Florida for migration and I picked up a few warblers that were missed in the spring. Another business meeting, this time in central Kansas in December, Chris agreed join me few days ahead of the meeting and we cleaned up! The first year bird was a Short-eared owl and the last year bird of the trip was a Long-eared owl! Wonderful raptors, Rough-legged and Ferruginous hawks, Prairie Falcon and one day we counted over 150 Red-tail Hawks! When left Kansas there was only one bird between us! I was standing at 546 and Chris had 545 and there were two more trips for me.
Leaving Kansas, I caught a flight to San Francisco, for a few days in north central California to catch up some species missed in October. The first target was the Tufted Duck in Oakland, then to Yuba City to meet up with Jim Laughlin again. Over the next few days we hit Bodega Bay and then Point Reyes for some great species, Thayer’s and Mew Gulls, Varied Thrush and Red-breasted Sapsucker. I made several unsuccessful tries for Black Rail in the Benicia area and then over to Santa Cruz. I added several new year birds, the total was now 558, I had blown past 550 and I could see 560. One more trip left!
 |
| Piratic Flycatcher, Texas, Pollywog Pond May, 2008 © Martin Reid |
|
|
The last trip was a compromise, my son wanted to go skiing and I wanted some birds in the Northeast. We planned a route that would accomplish both. We left warm and sunny Florida and headed to Scranton, Pa. where they had several inches of fresh snow, just for right for skiing. While Graham was skiing, I was able to slip off to a local State Park and find three White-winged Crossbills, a wonderful lifer. Skiing done, we headed towards the New Jersey coast, stopping to see the Barnacle Goose and arriving at Barnegat Light to unbearable winds! We picked up Mute Swan, Harlequin and Long-tailed Ducks and then started our way south. We crossed on the Cape May-Lewes Ferry and continued down the coast, picking up Common Eider, arriving in Georgia for Christmas. It looked like this would be the end, 563, not bad considering we didn’t start until May!
After Christmas, we returned to Florida and with one day left to bird, Chris, Steve Gross and I made one last try, Le Conte’s Sparrow. We went to a park where they had been found in past sparrow drives and after about thirty minutes walking, we flushed a sparrow which sat perched in a small bush for everyone to see, a Le Conte’s! Number 564 and for the first time many months we got home early.
This was as much about the wonderful people I birded with, as it was the beautiful birds that called us to find them! I discovered that birding with a good friend like Chris or Jim is what a Big Year is about. It is not just the number of birds seen, but the special ones you share. The lusted after Lifers and then there are the birds that you don’t see find that seem to really hold a special place. I would love to do a Big Year again, but not this year! I have to catch up on the “Honey Do” list. Thanks for understanding Brenda!
|
|
|
2008 Non-motorised Year List
No. 2 Matt Hysell (Total 227)
|
|
Knowing that such a thing had never been seriously attempted before in Michigan, I caught the Bigby spirit that was very alive on the Internet in December 2006 and set out to attempt a Bigby year in 2007.
January brought the reality check of Bigbying in Michigan: it snows here. A lot. It took 2 attempts to reach some grassy fields 6 miles from my house where Short-eared Owls and Northern Harriers would be visible. On the way back I discovered that potholes are impossible to see in the dark; a series of upgrades to the lighting on my bike soon ensued.
The snowiest winter on record continued and it was not until March before the shoulders of the roads were open and much of the ice was gone. A 20+ mile ride to score the Bohemian Waxwings which were invading Michigan led to the next series of upgrades to my bike: water bottles, water bottles, and more water bottles. I started visiting Tiscornia Beach on Lake Michigan to add migrant waterfowl and took my only serious spill of the year, flipping over the handlebars and face-planting when I hit a non-ramped curb. Fortunately the (77mm Leica) telescope strapped to my back avoided the damage my bloodied nose absorbed. The helmet rippled but did its job otherwise. After a week and a half off the bike to let the swelling on my knee go down I made a 50+ mile ride after a staked out Saw-whet Owl.
 |
| Saw-whet Owl © Matt Hysell |
|
|
April started quickly when I was able to chase a Common Moorhen early in the month. However, I was only able to add typical migrants until the very end of the month when my 2 year-old daughter wanted a bike ride and I found a pair of (copulating) Wilson’s Phalaropes in a flooded field a mile or so from the house.
May brought the onslaught of migrants and breeders. A 65 mile ride into the local haunts of Cerulean and Yellow-throated Warbler, Henslow’s sparrow, and White-eyed Vireo added these uncommon passerines, but was a day late to pick up some big-ticket locally rare shorebirds that had left some flooded fields. A trip to Warren Dunes State Park produced all 3 eastern Oporornis warblers, Kentucky, Connecticut, and Mourning as well as Prairie Warbler and Western Meadowlark. I made 3 more 30+ mile rides after local breeders such as Orchard Oriole, Yellow-breasted Chat, Red-headed Woodpecker, Alder Flycatcher, and a mostly nocturnal ride to pick up (a locally-famous) Chuck-wills-widow, Barred Owl, and Louisiana Waterthrush.
My momentum slowed considerably in June when I added only Yellow-billed Cuckoo, Dickcissel, and Cliff Swallow. After a nocturnal trip (where a hard bump broke the LED screen on my camera) to add Common Nighthawk and Whip-poor-will, July saw the onset of “fall” migration on the lakefront, highlighted by American Avocet and (my long-awaited Michigan lifer) Piping Plover. A Bonaparte’s Gull was number 200 for the year. The last day of July produced the first fruits of a series of significant hurricanes with 4 Brown Pelicans seen distantly flying in formation out over the lake.
August and September saw more southbound migrants, including (Western) Willet, Ruddy Turnstone, Buff-breasted Sandpiper and Baird’s Sandpiper. Major flooding followed the remnants of Hurricane Ike. Flooded fields produced Black-bellied and American Golden-plover, and Stilt Sandpiper. I made a couple of targeted rides to pick up some missing migrants, adding Great Egret, Olive-sided Flycatcher, Philadelphia Vireo, Pine Warbler, and Gray-cheeked Thrush. (I had to buy a mesh faced hat as vicious clouds of fall mosquitoes usually make fall birding for passerines fairly prohibitive).
 |
| Piping Plover © Matt Hysell |
|
|
I had high hopes going into October for the most exciting period of fall migration, however, my schedule meshed poorly with the weather and I made it to the lakefront only once when the ideal NW winds were present. Peregrine Falcons along the lakefront were very entertaining but I could not find the jaegers, uncommon sparrows, or uncommon gulls that good winds make more likely. Snow Bunting was the only other addition.
There was another record snowfall in November which essentially shut me down for the year. I added Cackling Goose and Glaucous Gull, totaling 1010 miles and 227 birds. (The white-winged crossbill that showed up at my feeder on January 1 would have been nice a day earlier). 123 of the birds required the bike, meaning I added a new bird every 8 miles or so. Another 500 miles could probably add about 20 birds or so, but I think this is a reasonable starting point for a Bigby year in the northern tier of states not attached to an ocean (though proximity to an inland sea, Lake Michigan, added many birds I would not have otherwise have found).
More details can be found at www.berrienbirder.blogspot.com
|
|
|
2008 State and Province Year List
No. 1 Steve Gross (Total 418)
|
Texas reveals its variety when you take the opportunity to visit its disparate regions. I made four different trips to the Rio Grande Valley, to chase megararities like the first ABA record of White-crested Elaenia, and while leading small tour groups. I also visited west Texas, the Panhandle, and the Upper and Central Coast.
In late April, after hitting the Upper Coast a few times for the regular onslaught of Neotropical migrants, I traveled to the Corpus Christi area, then west to Alpine for the Spring meeting of the Texas Ornithological Society. During scouting for the field trips I led and for a Big Day that a birding companion and I attempted on our way back east, I added seven birds to my state list, including one real treat for our state, Buff-breasted Flycatcher. Our Big Day attempt netted 204 species, the first 200+ species day I’ve ever had.
Summer birds in the Rio Grande Valley included some real goodies: Sulphur-bellied Flycatcher, Yellow-green Vireo, Broad-billed Hummingbird (a real surprise at San Ygnacio), and Botteri’s Sparrow.
The July 19th pelagic off of South Padre Island turned up Masked Boobies, Band-rumped Storm-petrel, Pomarine Jaeger, and Cory’s, Audubon’s, and Greater Shearwater.
 |
| White-crested Elaenia, Texas, Sheepshead Valley Land Fund,South Padre Island 2/9/08 © Dan Jones |
|
|
The fall list of rarities was impressive, with my lifer Ruff on Galveston Island and a Kelp Gull at Quintana. I saw the Ruff just one week before Galveston was devastated by Hurricane Ike. Houston/Galveston hadn’t had a direct hit from a hurricane in 25 years, and I’ll be glad if that interval passes before another storm of that ferocity comes through. We’ll be tracking the effects of that storm on bird distribution here in Texas for years to come.
A December trip to the Texas Panhandle netted some new year birds, and several species were new state birds: Northern Shrike, Rough-legged Hawk, etc. A rare inland Glaucous Gull was a treat at Cactus Playa near Dumas.
The year ended with a few mop-up operations; wintering hummingbirds in Houston, and an obligatory trip to Aransas NWR for Whooping Cranes.
418 species in Texas in a year is not an extraordinarily difficult number to reach, and visiting the great variation in topography, habitat, and avifauna is certainly worth every effort. It was a very satisfying year. |
|
|
Britain and Ireland
2008 BOU Year List
No. 4 Corinna Smart (Total 306)
|
|
I didn’t set out to do a Big Year this year. I tried that in 2006 and achieved my target of over 300 – finishing on 314. A great year, although I heard of some unfair and unjust comments from a well known top year lister, who had never actually met me, although I had seen at several twitches. The vast majority of the birders I met that year were encouraging and helpful. In 2008 I birded a lot at the beginning of the year with a couple of mates, Bob and Geoff, who have been doing this year listing forever! I realised at the end of March, that I was close to 200 and I was off again! The bug does get you.
The year began with the White-crowned Sparrow in early January , news broke on the Sunday with Bob and I at Dungeness. Neither of us could go on the Monday – would it stay? Hindsight is such a wonderful thing but in birding you can never rely on the bird to stay! Monday evening Bob called “are we going?” “yes” and off we went. A Lifer for us both! Not many for Bob nowadays! That ought to have warned me that I hadn’t got the year listing bug out of my system, like I thought, at the end of 2006! Trips to East, Central and West Norfolk followed, picking up the Taiga Bean to go with our Kent Tundra, and the elegant Cranes at Stubbs Mill, along with a dainty Grey Phalarope spinning in a puddle at Waxham (thanks Tim Allwood) there was the showy Great Grey Shrike at Roydon, and the elusive Richard’s Pipit on Terrington Marsh.
By the end of January the list was on 141. On the 2nd February, Bob, Geoff and I were in Wales at Llys-y-fran Reservoir watching the returning Pacific Diver with a Black-throated Diver and comparing the two! That was a lovely day, even spotting a Red Kite in Wales before our usual Chilterns. We ended up getting lost in a part of Cardiff, before seeing the long staying, Spotted Sandpiper, despite what I thought were clear instructions from the Widerscope Boys! The 22nd brought the Shorelark at Rye, and the 23rd saw the three of us in the Forest of Dean for our annual trip, watching Goshawks displaying.
The beginning of March and I was in Scotland for a week, although dipping WTEagle , Parrot Crossbill, and Ptarmigan was a blow. Made up for by fabulous views of Golden Eagles, a stonking male Surf Scoter at Dornoch and an Iceland Gull over a tip in Aviemore! Best views of Capercaillies, I have ever had (thanks John Poyner).
Better go over the lifers next as obviously each was a highlight – one was a distinctly dull Black Duck in West Wales (only a UK lifer as I had seen a much better male in Canada in 2004), the King Eider in Devon was great once found! (interesting couple of days in West Wales and Devon overnight – picking up Rose-coloured Starling, Chough, GWE, Spoonbill, LEO and Franklin’s Gull (some helpful directions from Dan Pointon, thanks).
Dark-eyed Junco at Dungeness in April , followed by a Collared Pratincole (UK lifer) on Sheppey in May , an opportune moment to be at Pulborough Brooks when the pager buzzed! Followed by a Terek Sandpiper at Rye on the 31st , that bird being solace for the dipped River Warbler that had gone on the Sat! This was an amazing period as on the 2nd June saw me at Blakeney finally watching a Trumpeter Finch which I had sought in Espana several times and dipped the lot! On the 5th I was watching another in East Sussex!
June 8th Began as a Raptor day with our annual pilgrimage to Norfolk for Honey Buzzards and Montague’s Harriers. We had great views of Hobbies, Marsh Harriers, Kestrels and Sparrowhawks , as well , then a trip across to Peterborough for the delightful Buff-breasted Sandpiper at Maxey GP’s. That’s when ”can’t do it all” became the watchword of 2008 as a Thrush Nightingale was reported at Minsmere, which would have been a lifer for me and when I could go, it had gone. But as recompense , an Icterine Warbler was showing in Tring! So miss one get one free! Best of all was showing two other birders, the bird in my scope.
Then it was a Trip to the Picos in Espana for a week of great birding and adding some WP birds.
Back in UK missed the Great Snipe, several birders flushed it before I could go there. There was a lovely Baird’s Sandpiper at Paxton (lovely place for birding) then it was a long trip to Walney NR for my very first Rustic Bunting at the end of September.
Sometimes birding is fun and relatively easy! Other times it is gripping off a mate LOL, other times despair and ouch! Like the Black Lark , as whilst I can’t claim to have dipped it , I couldn’t go until it had!
 |
| White-crowned Sparrow, Cley, Norfolk 2008 © Kit Day. Highlight of many birders' year. |
|
|
The biggest ouch was that American bird in Cornwall in October. I was booked for a long w/e away in Newquay with ex-colleagues. I had a birding day planned for the Saturday, while they went for a long walk. I had hoped it might hang on to the Sat but when I heard it had been ringed on the Thursday, I feared the worst! Not that it was a world lifer for me just a UK one! It did what I expected and flew. No sign on the Friday. Might it be in the vicinity? I had my plan thanks to Cornwall Birding, and I had my RBA pager and access to a pc on the Friday evening for Birdguides, I should be sorted! Yellow-browed Warbler (self-found) on the Friday am at Polzeath and then a great day out on the Saturday with possible Azorean Gull at Sennen and a Red-eyed Vireo (UK lifer) at Trevilley Farm, plus other self found birds (all reported to Cornwall Birding and via them to the County Recorder). There did appear to be many birders around that Saturday but most appeared to be sitting down having coffee and waiting for the pagers to go off! (Perhaps they had been walking miles before sitting down?) I did see a couple of small groups actively looking! I often wonder why at a twitch if the bird isn’t showing and hasn’t been seen for ages why do birders sit/stand around talking in loud voices about their previous twitches? I’d rather get on and be looking. For sure as eggs is eggs, no self respecting rare bird will show again with all that racket going on!
Late October brought a Green Heron for my Kent list at Hythe, just before I was off to Southern Africa for 3 weeks.(300+ for the World List!). So I obviously missed a number of good birds in Kent and Sussex. However on my return, I hot footed it up to Grainthorpe Haven, Lincs. to see the too confiding S Grey Shrike – a subspecies! In almost exactly the same spot as the Green Heron we had another, this time the long staying Night Heron, good for the Kent list and my 300th Bird of the year.
My final lifers were over Christmas with a trip to Cornwall. Christmas Day saw me watching a delightfully lovely Snowy Owl and the following day a Hooded Merganser. The year ended with the photogenic Waxwings at Folkestone on the 29th and the always attractive Penduline Tits at Rainham Marshes on the 31st.
Full list on BUBO listing.
|
|
|
2008 Self-found Year List
No. 1 Ross Ahmed (Total 236)
|
 |
| (Ross on the left) |
|
|
I had already decided before the year began that I was going to have a good crack at a ‘self found year list’. I’ve always enjoyed finding my own birds but only recently have I viewed it in terms of a list. Despite all the anticipation, the first half of year passed without much surprise. Two local highlights were a Water Pipit and a winter Pomarine Skua, while a Red Kite in East Yorkshire seemed fairly safe to call a self find. A January trip to Norfolk boosted the total, but winter merged seamlessly into spring.
May was also looking like it was going to fade away without much ado, but suddenly it sprung into life in the last few days with a proper old fashioned late-spring fall. I cashed in with Red-backed Shrike, Red-breasted Flycatcher and Marsh Warbler, and with my head up, I went on to find Spoonbill, Quail and Bean Goose over the next few days. Things inevitably died down again for the summer, but early August found me in Cornwall for the Scillonian pelagic and a bit of seawatching. The target of Wilson’s Petrel was not met, but both Great and Cory’s Shearwater and Grey Phalarope were all quality finds for the year.
Find of the year so far came on 21st August at Covenham Reservoir in Lincs. Whilst scanning through a superb flock of feeding Black Terns, one of them seemed to show both a white rump and a pale head. After a good grilling I was happy it was a juvenile White-winged Black Tern! September was excellent, and we were blessed with another fall from 6th. Star find was a Subalpine Warbler in Trow Quarry, Durham but I also managed 4 Wrynecks amongst good numbers of common migrants. A fantastic movement of raptors produced a Honey Buzzard. I was up in Shetland at the end of September, but dreams of discovering a ‘new bird island’ – Papa Stour – were dashed when a couple of days found nothing of note. In fact despite, an amazing cast of vagrants on Shetland and elsewhere in the UK, a week’s holiday only found a scattering of scarce passerines.
 |
| Subalpine Warbler, County Durham, Trow Quarry 7th September 2008 was one of Ross's best finds of the year © Darren Robson |
|
|
After the delights of September, October was poor although the 16th was one of those rare days when the plan comes together. An astonishing arrival of yanks was taking place if you lived in Ireland or Cornwall, but the chances of finding even something like a Red-eyed Vireo on the east coast are slim at best. I figured my best bet was to concentrate on waders and wildfowl, and so I headed to Fenham-le-Moor in Northumberland, keen to check the Wigeon flock. Not too long after arriving, I was happy I was watching a drake American Wigeon!
Easterlies at the end of October and into November meant I was back on the coast for one last push for passerines. It seemed the autumn just didn’t want to give up – all the way until mid-November – but despite a good few hours searching, I could only muster a few more scarce migrants. Consolation prize was a drake Green-winged Teal at North Cave Wetlands, East Yorkshire. I targeted two species for the early winter, Caspian Gull and Lesser Spotted Woodpecker, and I managed to find both on consecutive days at the end of November In Cambs and South Yorkshire respectively. Final bird of the year was a Hen Harrier on 18th December, to bring my final total to 236.
|
|
|
No. 2 Paul Massey (Total 232)
|
|
Twitching – what is the point? Why would you travel hundreds of miles just to stand in a field with a load of muppets, many of whom wouldn’t even be able to identify the bird they have come to see if it wasn’t pointed out to them. Don’t get me wrong, I’m well aware that a lot of good birders do go twitching, some of them are even good mates of mine! However, for me it’s just not the thing. This is why I’ve been a dedicated ‘self-finder’ for years now. 2008 though was the first year that, encouraged by Ross Ahmed, I decided to do a self-find year list.
Early on I realised that the key to posting a respectable score was to rack up visits to a wide range of areas within Britain, thus giving you access to as many species as possible. To this end I managed to visit Dorset, North Wales, Lancashire, Lincolnshire, the Scottish Highlands and the Isle of Lewis (three times) during the year, coupled with regular birding in my home county of Northumberland, particularly the rares epicentres of Holy Island and Newbiggin-by-the Sea.
The first three months of the year were fairly quiet with the highlights being a handful of Mediterranean, Iceland and Glaucous Gulls, a couple of Little Auks and a Water Pipit. Spring kicked off properly in April and this was mirrored by an increase in the quality of finds. A trip to Lewis produced two self-found White-billed Divers, plus a Lapland Bunting and several Iceland Gulls. Back in Northumberland I found a Pectoral Sandpiper on my local patch, Grindon Lough, with Long-eared Owl and Sooty Shearwater on the coast; the latter being only Northumberland’s second ever spring record.
May, although often good, was also frustrating. The highlights were finding a drake Ring-necked Duck in Ayrshire and a Quail in Lincolnshire. However, prolonged easterlies failed to produce anything for weeks, despite almost constant thrashing of the Northumberland coast. When the weather did get it’s act together and produce one of the biggest east coast falls for years I was tied up with work and got beaten to all the good birds, only managing to produce a self-found Common Rosefinch as scant consolation.
With the spring more-or-less now over June and July bumbled on in typical fashion. In between bouts of BTO fieldwork I managed to squeeze out a few more self-found birds, most noticeably a Balearic Shearwater, several Roseate Terns, two Red Kites and a Northumberland Turtle Dove.
Early-August saw me back on the Isle of Lewis for my third trip of the year. Another week of frustration ensured as I thoroughly worked the island convinced that the on-going Two-barred Crossbill invasion would deliver me a bird somewhere on Lewis. Alas, it was not to be, and the best I could rustle up were two Sabine’s Gulls past the Butt of Lewis, plus a Pomaine Skua and a bucket full of Storm Petrels. Back home frustration was to continue as August’s main theme when I was beaten to a Wilson’s Phalarope on my local patch!
As we moved into the first true month of autumn, September came out of the blocks at a sprint, with the first week of the month producing a classic east coast fall. During this period I managed two intense periods of birding on the Northumberland coast during which I managed to find Red-breasted Flycatcher, Icterine Warbler and Wryneck. Leaving the east coast when it is at it’s best is a regular trick of mine, so with birds literally raining down on the Northumberland coast I headed west to Bardsey, in North Wales. However, I was not to be disappointed with a week of easterlies producing a big fall of birds and a self-found list that included Red-throated Pipit, Melodious Warbler, Barred Warbler, Corncrake, Turtle Dove, Balearic Shreawater and two Pomarine Skuas.
In contrast to September, October was almost one of the poorest months of the year for those birding the east coast. A complete lack of suitable weather all month meant that I could only muster three additions to the self-found year list all month – Curlew Sandpiper, Grey Phalarope and Jack Snipe! Thankfully though, the autumn was not yet over for east coast birders. As the months literally changed into November the weather produced a frantic period of birding along the Northumberland coast during which I found, all within nine days, Barred Warbler, Yellow-browed Warbler, Siberian Chiffchaff, Waxwing, two Lapland Buntings, three Long-eared Owls, Little Auk, numerous Snow Buntings and, best find of the year, a vocal and showy Hume’s Leaf Warbler at Newbiggin-by-the-Sea.
|
|
|
2008 County Year List
No. 5 Simon Mitchie, Yorkshire (Total 245)
|
|
In recent years my birding has become slightly tired. I still twitched new birds but the rest of the time I seemed to be wandering aimlessly around my local area. For 2008 I decided to get me out more I would do a Yorkshire List. There was never any intention of breaking records & as it turned out there was never any danger of it occurring.
The year got off to a great start when I twitched the Desert Wheatear & its Northern friend on the 1st day of the year. The winter progressed steadily some birds came easily but Lesser Pecker & Hawfinch eluded me all year. The Night Heron at Scout Dyke Reservoir on 9th February made it feel as though spring had arrived.
We had a trip to Trinidad & Tobago in March & I wondered if I could include any birds seen near Scarborough on my Yorkshire list.
By the end of April things we hotting up, I added Lesser Yellowlegs & King Eider to my Yorkshire life list. I managed to see 3 Red Footed Falcons in May. I had a week off work & decided to spend a week at Spurn that coincided with the best week ever there. I added plenty of great birds including Golden Oriole, Marsh Warbler, Broad Billed Sandpiper & other great year birds. Things naturally eased off but I still added to my Yorks life list with the Old Moor Little Swift & Glossy Ibis & Black Stork.
 |
| Amur Falcon, E.Yorkshire, TopHill Low 08/10/08 © Dave Bryan |
|
|
The autumn didn’t seem to happen for me, I got some good birds including the Brown Shrike but October was a washout apart from going to Tophill Low on the 11th for a Slavonian Grebe & staying to look at the Red Footed Falcon, which turned out to be the bird of the year. The rest of the year was finished off by catching up with a few birds missed earlier & was finished off with the Caspian Gull at Potterick Carr on New Years Eve. I finished off with a total of 245 species seen in Yorkshire and saw great birds in some great company.
|
|
|
2008 Local Patch Year List
No. 2 Justin Zantboer, Felixstowe, UK (Total 218)
|
I have been birding on my Local Patch since the early 1980’s but after setting (and officially still retaining) the Suffolk Year List total in 2001, I decided to up the anti on the Patch and attempt to year-list it so I have been a regular Local Patch Year Lister since 2002. My designated area, the Felixstowe Peninsular is an arm of land running from the outskirts of Ipswich (the A12 and A14 form a man-made boundary) to Felixstowe between the River Deben and River Orwell. Although it sounds quite a large area, the main birding hotspots are Landguard Bird Observatory and Trimley Marshes. As I work in Felixstowe, most of my ‘birding time’ (which is mostly before work and during my lunch breaks) is spent at one of these two venues. That said, it is nice to have some different areas to cover outside of the migration seasons.
Anyway, 2008 started well with January as you would expect providing plenty of year ticks. The best of these was Bewick’s Swan at Kingsfleet and a Black-throated Diver off Woolverstone on 1st; Great Scaup on Loompit Lake on 5th whilst leading a Suffolk Ornithologist’s trip; Tundra Bean Goose at Trimley Marshes, Razorbill off Nacton (extremely unusual away from the coast in Suffolk) and Lesser Spotted Woodpecker on one of my BTO survey tetrads on 6th; Little Stint from Nacton on 9th; Great Northern Diver off Wherstead Strand on 10th; Pomarine Skua off Landguard on 18th and to finish the month off nicely, a Red-necked Grebe and an Iceland Gull off Landguard on 23rd.
Predictably, February provided little with the best being nine White-fronted Geese at Trimley Marshes from 18th. Apart from the odd summer migrant, March proved to be just as poor although a Bittern at Trimley Marshes on 15th was a pleasant surprise. April began nicely with a Caspian Gull at Landguard on 2nd and then a Shorelark there on 4th with the latter then being seen almost daily upto 26th. Much early morning slogging provided very little other than the expected summer migrants before a Wryneck turned up just north of Landguard on 21st. The floodgates then opened as firstly an early morning sortie down to Trimley Marshes on 24th provided a Purple Heron which for once in Suffolk, was showing exceptionally well. This was my first of six 2008 Peninsular ticks. The second followed hot on its heels in the shape of a Stone Curlew at Levington Creek on 30th which was taken in on the way home from work.
Spring really got going for me in May with two unseasonal Goosanders on Trimley Marshes on 6th before I found one of my absolute highlights there on 13th – an immature Night Heron! Although my sighting of it was quite brief as it flew past the viewing platform, it was still enough to be memorable as well as a County and Peninsular tick. Trimley Marshes again came up trumps with a Temminck’s Stint on 15th before Landguard then turned it on. The first of many goodies seen there was a Roseate Tern on 17th before a Dotterel on 25th began a superb week. The highlights were Hawfinch on 29th; Marsh Warblers on 30th and 31st and an Icterine Warbler in Langer Park (just off the reserve) on 31st but the cream of the crop was a stunning male Western Subalpine Warbler which was caught in the Obs rather conveniently just as I was about to start my perambulation on 29th. Right place – right time – right result!
June started well with Landguard providing my fourth Peninsular tick of the year, this being a long overdue Golden Oriole on 3rd when yet another Marsh Warbler was also seen before a fine male Red-backed Shrike was added on 4th. This proved to be a fitting end to a cracking Spring though so I was able to recuperate until July when despite some appalling weather, Landguard yielded a fantastic Bee-eater on 9th. July then provided a few potentially tricky species such as Garganey and Spoonbill at Trimley Marshes on 22nd; a Pectoral Sandpiper at Levington Creek on 23rd and a Wood Sandpiper at Trimley Marshes on 29th.
 |
| Dotterel, Landguard, September 2008 © Sean Nixon |
|
|
August was relatively quiet although two dashes to Landguard from work on 4th and 7th provided a Wood Warbler and another Icterine Warbler respectively. I connected with my second Wryneck of the year at Landguard on 22nd before the star bird of the year turned up at Landguard on 29th – an absolutely superb adult (probably male) Citrine Wagtail which I saw after a hastily arranged ‘early lunch break’! This was a first for the Peninsular so thus counted as my fifth Peninsular tick. September provided yet more goodies with a Grey Phalarope off Landguard on 6th; two Honey Buzzards over Landguard on 13th with another there on 14th; a flyover Ortolan Bunting on 19th and a very nice juvenile Long-tailed Skua past Felixstowe on 24th. These were all eclipsed though by my personal highlight of the year which was again provided by Landguard. A rather excited voice on the end of a phone on 24th stated “you had better get down here pronto as I have just taken a Rustic Bunting out of a net!” I didn’t need telling twice so after making hurried arrangements with the boss, I was at Landguard within ten minutes positively drooling over the sight of my first ever Rustic Bunting. The benefits of working close to a Bird Observatory again being proven as this bird completed my six Peninsular ticks for the year.
Having had such a good Spring and then a decent September, I had high hopes for October but unfortunately, this was the month the bubble burst. Yellow browed Warblers were the month’s highlight with birds at Landguard on 13th and 18th and another at Adastral Close, Felixstowe on 31st. There were some other class moments which including catching up with few more year-ticks such as Curlew Sandpiper in Levington Creek on 3rd; Velvet Scoter off Landguard on 15th; Bearded Tit at Trimley Marshes on 25th; Sooty Shearwater and Long-eared Owl at Landguard on 30th and a Waxwing also at Landguard on 31st. The hoped for rush or rarities never happened though despite the East Coast further north seemingly dripping in birds!
November started off well with a sea-watch at Landguard on 1st producing a Sabine’s Gull along with another Red-necked Grebe before on the 2nd, a Pallas’s Warbler provided that special feeling that only this species can! The rest of November was fairly quiet though although a few more year ticks were obtained including Pink-footed Goose at Trimley Marshes on 22nd; five Whooper Swans over Levington on 25th and Jack Snipe, Lapland and Snow Bunting at Trimley Marshes on 29th. This final flurry was to prove to be it though as despite much huffing and puffing during December, I didn’t add a single year tick so my total remained fixed on 218 species for the year.
This was however my second best total ever and only two short of my record of 220 which I set in 2003. Unbelievably I didn’t manage to see Ruddy Duck, Osprey, Little Auk, Marsh Tit or Nuthatch while I also missed a few other species which were available so my record was there for the taking – maybe 2009 could be the year! I would like to offer my thanks to all of the following for their updates during the year: Will Brame, Nathaniel Cant, Paul Holmes, Eddie Marsh, Nigel Odin, Paul Oldfield, Roger Skeen and Lee Woods.
|
|
|
Worldwide Miscellaneous
2008 Young Birders' Year List
No. 2 Michael Woodruff (Total 745)
|
|
A few minutes after midnight on January 1, I took our snowmobile up into a nice patch of woods and attempted to get a quality bird for my first bird of 2008. Soon a Northern Saw-whet Owl responded and came in close. A fantastic way to start the new year.
The first weekend of January, my dad and I took a weekend to bird the coast. En route, we successfully ticked both a Black-headed Gull and a Northern Hawk Owl in Grand Coulee, both fantastic birds that we drove right up to. We spent the remainder of the weekend poking around targeting a few state lifers, and added Ancient Murrelets, Brant, and Long-tailed Ducks at Point Wilson, Rock Sandpipers and Black Scoters at the Point Brown Jetty, and various other winter coastal species. By January 6 my year list was up to 122, much better than if I had stayed in eastern Washington.
During the next couple of months I added more fun birds. A Great Gray Owl was extremely cooperative just south of Walla Walla, Washington. A female Williamson’s Sapsucker was coming to a feeder not too far from Spokane, and I finally got it on my 3rd try (an elusive first county record).
March came along, and with it an overseas mission trip to Borneo. Along with a large group from my school, I stayed in an authentic longhouse out in the jungle with the Iban people, building a couple of churches in the 110 degree heat. In early mornings and lunch breaks, I managed to get in some birding, and found a number of fun birds such as Greater Racket-tailed Drongo, Dollarbird, Fluffy-backed Tit-Babbler, Black-and-red Broadbill, Black-capped Babbler, and Crested Jay. A few days at Bako Nat’l Park gave me Velvet-fronted Nuthatch, White-bellied Sea-Eagle, Fiery Minivet, Oriental Magpie-Robin, White-chested Babbler, and most notably Borneo’s 2nd Yellow-browed Warbler, which I was able to photograph.
 |
| Michael found Borneo's 2nd ever Yellow-browed Warbler © Michael Woodruff |
|
|
Spring came, and as always it was an exciting time as all the neotropical migrants showed up.
During June and July, I spent 5 weeks in Costa Rica. I framed the trip around a 4-week intensive Spanish study program, but my afternoon classes and free weekends left me plenty of time to bird in the mornings and hop on buses to see the country. I tallied some 379 species by the time I left.
Some of my favorites include several sightings of Resplendent Quetzals in the Monteverde area where I was based for three weeks, and leking Long-tailed Manakins and screaming Three-wattled Bellbirds. I had an incredible pair of Black-crowned Antpittas, Snowcap, and Dull-colored Antbird at Braulio Carillo Nat’l Park, White-throated Magpie-Jay and White-fronted Nunbird near Arenal, and Ferruginous Pygmy-Owl, Thrush-like Schiffornis, and Streak-chested Antpitta at Carara. Over the course of the trip I had 4 species of Quail-Doves, 44 Flycatchers, 41 Tanagers, 30 Hummingbirds, and 15 Wren species. It was very rewarding as all my birds were found on my own, almost exclusively with public transportation and without a guide. My dad did join me for the last five days or so and we rented a car to see a little more of the country. This trip was incredibly fun from start to finish.
In contrast with Costa Rica, I picked up relatively few new species during the remainder of the year. We did some camping around the Olympic Peninsula in August. Shorebirds came through nicely in the fall and at Philleo Lake, not far from my school.
I spent some time birding the migrant traps in Washington through the fall migration period, and did manage to catch up a self-found Blackpoll Warbler although other rarities eluded me.
In October we birded in SW Washington tracking down White-tailed Kite and Acorn Woodpecker for state birds, then made the chase for the Eugene Wood Sandpiper.
In December, things finished off with some fantastic birding in the Okanogan Highlands. We had 5 Northern Pygmy-Owls for the day, 43 Sharp-tailed Grouse at Conconully, an adult Northern Goshawk, and 80+ Pine Grosbeaks.
 |
| Northern Hawk Owl © Michael Woodruff |
|
|
It was not particularly a Big Year effort, but I was lucky enough to visit two overseas countries, and Costa Rica especially boosted my list considerably. I have a large collection of photos online at www.flickr.com/photos/nightjar. 2008 was a great year, and I’m looking forward to birding in 2009.
|
|
|
No. 4 Cole Wolf (Total 570)
|
My first trip of the year was on January 4 th down to the NM/TX border in El Paso to chase a Couch’s Kingbird; it was an easy bird to refind and was a cooperative state and life bird. Other highlights of the trip included a flock of 80 wintering White-throated Swifts and my state Anna’s Hummingbird.
Other winter highlights in New Mexico included a Rufous-backed Robin in the Rio Grande Valley, my state Long-tailed Duck at Ute Reservoir on the eastern plains, a Tundra Swan in some fields only half an hour from my house, and all three Rosy-Finches along with other common mountain and foothill birds.
In March I visited to Costa Rica for the first time. We had a week in country and split the time between the central Pacific coast and the Monteverde area. Although it wasn’t a dedicated birding trip, I still managed about 260 species, half of which were lifers. Highlights included good looks at a Great Tinamou; Buff-fronted Quail-Dove; dozens of Scarlet Macaws feeding near the Rio Tarcoles; about twenty hummingbird species, including a Green Hermit lek; Baird’s Trogon; Resplendant Quetzal; both barbets; and Immaculate Antbird. The best bird of the trip was a male Yellow-billed Cotinga at the Rio Tarcoles.
Spring highlights in New Mexico included several Yellow-throated Warblers, causal in the state; a White-tailed Kite in Albuquerque; my life Gray Vireo singing in Guadalupe Canyon near the NM/AZ border; Whimbrel at Bitter Lake NWR; a Kentucky Warbler in juniper scrub in western NM; Yellow-crowned Night-Heron at Bosque del Apache NWR; a nice male Magnolia Warbler; and great looks at a male Scarlet Tanager near Santa Fe.
A short June trip to southeastern Arizona to mop-up some of the species I’ve missed produced twelve species of hummingbird including Berylline, White-eared, and Lucifer; Buff-collared Nightjar; Ruddy Ground-Dove; Buff-breasted Flycatcher; Thick-billed Kingbird; and Five-striped Sparrow.
 |
| Gull-billed Tern, Chaves Co., NM, Bitter Lake NWR 11 June 2008 © Cole Wolf. First state record, |
|
|
I went to Maine for a young birder’s camp in late June. I got sixteen new ABA birds, the best of which were Atlantic Puffin, Alder Flycatcher, and Canada Warbler. In June I also got my state Botteri’s Sparrow in southwestern New Mexico, and successfully chased New Mexico’s first Gull-billed Tern at Bitter Lake NWR.
Fall in New Mexico got off to a great start with a Tricolored Heron in the valley and the state’s first Black-tailed Gull at Brantley Lake. Other good birds included two Short-billed Dowitchers, Long-tailed Jaeger, two Worm-eating Warblers, Blackpoll Warbler, several Magnolia Warblers, Black-throated Blue Warbler, a flock of four Brown Pelicans, one of both eastern and western Winter Wrens, and a nice adult Harris’s Sparrow.
In December I saw New Mexico’s first chasable Snow Bunting at Stubblefield Lake. The trip also produced a female Barrow’s Goldeneye and a nice drake White-winged Scoter. My last birding trip of the year was to do a Christmas count in far southwest New Mexico, where I picked up Short-eared Owl in the Animas Valley and Black-capped Gnatcatchers in Guadalupe Canyon, the first wintering birds to be seen in the state.
I’ve put up pictures of the many birds mentioned, especially those in New Mexico, on my Flickr site: http://flickr.com/photos/nmcrotalus/
|
|
|
See the complete archive of 2008 World Year Listers
|
