PC's fifth attempt

[Peter Connan]

Thank you very much @Dave Williams

[Peter Connan]

On the weekend of the 7th October we went to the town of Potchefstroom for a dose of kulture.

 

On the Sunday morning, I went looking for birds and stumbled on the OPM Prozesky Bird Sanctuary. While I saw lots of birds and got a couple of nice shots, only one was new for the year.

 

225) Rock Martin

 

Kransswael

Hirundo fuligula

 

 

 

7 October, OPM Prozesky Bird Sanctuary.

[Peter Connan]

Then on the 26th and 27th of October I went on a short organised birding tour to Vaalkop dam. As I had already been in the area I was not expecting many new birds, but I was pleasantly surprised.

 

226) White-winged Widowbird

 

Witfvlerkflap

Euplectes albonotatus

 

Unfortunately I did not manage a shot of the male...

26 October, Vaalkop dam

[Peter Connan]

227)Rattling Cisticloa

 

Bosveldtinktinkie

Cisticola chinianus

 

26 October, Vaalkop Dam

[Peter Connan]

228) Grey tit Flycatcher

 

Waaierstertvlieëvanger

Myioparus plumbeus

 

 

 

26 October, Vaalkop dam

[Peter Connan]

229) Jameson's Firefinch

 

Jamesonse Vuurvinkie

Lagonosticta rhodopareia

 

26 October, Vaalkop Dam

[Peter Connan]

230) Ovambo Sparrowhawk

 

Ovambosperwer

Accipiter ovampensis

 

26 October, Vaalkop Dam

[Peter Connan]

231) Burnt-necked Eremomela

 

Bruinkeelbossanger

Eremomela usticollis

 

 

 

26 October, Vaalkop Dam

[Peter Connan]

232) Marabou Stork

 

Maraboe

Leptoptilos crumeniferus

 

27 October, Vaalkop Dam

 

[Peter Connan]

233) African Pipit

 

Gewone Koester

Anthus cinnamomeus

 

 

27 October, Vaalkop Dam

 

And with that, I equal my best ever year!

[PeterHG]

4 hours ago, Peter Connan said:

And with that, I equal my best ever year!

Congrats on that Peter and I'm sure you'll better it with some 5 weeks to go!

[Galana]

6 hours ago, Peter Connan said:

And with that, I equal my best ever year!

Congratulations from me too on achieving that benchmark. A good foundation to build up a larger score by the year end. Good luck.

[TonyQ]

Well done Peter, it has been a real pleasure following you reach this score

[xelas]

Congratulations on equalising your personal Big Year record, Peter! Next one will set a bar one step higher ... for Big Year 2019!

[Dave Williams]

Well done Peter. Just had a check out of curiosity to see who has the biggest single country score hoping you might claim it but you need a few more to catch @michael-ibk and as my furry friend from Slovenia had an extra week in Costa Rica I daresay he'll be claiming that one too.Not sure how the others are getting on but my best is 149 in The Gambia which wasn't too bad for 2 weeks.

[michael-ibk]

Congrats Peter to your Best Ever Year!

[xelas]

1 hour ago, Dave Williams said:

Just had a check out of curiosity to see who has the biggest single country score hoping you might claim it but you need a few more to catch @michael-ibk and as my furry friend from Slovenia had an extra week in Costa Rica I daresay he'll be claiming that one too.

 

@michael-ibk scored 257 in Costa Rica, and it will be a very hard to beat his number.

[Peter Connan]

Thank you very much @PeterHG, @Galana, @TonyQ, @xelas, @Dave Williams and @michael-ibk, I appreciate your comments.

 

I sincerely hope I may reach 250 this year, but I kind-of doubt it. I can't think of many local birds i might still encounter. On the other hand, I have a short-list of EDC's I might resort to in panic!

 

 

I think anything over 100 is a great score for any two-week trip, so Dave your result from Gambia is to my mind stellar. Not sure what that makes Michael's result from CR...

[Dave Williams]

3 hours ago, xelas said:

 

@michael-ibk scored 257 in Costa Rica, and it will be a very hard to beat his number.

 

Now there's an incentive ! Shame you are so far from the coast.

[Galana]

23 hours ago, Dave Williams said:

Not sure how the others are getting on but my best is 149 in The Gambia which wasn't too bad for 2 weeks.

Not hijacking Peter's post but this is food for thought. Is there a league table for country scores? The methodology is maybe flawed e.g. I got 147 for The Gambia but most were different to @Dave Williams 's and I am sure both @xelas and @michael-ibk will have variations in their totals impressive totals.

Not to mention 'overlap' from birds seen elsewhere and thus not counted again.

Food for thought?

233 and counting is impressive for RSA so well done.

[Peter Connan]

Thanks @Galana.

 

Last year I thought it would be an interesting exercise to collate all the birds posted in the Big Year, as some birds were seen again and again whereas others are very localised.

 

Unfortunately I just don't have the time to put such a list together, but I still think the results would be interesting.

 

I doubt any country will beat CR though?

[xelas]

1 hour ago, Peter Connan said:

I doubt any country will beat CR though?

 

Around 260 birds should not be that complicated to gather also on other continents if one is really dedicated to do so. But when in season (Dec - Apr) coming home with 400 birds is not that uncommon. I am really interested to see what @PeterHG count will be, but have no doubts he will be more successful them Michael or me were.

[PeterHG]

On 11/24/2018 at 7:21 PM, xelas said:

I am really interested to see what @PeterHG count will be, but have no doubts he will be more successful them Michael or me were.

Well, I think I am a less dedicated  birder than Michael appeared to be, so I don't know about that

[Peter Connan]

234) Namaqua Dove

 

Namakwaduifie

Oena capensis

 

27 October, Vaalkop Dam

[michael-ibk]

Really doubt that @PeterHG. :-)

 

Costa Rica is my best single country record btw but Ethiopia produced similar numbers and in only two weeks instead three.