Because of this and the fact that many of these species are exciting and excessively rare vagrants from Siberia or - mostly - North America, many other European birdwatching nations look up to the UK in envy.
Not me though.
I mean, I sort of used to, but the White-crowned Sparrow that was recently (is still being?) seen in Norfolk changed that for good.
I regularly check the Britain & Ireland rarities gallery on Surfbirds and the last few days were severely dominated by nice pictures of said White-crowned Sparrow.
First I also thought that this was a neat record and how much I wanted to also find such a rare bird on my home patch. But then I thought of the nice pictures I took of the ever so common White-crowned Sparrows at Rondeau and Point Pelee in southern Canada and of the great days I had while taking them.
Here they are, a few of them, and they are quite similar to the ones of the bird that made a Norfolk driveway its home...
And then I suddenly couldn't help but think how sad it would have been to see the beautiful White-crowned Sparrows at Point Pelee and to not have that fantastic lifer feeling because of a bird I saw at some soggy driveway on the Eastern side of the Atlantic.
It would really have spoiled the whole party!
The Evil that Sparrow doLet me show you more graphically - and in colour - what I mean:
The following list is my trip list from May 2005 and can be regarded as an assembly of species any birder from overseas is likely to encounter during an ordinary birding trip to the Great Lakes in May.
Blue are the species that also occur in Europe and are thus more or less easily seen in the UK. Red are North American species that have already been encountered in the UK and for the sake of this post, I presume (of course knowing this is completely unrealistic, but it makes for better reading) a keen UK birder may have seen them all in his home country.
So what is left for such a birder on a trip to the Great Lakes, what lifers can they expect?
The black ones.
Common Loon
Red-throated Loon
Pied-billed Grebe
American White Pelican
Double-crested Cormorant
American Bittern
Least Bittern
Great Blue Heron
Great Egret
Snowy Egret
Green Heron
Black-crowned Night-heron
Mute Swan
Trumpeter Swan
Canada Goose
Pale-bellied Brent
Wood Duck
Mallard
American Black Duck
Northern Shoveler
Blue-winged Teal
Green-winged Teal
Redhead
Ring-necked Duck
Long-tailed Duck
White-winged Scoter
Surf Scoter
Hooded Merganser
Red-breasted Merganser
Common Merganser
Ruddy Duck
Turkey Vulture
Osprey
Sharp-shinned Hawk
Cooper's Hawk
Northern Harrier
Broad-winged Hawk
Red-tailed Hawk
Rough-legged Hawk
Golden Eagle
Bald Eagle
American Kestrel
Merlin
Peregrine Falcon
Wild Turkey
Ring-necked Pheasant
Sharp-tailed Grouse
Ruffed Grouse
Spruce Grouse
King Rail
Virginia Rail
Sora
Common Moorhen
American Coot
Sandhill Crane
Black-bellied Plover
American Golden Plover
Killdeer
Semipalmated Plover
Piping Plover
Greater Yellowlegs
Lesser Yellowlegs
Solitary Sandpiper
Spotted Sandpiper
Hudsonian Whimbrel
Upland Sandpiper
Ruddy Turnstone
Sanderling
Dunlin
Pectoral Sandpiper
White-rumped Sandpiper
Baird's Sandpiper
Semipalmated Sandpiper
Least Sandpiper
Short-billed Dowitcher
Wilson's Snipe
American Woodcock
Wilson's Phalarope
Little Gull
Bonaparte's Gull
Laughing Gull
Ring-billed Gull
American Herring Gull
Glaucous Gull
Great Black-backed Gull
Black Tern
Caspian Tern
Common Tern
Forster's Tern
Rock Dove
Mourning Dove
Black-billed Cuckoo
Yellow-billed Cuckoo
Common Nighthawk
Chuck-will's-widow
Whip-poor-will
Chimney Swift
Ruby-throated Hummingbird
Belted Kingfisher
Yellow-bellied Sapsucker
Red-headed Woodpecker
Red-bellied Woodpecker
Downy Woodpecker
Hairy Woodpecker
Black-backed Woodpecker
Northern Flicker
Pileated Woodpecker
Olive-sided Flycatcher
Eastern Wood-pewee
Willow Flycatcher
Alder Flycatcher
Least Flycatcher
Yellow-bellied Flycatcher
Acadian Flycatcher
Eastern Phoebe
Great Crested Flycatcher
Eastern Kingbird
Warbling Vireo
Philadelphia Vireo
White-eyed Vireo
Red-eyed Vireo
Yellow-throated Vireo
Blue-headed Vireo
Blue Jay
American Crow
Common Raven
Horned Lark
Barn Swallow
Cliff Swallow
Northern Rough-winged Swallow
Bank Swallow
Tree Swallow
Purple Martin
Buff-bellied Pipit
Black-capped Chickadee
Tufted Titmouse
White-breasted Nuthatch
Red-breasted Nuthatch
Marsh Wren
Sedge Wren
Carolina Wren
House Wren
Winter Wren
Golden-crowned Kinglet
Ruby-crowned Kinglet
Blue-gray Gnatcatcher
Eastern Bluebird
Swainson's Thrush
Veery
Gray-cheeked Thrush
Hermit Thrush
Wood Thrush
American Robin
Gray Catbird
Brown Thrasher
Cedar Waxwing
European Starling
Tennessee Warbler
Nashville Warbler
Orange-crowned Warbler
Blue-winged Warbler
Golden-winged Warbler
Northern Parula
Yellow Warbler
Chestnut-sided Warbler
Magnolia Warbler
Cape May Warbler
Blackburnian Warbler
Black-throated Blue Warbler
Cerulean Warbler
Black-throated Green Warbler
Yellow-rumped Warbler
Palm Warbler
Pine Warbler
Prairie Warbler
Blackpoll Warbler
Bay-breasted Warbler
Kirtland's Warbler
Black-and-white Warbler
American Redstart
Prothonotary Warbler
Common Yellowthroat
Mourning Warbler
Connecticut Warbler
Kentucky Warbler
Northern Waterthrush
Louisiana Waterthrush
Ovenbird
Canada Warbler
Hooded Warbler
Wilson's Warbler
Yellow-breasted Chat
Scarlet Tanager
Summer Tanager
Dickcissel
Rose-breasted Grosbeak
Indigo Bunting
Northern Cardinal
Eastern Towhee
Chipping Sparrow
Clay-coloured Sparrow
Field Sparrow
Vesper Sparrow
Lark Sparrow
Grasshopper Sparrow
Henslow's Sparrow
Le Conte's Sparrow
Savannah Sparrow
Song Sparrow
Lincoln's Sparrow
Swamp Sparrow
White-crowned Sparrow
White-throated Sparrow
Baltimore Oriole
Orchard Oriole
Eastern Meadowlark
Western Meadowlark
Bobolink
Red-winged Blackbird
Brewer’s Blackbird
Common Grackle
Brown-headed Cowbird
House Sparrow
Evening Grosbeak
American Goldfinch
Pine Siskin
House Finch
Purple Finch
And frankly, having only the black birds left as new bird impressions and visual adventures makes a trip to one of the most wonderful areas of the world (bird-wise and in my honest but personal opinion) rather pointless.
Just imagine: You're landing at Toronto or Detroit, get your common stuff (like the grackles) within your first day en route and then you're left with hardly any lifers at Point Pelee despite being in North America for the very first time!
What a terrifyingly horrible and despicably depressing thought!!
And this, my inclined reader, is the reason why I am happy about NOT being a UK birder:
The fact that Germany barely ever gets any North American vagrants has effectively kept me from pursuing them on the "wrong" side of the Atlantic and had left a whole bag full of new-species-fun for my trip to North America in May 2005 (my high school exchange year in Canada being so long ago - almost 20 years - that the birds seen then felt like lifers again in 2005).
Any North American bird species seen back home would have effectively reduced the greatness of the trip.
But then of course - knowing myself - I wouldn't be able to restrain myself from watching North American vagrants - if I was a UK birder - and could not deliberately stay at home while everyone else around me was watching stray tanagers.
So I think it works best for me to just not have a chance at seeing/finding North American birds here along the Baltic Coast of Germany.
I am perfectly fine with it, thank you very much.
And last but nor least, another reason for being happy about residing and birding in Germany:
The German name for White-crowned Sparrow is "Dachsammer" which translates to Badger Bunting.
And after looking at the bird and comparing it to a European Badger, that's one of the best bird names I ever came across, regardless of language!
So maybe, and now that I have seen the species in North America anyway, just a wee little tiny bit of White-crowned Sparrow around Stralsund would be acceptable?
Don't you agree?
Mind sending the Norfolk bird over?
Thank you very much.
9 comments:
"bird locally, think globally"
Laurent
Well, Laurent, how about:
Bird locally, and globally
That IS an awesome name. Who knew so many NA Warblers were seen in the UK? Wow.
Hi Jochen/Patrick
I think it is fair to say that very few UK birders have seen 500 species.Although quite a few American
warblers have been seen here they are very few and far between. Blackpoll Warblers and Red-eyed vireos are the most 'common' but they are still very rare.Most UK birders would still get a good few life ticks at Point Pelee.
I so wonder how they get so many of our birds! Amazing white-crowned sparrow photos!
Nice White-crowned Sparrow photos!
Or, you could just not count them until you see them in the appropriate context. :)
Jochen,
Greetings from the Great Lakes! We're having a "normal" winter here, which means bad. I love the name "Badger Bunting" for White-crowned Sparrow. I must confess that sometimes I have called them "Skunkhead Sparrow". Had a White-throated Sparrow in the yard today...
Come on, admit it, you're secretly jealous. ;-)
Seriously, though, not all UK birders are twitchers, Jochen. In fact, most aren't. I think you have the wrong impression of us. I'm on 200 UK species because why would I want to spend (waste) my time burning fuel (which is hideously expensive here, thanks to our rip-off government taking most of the price in taxes) in the hope of seeing a bird that might be gone when I arrive? No, I'd rather spend that money on foreign travel.
Post a Comment