Hi folks, there's some interesting discussion on Guinea Fowl locations and acceptability of counting other feral sp for the BIG YEAR on a related link, check it our if interested......
viewtopic.php?f=3&t=8117
Canterbury Big Year
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andrewcrossland
- Posts: 2138
- Joined: Mon Dec 14, 2009 2:29 pm
- Location: Christchurch
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Adam C
- Posts: 667
- Joined: Mon May 30, 2011 8:58 am
Re: Canterbury Big Year
Good views of Little Owl in Hagley Park by the netball Courts this evening if anyone needs one for their Canterbury big year list. First time Ive looked for them there and boom!
Had my 13 year old with me and he was pretty stoked too.
Had my 13 year old with me and he was pretty stoked too.
“Nobody grows old merely by living a number of years. We grow old by deserting our ideals. Years may wrinkle the skin, but to give up enthusiasm wrinkles the soul.”
Samuel Ullman
Samuel Ullman
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andrewcrossland
- Posts: 2138
- Joined: Mon Dec 14, 2009 2:29 pm
- Location: Christchurch
Re: Canterbury Big Year
Hi folks - the best chance to see all the birds at Lake Ellesmere is to participate in the annual all species count.
see http://www.wet.org.nz/projects/
This census enables long term longitudinal monitoring of bird pops on the lake, as well as useful info on wader nos and distribution. The more birders involved, the better the quality of data collected, and the more integrated the network of people and organisations who are interested in protecting the lake and its birdlife.
Results on the day are tabulated on a board at the site HQ so a great chance to pick up some species you need for your Canterbury BIG YEAR.
So, Sat Feb 16 is the day - the more people helping the better: Contact manager@wet.org.nz for info on how to participate
Contact manager@wet.org.nz to participate
see http://www.wet.org.nz/projects/
This census enables long term longitudinal monitoring of bird pops on the lake, as well as useful info on wader nos and distribution. The more birders involved, the better the quality of data collected, and the more integrated the network of people and organisations who are interested in protecting the lake and its birdlife.
Results on the day are tabulated on a board at the site HQ so a great chance to pick up some species you need for your Canterbury BIG YEAR.
So, Sat Feb 16 is the day - the more people helping the better: Contact manager@wet.org.nz for info on how to participate
Contact manager@wet.org.nz to participate
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Davidthomas
- Posts: 1313
- Joined: Tue Oct 18, 2011 10:05 am
Re: Canterbury Big Year
Just a bit of an update after a wee while since the last one. I’ve been impressed overall by the commitment of everyone getting involved. There’s been a concerted effort by the front runners; everyone’s been getting out and adding birds left right and centre and finding some good birds!
The one that comes to mind currently is the 5 Pectoral sandpipers seen at Yarrs Bay Lake Ellesmere. Which is the largest flock I’ve heard of anywhere in New Zealand in a long time. And was certainly a fantastic sight to behold. It’s also been really nice to meet a couple of those who’re partaking out and about while birding and I look forward to hopefully running into a few more of you!
While I may be in front currently I’ve had the luxury of a pelagic which is probably more than the difference between me and Andrew Crossland/Keiran Rowe! So it’s certainly a very easily surmounted lead. With a lot of ya approaching 80 it’s really anyone’s game and an impressive effort for less than a month in! I anticipate the competition to start heating up once the top 5 pass 100 as it will get significantly tougher to add birds.
Keep up the awesome work everyone and good to see lots of completed checklists with numbers for everything as a incomplete checklist is no use for scientific analysis. And I want to encourage people to estimate numbers of the numerous birds and just add a note of estimate as it atleast gives some indication of numbers rather than just an X.
David
The one that comes to mind currently is the 5 Pectoral sandpipers seen at Yarrs Bay Lake Ellesmere. Which is the largest flock I’ve heard of anywhere in New Zealand in a long time. And was certainly a fantastic sight to behold. It’s also been really nice to meet a couple of those who’re partaking out and about while birding and I look forward to hopefully running into a few more of you!
While I may be in front currently I’ve had the luxury of a pelagic which is probably more than the difference between me and Andrew Crossland/Keiran Rowe! So it’s certainly a very easily surmounted lead. With a lot of ya approaching 80 it’s really anyone’s game and an impressive effort for less than a month in! I anticipate the competition to start heating up once the top 5 pass 100 as it will get significantly tougher to add birds.
Keep up the awesome work everyone and good to see lots of completed checklists with numbers for everything as a incomplete checklist is no use for scientific analysis. And I want to encourage people to estimate numbers of the numerous birds and just add a note of estimate as it atleast gives some indication of numbers rather than just an X.
David
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andrewcrossland
- Posts: 2138
- Joined: Mon Dec 14, 2009 2:29 pm
- Location: Christchurch
Re: Canterbury Big Year
Well, yep, as David wrote in his last post, some of the keenest Canterbury BIG YEARERS are likely to hit 100 before the end of the first month. I myself haven't gone looking for waders at Lake Ellesmere yet or done a pelagic so I'm banking on some more easy ticks yet until I get around the 105 mark. Others are pacing themselves though, perhaps targeting x number of species per month, so that buzz of adding a new species is something that continues over the full year, rather than doing a rapid charge and then facing long weeks of drought over the remainder of the year.
I've been up in Arthurs Pass with one of my son's Xavier and got about half of our target species, and then taken the family camping in North Canterbury, but not finding much other than an interesting collection of seabirds close inshore on one of 3 days spent at the Hurunui Rivermouth - to see Huttons Shearwaters, Sooty Shearwaters and Cape Pigeon right in the 2nd line of breakers, but the highlight was a very obliging Little Tern - present for just half an hour before - oddly - flying away northwards along the coast.
So, as of today, top rankings are:
And great to see our region bolting away from the competition in the total species recorded rankings! Especially when you consider that we have a conspicuous absence of predator-proof sanctuaries stocked with instant tickables so all these species (except for maybe the dodgy feral chickens and Guinea fowls) are hard won "in-the-wild" birds.
I've been up in Arthurs Pass with one of my son's Xavier and got about half of our target species, and then taken the family camping in North Canterbury, but not finding much other than an interesting collection of seabirds close inshore on one of 3 days spent at the Hurunui Rivermouth - to see Huttons Shearwaters, Sooty Shearwaters and Cape Pigeon right in the 2nd line of breakers, but the highlight was a very obliging Little Tern - present for just half an hour before - oddly - flying away northwards along the coast.
So, as of today, top rankings are:
And great to see our region bolting away from the competition in the total species recorded rankings! Especially when you consider that we have a conspicuous absence of predator-proof sanctuaries stocked with instant tickables so all these species (except for maybe the dodgy feral chickens and Guinea fowls) are hard won "in-the-wild" birds.
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andrewcrossland
- Posts: 2138
- Joined: Mon Dec 14, 2009 2:29 pm
- Location: Christchurch
Re: Canterbury Big Year
Hi folks,
Just a bit of info around Black Stilt locations: The Ashley Estuary bird is a full black stilt and has been a regular visitor to the Ashley estuary for several years, being almost a semi-resident. Its usually easy to spot by walking out from the carpark under the macrocarpas at the south end.
The other "cert" for Black Stilt is the Pukaki-Ohau delta in the MacKenzie Basin. Best access is via the gravel road below the Ohau C power station. Drive out to the point and scan the delta shoreline and embayments.
A third regular site is Kaituna Lagoon along the Akaroa highway at Lake Ellesmere. Black Stilts are regular there amongst the Pied stilt flocks in late summer-autumn. However, dark hybrids are frequent here too. Currrently there is an F node hybrid, a G hybrid with an almost black belly but a part white head, and a 3rd bird that is either a very dark H node hybrid with a hint of white feathering on its nose, or its a sub-adult turning into an adult pure black. pics below.
pic 1. the really dark bird
pic 2 - the other 2 hybrids
pic 3 - another pic of the darker bird
Just a bit of info around Black Stilt locations: The Ashley Estuary bird is a full black stilt and has been a regular visitor to the Ashley estuary for several years, being almost a semi-resident. Its usually easy to spot by walking out from the carpark under the macrocarpas at the south end.
The other "cert" for Black Stilt is the Pukaki-Ohau delta in the MacKenzie Basin. Best access is via the gravel road below the Ohau C power station. Drive out to the point and scan the delta shoreline and embayments.
A third regular site is Kaituna Lagoon along the Akaroa highway at Lake Ellesmere. Black Stilts are regular there amongst the Pied stilt flocks in late summer-autumn. However, dark hybrids are frequent here too. Currrently there is an F node hybrid, a G hybrid with an almost black belly but a part white head, and a 3rd bird that is either a very dark H node hybrid with a hint of white feathering on its nose, or its a sub-adult turning into an adult pure black. pics below.
pic 1. the really dark bird
pic 2 - the other 2 hybrids
pic 3 - another pic of the darker bird
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andrewcrossland
- Posts: 2138
- Joined: Mon Dec 14, 2009 2:29 pm
- Location: Christchurch
Re: Canterbury Big Year
Here's a couple of pics of the 20+ people who came along for the waterbird ID and survey methods field trip at Yarrs today - a few Canterbury Big Yearers here I'm sure?!
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Jan
- Posts: 1875
- Joined: Fri Jul 03, 2009 10:43 am
- Location: Christchurch
Re: Canterbury Big Year
Just registering my interest in The Big Year. Do the checklists I have submitted already this year get included or do I have to start from today?
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Davidthomas
- Posts: 1313
- Joined: Tue Oct 18, 2011 10:05 am
Re: Canterbury Big Year
From the beginning of the calendar year Jan.
You can sort your list for Canterbury by year and just set 2019 and it will tell you what you’re on.
You can sort your list for Canterbury by year and just set 2019 and it will tell you what you’re on.
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Davidthomas
- Posts: 1313
- Joined: Tue Oct 18, 2011 10:05 am
Re: Canterbury Big Year
From the beginning of the calendar year Jan.
You can sort your list for Canterbury by year and just set 2019 and it will tell you what you’re on.
You can sort your list for Canterbury by year and just set 2019 and it will tell you what you’re on.