I loved this thread; it needs to be reinstated...
Tim

Carribean Short-Eared Owl. 10 Jan 2010

That would be last Saturday night in Arizona...

Lichanura trivirgata gracia - Desert Rosy Boa

Vermillion Flycatcher

Josh

well not a technical lifer its the first one I got pics of anhinga

Botteri's Sparrow - not a lifer, but my first ABA record for the species.

My last lifer was a clapper rail in Virginia. I'm not that big on birding but I like to keep track.

Sandhill Crane. There is a pair nesting in the wetland below my house. Odd thing is that I live in Vermont...

Black-footed Albatross

not a technical lifer but i picked up a ruff on my way to work this am. it's been over 20 years since i've seen one.

Gyri that's really cool about the cranes!! I've seen several singles here this spring and two pairs flying by(pretty unmistakable birds). is that a first breeding record for vt?

Curtis,

Cool lifer. Procellariform lifers always trump passerines!

Chris

Latest "lifer" - not technically a lifer but new to my Ontario list. Had a Snowy Egret fly over my study area a few days ago. ON bird #303 I think.

Technically yes though the same two birds have been nesting here for the past 8 years. In the past couple years their young have been returning to the area as well. I only moved to this spot a year ago and had not seen them before.

CA Condor

Of course, depending on how big an ABA rules stickler you are, you can't count that bird as a lifer.
AFAIK, there are no countable CA Condors in the wild right now because they are all "hacked" birds.

The same is true for Aplomado Falcons in south Texas (although not West TX and NM).
I don't get hung up on those rules strictly, but I haven't bothered to chase any of the Aplomado Falcons in the Rio Grande Valley for the same reason.

Chris

I'm not a stickler at all, and I was REALLY jazzed to see that dinosaur, so for this non-serious birder, it counted! But I understand your point Chris.

chrish, what is a "hacked" bird? I assume, one that was born in captivity and then released in the wild?

Large-breasted Bed Thrasher

Hacking generally means hatchlings, either captive born or collected in an area where that species is common, are raised in outdoor enclosures in habitat where the population restoration is taking place and with extremely limited contact with humans. Ideally the birds never even see the humans that are caring for them.

Just got back from a very quick trip to Spain.

Didn't get to do much birding, but I added 9 lifers:

Montague's Harrier
Eurasian Kestrel
Crested Tit
Spotless Starling

and five that I got crappy photos of:

European Green Woodpecker


Short-toed Treecreeper


European Nuthatch (no, really...it is! )


European Griffon


and finally a bird that had eluded me on all my other European trips - the European Jay!


Chris

Black-bellied Whistling Duck - will probably be the 3rd accepted record for Ontario. Excuse the poor digiscoped shots.

Josh

BBWD? Wow, that bird seems a long way out of the way. The fly over my house ever morning and breed on the pond at work, but I'm a wee bit south of you.

Are they sure it isn't an escapee from somewhere?

Chris,

It certainly was a bit out of its range, that is for sure! Most birders seem to think that this is a wild bird - there is no evidence of it being captive, and this is a good Whistling Duck year for Ontario (if there is such a thing!). Two seperate flocks were seen in late spring, as well as this bird. I guess there is no way to know for sure... I guess we will just have to wait and see if the record gets accepted.


Josh

To continue the string of southern rarities this summer.....I saw a Scissor-tailed Flycatcher last Saturday (will post some poor digiscoped photos up when I get to it). Hatch year bird by the looks of it. It is shaping up to be a good year for vagrants!

Josh

I'm out in New Brunswick looking for whales. I did manage a few lifer birds as well.


Red Pharalope
Razorbill
Atlantic Puffin (I saw one flying in '93, don't know if I counted that)
Greater Shearwater

I only have a picture of the Greater Shearwater. I'll add others if I get them tomorrow.

No pictures but I finally got my Yellow-throated Warbler the other day while on a field trip for work. That was a long awaited bird that I should have seen many times over.

Andy

Curtis,
Looks like a sweet trip out there! Nice shot of the Greater Shearwater.

Andy,
they are a stunning bird, aren't they? Did you see it in Ohio?


Recent lifers here in Ontario include Great Gray Owl, Spruce Grouse (both up in Algonquin) and Buff-breasted Sandpiper I found the other day at my favorite sewage lagoon.

Josh

Yeah, I saw it outside of Columbus, Ohio where they are pretty common. They just don't make it up to me. I did get to spend many minutes watching it gleening insects above my head though. A great view of the bird.

Algonquin... my friend is the head naturalist for that park and I had to pass up an opportunity to go to conference up there where I told him to show me wolves. He produced the wolves for the conference and everyone got great looks, but I wasn't able to make it. Still bitter about one.

Technically my last lifer was Tristram's Storm Petrel, which was something like one of 76 new bird species I got in Japan, including Blakiston's Fish Owl, Red-footed Booby, and Red-crowned Crane. Also this is my first post since the site went down way back at the beginning of summer, so hopefully will add a few notes on the herp fauna

my FIRST lifer was a cedar waxwing way back when i was about 9 or 10

Does that mean you didn't see any birds for the first ten years of your life?
I had three lifers a couple of days ago when I went for a boat ride: Common Murre, Ancient Murrelet and Thayer's Gull.

Green Peafowl and Wreathed Hornbill in Baluran NP, E JAva.

Started 2010 back in Feb with a long eared owl. Very cool bird, doing the bent stick impression so often pictured in books and online. Being in search of bunnies, I had a gun but no camera. Too bad 'cause I got a very close look. He trusted his camo and sat firm till I could almost touch him.

Ended '10 with pink footed and barnacle geese [see post below]. There was also a white fronted goose in the same area but I never found it. Now that the ponds are frozen and fields snow covered, the big canada flocks which harbored the rare vagrants have finally moved on. If you're in the mid atlantic, I suggest you take the time to carefully glass the recently arrived canadas. None of those birds will jump out at you, you have to look close.

I twitched the Denver Ross's Gull Last November; that was my last lifer.

on the nonbird front should hopefully get Southern Flying Squirrel here in D.C. tonight

Good luck with the squirrel Morgan. Is John Fox taking you?
Last lifers for birds were Maroon Woodpecker and Crested Fireback.
Last Mammal was Siamang, in Way Kambas along with the birds.

Yep...John Fox took me and I did indeed get great looks at the squirrel. Much smaller than I imagined. Glad to finally get that species under my belt.

Although a Little Gull or two shows up in Texas almost every winter, it is usually up in NE Texas and usually at a time when I can't go.
Even if I have time, NE Texas is an otherwise boring area to bird so I haven't made the trip.
However, last week someone found one (two?) down on the coast around 150 miles from me, so off I went yesterday.



Picking him out from the large numbers of Laughing and Ring-billed Gulls (and Royal Terns) wasn't that tough. It looked like they brought their baby brother to the beach.



I didn't get a great flight shot, but that's just an excuse to go back next weekend!



Of course, since we were only a few miles away, we did a drive-by to the park where the Yellow-faced Grassquit is currently being seen. We saw a lot of this...




but no Grassquit. That's OK, I've seen a lot of Yellow-faced Grassquits where they are supposed to live, but Little Gull was a lifer. Spmeone spotted a Rufous-backed Robin about an hour west of me while I was down at the coast, and we talked about going out there today, but I'm getting too lazy to chase birds I've already seen just because they don't know which side of some river to stop on!

Chris

I got this lifer last week while at my in-laws. I have probably seen one before, but never id'd one.

Ruby Crowned Kinglet


Josh

My last lifer it's a Saw-whet Owl in january...

Josh,

That's pretty cool. While RCKI is an abundant bird down here, getting a photo with the crown showing is really great.

Marc,

Wow. For those of us "stuck" living in the snow free zone (highs in low 80s yesterday ), the idea of seeing a Saw-whet or other "northern" owls is a pipe dream!


C

yeah, I was quite impressed myself. I got several pictures but those two were the best ones. It was dusk and the flash kept bringing out the bushes instead of the trees. After I got home and read the field guide to id the bird, it said that getting the ruby crown was difficult, and it was!

Josh

I was in California last week looking for these.....




and I saw a quail run up the hillside in front of me. Didn't think much about it (I thought probably CA Quail or maybe Gambel's, both of which I have seen many times).

I snapped a blurry photo just for fun and when I looked at the photo, I was delighted to find out it was a Mountain Quail!!! Lifer! This is a bird I should have seen before now, but never had identified.



I didn't have binoculars but I'm sure I missed a CA Thrasher as well. Oh well, 1 new bird (and a couple of boas) make up for that.

Chris

Wow...that is one "sexy" quail, Chris. Awesome on the boas, too.

*Edit* Just re-read and found out you only realized it was a Mountain Quail after reviewing the just-for-fun photo. Neat! I was scrolling down quickly and first thing I thought was California/Gambel's Quail...oh "big" deal...I can see how you could miss that!

3/18/11. Visiting my Dad in Clemson SC, and a warbler landed briefly in his tree.




Pine warbler. New one for me.

No pics sadly, but my last lifer was a bunch of steller's jays I came across on my last trip to yosemite. I'm pretty new to birding, my last lifer was also my first!

My last lifers were on another whirlwind trip to South Texas. In order:

Little Gull (same birds photographed above!)
Yellow-faced Grassquit
Whooping Crane
Nelson's Sparrow
White-throated Thrush (Estero Llano)
Green Parakeet
Crimson-collared Grosbeak

The Black-vented Oriole disappeared a few days before I arrived, and I missed the Blue Buntings and Tropical Parula.

Nice lifters you all got ther. Special the europ birds..hehehe.

My lifters from last year was.
The Ring-necked Duck (Aythya collaris)
The Great Shearwater (Puffinus gravis)
The Grasshopper Warbler (Locustella naevia)
The Eurasian Spoonbill or Common Spoonbill (Platalea leucorodia)

Lifters from this year.
The Short-toed Eagle (Circaetus gallicus)

All seen here in Sweden.

/Freddy

My three most recent lifers were:

Arctic Redpoll (froze my ass off)
Tundra Swan (froze my ass off)
And a nice Slavonian Grebe that turned up at one of my old spots.

The pathetic thing for me is that although you saw all those within a few hours of my house, four of them would be US lifers for me and I haven't bothered to chase them. I suck at birding.

FINALLY!! Got the damn Prairie Warbler last weekend (along with 18 other species of warbler).

Wasn't very cooperative as a photo subject, but it's on the list.

Was out this morning, and while shooting this gruesome but cool site...



Turned around and saw the most brilliant flash of green I have ever seen. Muttered an audible "oh, my god" and it stayed long enough to fire off 5 shots, 2 of which were decent...




Golden-crowned Emerald, native only to West Mexico

Add a Spot-breasted oriole...



and an olive sparrow, no pic, and it was a pretty good morning for lifers all in my neighborhood. Gotta love Mexico sometimes!