Our Birding List. A Big year

Our birding journey officially starts January 2018.  Fitting, since 2018 is The Year Of The Bird.

We include some of the awesome prior sightings that gets us started as we add them to our life list.  Our journey start in South Africa then we travel through England and end the year with birding in America to witness the fall bird migration.  This could well be a big year or atleast a mini big year.

June 8, Friday 2018

Rowarth, High Peak, England

85. Willow Warbler

May 27, Sunday 2018

St James Park, London. England

84. Red-crested Pochard
83. Tufted Duck
82. Ruddy shelduck
81. Common shelduck

May 23, 2018

Borham Park, Wembley / Harrow, London

80. Mistle Thrush

May 11, Thursday 2018

Bath, Somerset. England

79. Short-toed treecreeper.

Spotted at the Royal Crescent, creeping up a tree and pecking at the bark like a mini woodpecker.

The short-toed treecreeper (Certhia brachydactyla) is a small passerine bird found in woodlands through much of the warmer regions of Europe and into north Africa. It has a generally more southerly distribution than the other European treecreeper species, the common treecreeper, with which it is easily confused where they both occur. The short-toed treecreeper tends to prefer deciduous trees and lower altitudes than its relative in these overlap areas. Although mainly sedentary, vagrants have occurred outside the breeding range. (Wikipedia)

78.  Buff Orpington Duck.

Spotted in a pond in Royal Victoria Park with Mallards.

May 10, Wednesday 2018 @ 11h20

Bath, Somerset.  Boat Cruise on the river Avon.

77. Common Kingfisher

Spotted Flying low over the river Avon infront of our river boat in Bath today. An endangered beauty.

76. Yellow Wagtail

75. Great Heron

May 08, Monday 2018

Bath, Somerset. Pulteney Bridge (River Avon)

74. Gray Wagtail

Spotted at Pulteney Bridge in Bath today the Gray Wagtail is more colorful than it’s name suggests. They’re always associated with running water when breeding, which is where we saw them.

May 06, Sunday 2018

Chippenham, Travelodge

73.  Little Gull

72. Songthrush

Sat May 05, 2018 1:40 PM

Report all sightings for Global Big Day

The Long Walk, England

GB (51,452, -0,609), Berkshire County, England, GB
Duration:4 hour(s)
Distance:8.4 kilometer(s)
Observers:Lindsy Williams List , Matthew Williams

Species: 13 species total (no new species)

X 18 Canada Goose
X 1 Egyptian Goose
X 12 Mallard
1 Female swimming with 11 recently fledged young.
Breeding Code: FL Recently Fledged Young (Confirmed)
X 4 Red Kite
Breeding Code: F Flyover (Observed)
X 2 Rose-ringed Parakeet
X 50 Eurasian Jackdaw
Probably more than 50 all over Deer Park at The Long Walk from Windsor Castle, but we couldn’t keep count.

May 04, 2018

Chertsey

In the back garden of our Airbnb house for the week we see these birds darting from tree to tree almost every day.

70. Warbler type tbc.

69. Great Tit

68. Coal Tit

May 02, 2018

Virginia Waters Lake

Great Windsor Park, England, GB (51,409, -0,599) 6:00 PM
Random.  Duration: 60 minutes
All birds reported? Yes
Comments: Today we download the eBird app from Cornell Lab of Ornithology and learn how to properly record bird sightings to provide information that they can use.

67.  1 Mandarin Duck – OS.  What a beauty!

67.  2 Eurasian Coot – OS

X 2 Mute Swan – NE.  Our first time seeing a nesting pair. The female sits on the eggs. We’re informed by park ranger that she’s been sitting for a week and has 3 more weeks to go to incubation. They’ve come to feed the pair and the children are excited that they get to help while learning about swans from an expert.

X Mallard (Domestic type)  X 1 Great Crested Grebe – OS

Number of Taxa: 6

Wentworth Golf Course

66. 1x Albacot Ranger / Hooded Ranger duck.

Apr 27, 2018 Windsor

Brocas Street, Eton, England, GB (51,485, -0,609)
Approx time: 11:32 AM.  View type: Random. Duration: 20 minutes
All birds reported? Yes
Comments: Not all birds counted (marked x) Counting only new type of birds sighted.

65.  1 Black Swan – OS

X 1 Eurasian Moorhen – OS.  X Mallard  X Mute Swan – OS
Number of Taxa: 4

14 April 2018. Legoland, Windsor

64. Egyptian Goose

5 April 2018. Park pond at Leisure Centre, Woking, Surrey.

63. Eurasian Moorhen

20 March 2018. Iverwood Farm, Hungerford (Berkshire/Wiltshire) UK

62. Perigrin falcon

A random sighting on our way to the barn on Calcot road near Shalbourne, of a perigrin falcon hovering right above us while hunting. We weren’t sure which bird it was, but using the Merlin ID bird app we finaly confirmed it today, the 3rd of May! Very excited about this one.

16 March 2018. Bedford, Embankment. The Great River Ouse

• 61. Great Crested Grebe
• 60. Canadian Geese
• 59. Icelandic Gulls

March 2018. Newbury Park.

• 58. Domesticated Mallard Duck (White)
• 57. Mute Swans
• 56. Mallard Duck

March 2018.  Iverwood Farm, Hungerford (Berkshire/Wiltshire) UK

• 55. Chaffinch
• 54. Tree Sparrow
• 53. Golden Finch
• 52. Pied Wagtail
• 51. Pheasant M & F
• 50. Blackbird
• 49. Rook
  48. Robin
  47. Magpie
  46. Starling
  45. House Sparrow
  44. Jay
  43. Barn Owl
  42.Redkite

23 Jan 18. Botanical gardens bird hide

41.Mousebird
40-Kiewiet type bird walking on lilypads (video)??????

Ebb & Flow north (Oom Jeremy)
39.-Cape Battis (m& f)

December 2016: Jongensfontein

Oystercatchers seen in breeding season deserves a place on our list!

38. Oystercatchers (M & F). We jumped back a few years because seeing the rare ouystercatchers in breeding season was a special.

January 3rd, 2018: George Botanical Gardens bird hide
37. Mousebird
36. Kiewiet type bird walking on lilypads (video). Unidentified

Ebb & Flow North (With Oom Jeremy and Derek)
35. Cape Battis (m& f)

Pretoria 3 Jan 2018  (Uncle Marcus’s house) 

• 34. African Hoopoe
• 33.  African Hornbill
• 32. Ostrich
• 31. Blessed Starling
• 30. Myna Bird

December 2017 – Hartbeeskuil Dam

• 29. Blue crane (Stanley Crane)
• 28.  Secretary bird

Nov 2017. Gr 3 Bird Outing – Mrs. Wagner & Class.  Malachite bird hide: 
27. Three-banded Plover
26. White-throated Swallow
25. Grootbrak – Pied Kingfisher

13 Aug 17 – Us.  Montagu Pass: Nothing!!!  Enjoyed the beautiful scenery.

Old George Rd, Geelhoutboom
24. Blue Falcon
23. White Ibis
22.Egrett

Glentana rd
21. Knysna loerie

6 Aug 17- (All of us) 8 New birds.  Seaglimpse – Victoria Bay
20. Willy Wagtail

Malachite Bird Hide (Rondevlei/Hoekwil)
19.Bosluisvoel/Cattle egret

18. Grebe
17. Reed Cormorant/Rietduiker
16. Red Knobbed Coot/Bleshoender
15. White-backed duck/witrugeend

Wildernis boardwalk:
14. Cape Bull Bull
13. Finch (orange chest)
12. Goliath Heron / Reuse Reier
11. Cape Weaver. Yellow bird with red eyes

30 Jul 17.  Garden – Erica Rd (Oupa B, Oom Renaldo, Daddy, Nick, Leah)

9. Coucal Birchells/ Vleiloerie
10.Rock Dove

Mon 24 Jul 17 – Botanical Gardens – George. Mom, Nick, Leah

1.Drongo
2. Cape White Eye
3. 3African Finfoot (F)
4. Fiscal Shrike
5. Kurrichane Thrush
6. Epytian Goose
7. Sunbirds MF
8. Weaver MF