Surfbirds Life and Year List Rankings

2009 World Year List Showing Records 1 through 48 of 48 Total Records Rank Name Nationality Total Highlights 1 David Shackelford / Rockjumper Birding Tours USA 2195 Rufous-winged Ground-Cuckoo, Crestless Curassow, Red Siskin, Crimson Fruitcrow, and Sun Parakeet in Guyana; Florida Scrub Jay and Brown-capped Rosy-Finch in the USA; Spoon-billed Sandpiper, Blue Pitta, Spot-bellied Eagle-Owl, and Coral-billed Ground Cuckoo in Thailand; White-winged Duck in Assam; Satyr Tragopan, Beautiful Nuthatch, and Ward’s Trogon in Bhutan; Spectacled Eider and Kittlitz’s Murrelet in Alaska; Lovely Cotinga and Keel-billed Motmot in Honduras; Dusky Grasswren and Spinifex Pigeon in Australia; Wallace’s Owlet-Nightjar and Black-mantled Goshawk in New Guinea; Ashy Storm-Petrel in California; Red-billed Streamertail and Crested Quail-Dove in Jamaica… 2 Nick Bray/Birdseekers British 2027 Just returned from a very short trip to the Philippines where amongst 50+ endemics, Black Shama, Red-crested Malkoha, Steere's Pitta and White-lored Oriole were my favourites. Started off year with a long trip to Thailand, where highlights inc Spoon-billed Sand, Nordmann's Greenshank, Asiatic Dowitcher, Gurney's Pitta, Green Peafowl, Giant Nuthatch, Mrs Hume's Pheasant etc. Followed that with the Mishmi Hills and had Ward's Togon, Mishmi & Cachar Wren-babblers, Beautiful Nuthatch and Fire-tailed Myzornis. Then in March spent 3 weeks in Costa Rica and saw 550 species (all new for the year), before returning to the Himalayas at Eaglenest in May. Brilliant! Snow Partridge, Blood Pheasant, Himalayan Monal, Sikkim Wedge-billed Wren-babbler, very showy Bugun Liocichla and more cuckoos than you can wave a stick at!!Only European birding was in the Pyrenees in July. Highlights from Peru in August inc DSP, White-bellied Cinclodes, Chestnut-crested Cotinga. Pavonine Cuckoo and Black Tinamou plus 9 sp owl and 21 endemics. 3 Samuel Hansson/Heliangelus Swedish 1814 5 OCtober. So far NE Brazil (2 weeks), Colombia, Western Mexico, central USA, southwestern Brazil, Northern Peru and Sweden. Some of the highlights have been White-collared Kite, Myiornis sp. nov., Alagoas Foliage-gleaner, Tyrannulet and Antwren, Araripe Manakin, Lear's Macaw, Gold-ringed Tanager, Santa Marta Screech-Owl, Long-wattled Umbrellabird, Black Solitaire, Bicolored Antvireo, Santa Marta Woodstar, Tumaco Seedeater, Plumbeous Hawk, Black-breasted Puffbird, Sinaloa Martin, Dwarf and Slaty Vireos, Tufted Jay, Gunnison Sage-Grouse, Great Gray Owl, Connecticut Warbler, Sprague's Pipit, Chestnut-collared Longspur, Harpy and Crowned Eagles, Hyacinth Macaw, Horned Sungem, Cone-billed Tanager, Marvelous Spatuletail, Royal Sunangel, Coppery Metaltail, Rufous-crested Coquette, Koepcke's Hermit, Ochre-fronted Antpitta, Marañon Crescentchest, Henna-hooded and Rudfous-necked Foliage-gleaners, Tumbes Tyrant, Mishana Tyrannulet, Russet-bellied and Great Spinetails, Dotted Tanager and many more. 4 Pete Morris/Birdquest British 1712 Started the year with a local Caspian Gull. Brilliant trip to the Philippines in February with highlights including Mindanao Wattled Broadbill, an excellent selection of kingfishers, Palawan Peacock-Pheasant, a great set of nightbirds and the eagle of course! Colombia was next in March, and was as awesome as ever. 11 antpittas seen well as were 11 tapaculos (inc Ocellated), 10 toucans and many goodies such as Northern Screamer, Yellow-eared Parrot, Chestnut and Black-fronted Wood-Quails, Black Solitaire, Black-and-gold and Gold-ringed Tanagers and the recently discovered Santa Marta Screech Owl (to name just a few!). Taiwan in April produced all the goodies including cracking views of all the game birds (10 Mikados!), all other endemics, Fairy Pitta, Oriental Plover, Asian Dowitcher and many more. Japan in May/June produced all the hoped for goodies such as Amami Woodcock and Thrush, Okinawa Rail, Blakiston's Fish Owl and lovely rubythroats and Locustellas on Hokkaido. A holiday in Northern Peru was extremely successful with most of the hoped for endemics seen. Bird of the trip was probably the superb male Ochre-fronted Antpitta, but other goodies included Fiery-breasted Fruiteater, wild White-ewinged Guans, the spatuletail etc etc 5 Chris Gooddie (pittasworld.com) UK 1692 19th Oct: Black-faced Pitta, Santa Isabel, Solomons (30th species of pitta since Feb 3rd) SW Uganda- 17 of 24 available Albertine Rift Endemics and African Finfoot. 14th July: A further 4 pitta species seen in Sabah: new were Giant-, Blue-headed-, Blue-banded, Black-crowned. All bar 7 Bornean endemics seen. 6 K. David Bishop VENT Brit/Aus 1642 seen / 106 mammals seen 12 Oct. PNG: Displaying Buff-tailed Sicklebill B.oP.; Webster's Kingfisher; NG Harpy Eagle; Southern Crowned Pigeon; Oriental Plover. 25 Aug. Gabon & Sao Tome and Principe: 7 White-crested Tiger-Herons, Vermiculated Fish Owl, Western Lowland Gorilla, African Dormouse. 5 July - a little local birding which included the infrequently encountered Speckled Warbler and a very striking-looking Red-necked Wallaby; 11 June - My first visit to Central Asia (Kazakhstan & Uzbekistan), needless to say fabulous! Some truly great birds, mammals and reptiles incl: Great Jerboa, Pander's Ground-Jay, Pallid Scops-Owl, a surprise Little Bustard, Corn Crake - at last! and some fabulous shorebirds in full breeding plumage. 4 May - 6 White-winged Wood-Ducks in Nameri and a 2.5 hr session with a tiger were the highlights of a trip to Assam followed as always by an outstanding trip to Bhutan which included great views of White-bellied Heron, 2 prs. of Beautiful Nuthatch and perhaps best of all point-blank looks at a male Purple Cochoa; 21 March Concluded a superb 35 days in Borneo - 320+ species including numerous Moustached Hawk-Cuckoo; heard Bornean Ground-Cuckoo; nesting Wallace's Hawk-Eagle and some great mammls; 28 Feb. Currently in Borneo for 5 weeks - best birds so far include nesting Everett's Thrush; all three 'Whiteheads' species; Kinabalu Friendly Warbler; Grey-headed Babbler and a gorgeous Blue-banded Pitta attending a nest; 7 Feb. Concluded birding Mali, Senegal and The Gambia in addition to those mentioned earlier added Arabian Bustard and Red-throated Bee-eater among others; 25 Jan. UK; Senegal; Mali - Mali Firefinch; Savile's Bustard; nesting Pharoah's Eagle-Owl; Cricket Warbler and a flock of 20 African Swallow-tailed Kites. 7 Forrest Rowland USA 1624 birds / 110 mammals All Western Hemisphere, Updated Sept. 2: Red-cockaded Woodpecker (all ABA area woodpeckers!), many southern/eastern warblers and vireos, Bachman's Sparrow, Mississippi Kite, White Ibis, Mottled Duck and Eastern Chipmunk and Eastern Cottontail 8 Markus Lagerqvist Swedish 1609 Updated October 12th: Highlights so far include Beautiful Treerunner and Sapayoa in PANAMÁ, Red-collared Mountain-Babbler in RWANDA, Black-breasted Barbet and Shoebill in UGANDA, Cone-billed Tanager, Crowned Eagle, Bare-eyed Antbird and Blackhooded Antwren in BRAZIL, and twitches for Yellow-browed Bunting and Wilson's Phalarope in SWEDEN. 9 Sam Woods/Tropical Birding British (Living in Ecuador) 1567 seen Just finished South Africa where both Rock-jumpers, Knysna Woodpecker, Sugarbirds, and lots lots more! Mainly Ecuador: Baudo Guan, Brown Wood-Rail, Stub-tailed Antbird, Lemon-spectacled Tanager, Tooth-billed Hummingbird, Hoary Puffleg etc. 10 Claes-Göran Cederlund Swedish 1543 Updated 24 May 2009. Sweden,England,Chile, Bhutan, India , Tanzania, Indonesia so far 11 Dion Hobcroft, Victor Emanuel Nature Tours Australian 1530 Oct 15: PNG: White-mantled Kingfisher, Spangled Kookaburra, Bicolored Mouse-warbler, Rusty Whistler:Sabah:Blyth's Hawk-Eagle, Tabon Scrubfowl, Chestnut-necklaced Partridge, Cinnamon-headed Green-Pigeon, Grey Imperial-Pigeon, Oriental Bay Owl, Red-naped Trogon, Scarlet-rumped Trogon, Black-backed Kingfisher, Bornean Barbet, Yellow-crowned Barbet, Olive-backed Woodpecker, Bornean Black Magpie, Bornean Bristlehead, Temminck's Babbler, Black-throated Wren-Babbler, Grey-headed Babbler, White-necked Babbler, Bornean Stubtail, Rufous-chested Flycatcher, White-vented and Mangrove Whistler, Scarlet-breasted Flowerpecker and Pygmy Ibon: UAE: Hume's Wheatear, Streaked Scrub-Warbler, Persian Shearwater, Arabian Babbler, White-cheeked Tern, Sand Partridge; Turkey: Little Crake, Caspian Snowcock, Caucasus Black Grouse, White-headed Duck, Lesser Kestrel; Cyprus: Cyprus Warbler, Cyprus Wheatear, Eleonora's Falcon Small Button-quail, Pale-capped Pigeon, Blue-rumped Pitta, Black-browed Fulvetta, Black and Buff Woodpecker (Cambodia); Green Avadavat, White-bellied Minivet, Bimaculated Lark, Rock Bunting (India); Rusty-capped Fulvetta, Black-breasted Thrush, Collared Myna, Grey Sibia, Long-tailed Wren-Babbler, Brown-winged Parrotbill, Black-bibbed Tit, Yunnan Nuthatch, Rufous-tailed Babbler and Derbyan Parakeet (China). 12 Keith Betton British 1514 Jan: Panama, Apr: Mexico, Jul: Brazil, Oct: Peru 13 Nathan Hentze Canadian 1375 Spoon-billed Sandpiper and Nordmann's Greenshank, Myanmar; Chinese Egret, Spectacled Barwing, Thailand; Jocotoco Antpitta, 10 spp of Darwin's Finch, Ecuador; Masked Fruiteater, Tumbes Tyrant, Peru; Gentoo Penguin, Blackish Cinclodes, Argentina - Aug; Grey Nightjar, Saunders & Relict Gulls, Swan Goose, China - Sep/Oct. 14 Dave Sargeant British 1345 Last upd: 07-October-09: Thailand, plus trips to Cambodia, ne India. Mallorca, Malaysia, Singapore, UK, Philippines and New Guinea. 15 Matt Denton/Birdquest USA 1340 A great trip to Panama in January with Yellow-green Finch, Green Manakin, Sapayoa, Yellow-browed Shrike-Vireo, Black Oropendola, Viridian Dacnis, Beautiful Treerunner and others. Then a comprehensive trip to Southern Ecuador with Esmeraldas Woodstar, Pacfic Royal-Fly, Long-wattled Umbrellabird, El Oro Parakeet, 7 spp of Antpitta incl Jocotoco, Wetmorethraupis, Cinnamon Neopipo and others. Most recently Costa Rica with Silvery-throated Jays, Zeledonia, White-crested Coquette, Yellow-billed Cotinga, Black-cheeked Ant-tanager, Lovely Cotinga, Red-fronted Parrotlet (perched), Ochre-breasted Antpitta, 5 spp of quail-dove and a displaying male Bare-necked Umbrellabird. That is all 3 umbrellabirds in 3 weeks. Most recently a Birdquest trip to Northern Peru with Peruvian Tern, the highly-prized White-faced Nunbird, a whole slew of Marañón endemics, Rusty-tinged and Chestnut Antpittas, Vermillion Tanager, Tumbes Swallow and Barred Antthrush. Will do the Manu and Iquitos tours later this fall. 16 Scott Schuette USA 1275 Ecuador, SE Asia, and the USA; updated Nov. 1st 17 Remco Hofland Dutch 1186 Added Black-winged Pratincole Nov 6; Long-toed Stint Oct 23; lifer Caspian Plover Oct 18; Ross’ Goose, Lapland Bunting, American Golden Plover & Little Bunting Oct 10. Excl heard-onlies (like Rickett’s & Taiwan Hill-Partridge). Visited Belgium (1), Bulgaria (106), Syria (+98), the USA (2x, +80), China (Fujian, +154), Taiwan (+59), Singapore (+10), Malaysia (Panti Forest, +54) and Peru (+530). Furthermore, a year’s modest twitching in The Netherlands (+93). Highlights incl Dusky Thrush (Belgium); 1,350 Red-breasted, 1 Lesser White-fronted & 1 Pink-footed Goose (1st record), Yelkouan Shearwater (Bulgaria); 4 Northern Bald Ibis, 9 Great Spotted Eagle, 75 Sociable, Red-wattled, White-tailed & Spur-winged Lapwing, Eurasian Dotterel, Ruddy Turnstone (2nd record) Hoopoe Lark, Cyprus Wheatear, Iraq Babbler, White-cheeked Bulbul, Dead Sea Sparrow (Syria); triple-breaching Humpback Whales, Worm-eating Warbler (USA); Cabot’s Tragopan, Spoon-billed Sandpiper, Chinese Crested Tern, Reed Parrotbill, Courtois’s Laughingthrush, Chinese Bamboo Rat (China), Mikado & Swinhoe’s Pheasant, Taiwan Bamboo-Partridge, Fairy Pitta, Malayan Night-Heron, Rufous-crowned & White-whiskered Laughingthrush, Steere's Liocichla, Taiwan Barwing, White-eared Sibia, Chinese Ferret-Badger (Taiwan), Crested Partridge, Railbabbler (Malaysia); Spectacled Bear, Chatham (2nd record), Buller’s & Waved Albatross, Ringed Storm-Petrel, Red-legged Cormorant, Pale-winged Trumpeter, Torrent Duck, Tawny-throated Dotterel, Rufous-bellied Seedsnipe, White-bellied Cinclodes, White-throated & Sooty Antbird, Red-and-white Antpitta, Rufous-capped & Black-faced Antthrush, Barred Becard, White-eared Solitaire (Peru); Smew; Balearic, Manx’ & Sooty Shearwater, Baillon’s Crake, Mediterranean, Sabine’s & Iceland Gull, ad Long-tailed & Pomarine Skua, Snowy & Short-eared Owl, Alpine Swift, Radde’s Warbler, Firecrest (Netherlands). 18 Petri Hottola Finnish 1122 Birding destinations this year: Finland, Japan, Australia, PNG, Fiji, Samoa, Hawaii, South Africa, Botswana, Slovakia, Argentina. 19 Nigel Jones/Ornitholidays British 1121 20 David 'Billy' Herman Belgian 1097 Colombia, Venezuela and Belgium. Last new one was Tree Pipit! 21 Roger Ahlman Swedish but living in Ecuador 1050 Ecuador only 22 Nigel Voaden British 1026 Sulawesi & Halmahera, Borneo, West Pacific Odyssey, Taiwan and UK plus work in Madagascar and Russia. Latest: Successful trip to Sulawesi & Halmahera with highlights including INVISIBLE RAIL, Pale-bellied Myna, Yellow-crested Cockatoo, Sulawesi Ground-Dove, Sombre Pigeon, Moluccan Goshawk and all the usual suspects 23 Andrew Self Terran 1024 Brazil, Spain (Extremadura), also UK & Ghana 24 Jim Holmes, Jr USA (Calif) 960 trips to India (Forest Owlet, Pallid Scops Owl, Hypocolious, Indian Bustard, Crab Plover), the Caribbean (White-tailed Tropicbird, Ridgway's Hawk, Ashy-faced Owl, Caribbean Coot, Barbados Bullfinch and all the St. Lucian endemics), Brazil (Mantled Hawk, Three-toed Jacamar, Salvadori's Antwren, Black-hooded Antwren, Restinga Antwren, and Gray-winged Cotinga), and Korea (for work but saw Black-faced Spoonbill and Saunder's Gull), ABA highlights: Cook's Petrel and Red-billed Tropicbird on southern CA pelagic 25 David Fisher / Sunbird British 945 2009 off to a nice start with a trip to Ecuador which produced nine antpittas including Jocotoco and Giant, 57 hummingbirds (10 of which were lifers), Long-wattled Umbrellabird, Coppery-chested Jacamar, Gray-capped Cuckoo, and many more. Followed this by a trip to Venezuela in March with lots of excellent birds - two Scallop-breasted Antpittas perched on the same branch, Pavonine Cuckoo, Zigzag Heron, Yellow-breasted Crake, Azure Gallinule, Harpy Eagle, etc. etc. 26 Peter Bijlmakers Dutch 909 Splendid and Turqoise Parrots plus Bay owl (Pen Malaysia 384, Netherlands 128, Belgium 70, Germany 55, Australia 279, South Africa 182). 27 David Daniels USA 853 Indiana, West Virginia, Texas, Ecuador, and one day in Bogota, Colombia. Latest bird: Apolinar's Wren 9/20/09 28 C. Zockler German 763 October: White-tailed Shrike and Rueppels Korhaan in Namibia, Iceland Gull in Iceland! End September: Sicily with Pallid Swift and Audouins Gull! End of July: Kamchatka with Kittlitz Murrlet, Steller's Sea Eagle and Aleutian Tern and the ever impressive Siberian Rubythroat; Slowly with Manx Shearwater and Little Gull in UK, End of April, Latest: Black-eared Shrike Babbler in Nepal; End of March update: Serin and Hawfinch in Germany; Chiffchaff in UK; Germany with Purple Sandpiper and Ferrugenous Duck; Myanmar with Spoon-billed Sandpiper, Nordmann's Greenshank, Collared Falconet and Brahminy Starling new for the country 29 Dennis Serdehely USA - NV 754 As of Nov. 2 Nevada and Northern Ecuador' Yucatan Peninsula, MX and 3 days in California . Blue-winged Warbler, Orchard Oriole, Scarlet Tanager White-winged Crossbill and Rusty blackbird in NV. Andean Condor, Andean Cock-of -the -Rock, Oilbird, Rufous-bellied Seedsnipe, 6 species of antpitta, 56 Species of Humminbird and 58 species of tanager in Ecuador. 30 Vaughan Ashby/BIRDFINDERS ENGLISH 735 UAE, Thailand, Cape Verde Islands, China, Turkey, Lesser Antilles and Australia. Haven't updated all my year's records yet! 31 Bradley Davis Canadian 731 Brazil only. Recent highlights are Black-and-tawny, Dark-throated and Rufous-rumped Seedeaters, Horned Sungem and Purple-throated Fruitcrow in Vila Bela de Santíssima Trindade. 32 nick upton British 677 - Thailand & 3 weeks in UK Diard's Trogon, Hooded Pitta, Banded Pitta, Rufous-collared Kingfisher, Cutia, Pale-capped Pigeon, White-gorgetted Flycatcher, Lesser Cuckoo, Red-backed Shrike, Arctic Skua 33 Ian Davies USA-Massachusetts 666 First two weeks of the year in Ecuador, 10 days in Panama in March, Feb-early April in Washington D.C., all else in MA. (Last updated 8/2/09) 34 Peter Ericsson Swedish 612 67new birds in Sulawesi. 10 lifers in Eastern Australia. Malaysian Rail Babbler, Diard's Trogon, Spoon-billed Sandpiper , Nordmann's Greenshanks,Hooded Pitta, Blue Pitta, Mangrove Pitta, Chinese Egret, Asian Dowticher, White-faced Plover, Crested Jay, Grey Peacock Pheasent, Coral-billed Ground-Cuckoo, Hume's Phaseant 35 Kurt Pohlman USA - Hawaii 602 updated 11/20/09 Just added N. Harrier,Pueo,Curlew Sandpiper and Red Knot in Hawaii, visiting PNG, Bougainville,Aus., Mexico,Oregon. 36 Peter Kaestner USA 592 All So Asia. Highlights Large-billed Reed Warbler, Kolkata March. 37 Andy Gibb British 591 21/11/09: Lesser Yellowlegs; White-fronted Goose; Bewick's Swan; Purple Sandpiper; Shore Lark 38 Benji Schwartz 541 So far just one trip around South Africa and a bit of backyard birding in Minnesota, South-east Alaska, and Montana 39 Tim Mitzen USA 541 Ecuador January followed by 8 months stuck in the States. Orange-throated Tanager, Jocotoco Antpitta, Ocellated Tapaculo, Gray Tinamou, Scarlet-breasted Fruiteater, Gray-tailed Piha, Nocturnal Curassow, Rufous Potoo, Wing-banded Antbird and Banded Antbird among the Ecuador highlights. 'Northern' Spotted Owl and Tufted Puffin in Oregon. Loads of nesting neotropical migrants in Minnesota including Connecticut Warbler. 40 Dan Jones USA 532 10/25/09 41 Russ Lamb Australian 505 British Columbia & Alberta 4 weeks May/June, Taiwan 3 days, coastal NSW, SW Qld & SEQ 42 Olioso Georges French 415 43 mike davidson british but in Kenya 284 in Karen/Langata Pale Flycatcher, White-starred Robin 44 kirsten mills Canadian 283 Skylark, Slaty backed Gull, Long eared Owl, Snow Bunting, Rough legged Hswk, Common Teal, Iceland Gull 45 Alex Farias Brazilian/Australian 247 Brolga, Black Falcon, Nakeen Night Heron, Stubble Quail, Eastern Curlew, Common Tern, Spiny cheeked honeyeater,Zebra Finch, VIC, Australia; Gamble's Quail, Crissal Trasher and Horned Lark, Road Runner, Ross Goose, Costa's Hummingbird, NV, USA. Hudsonia Godwit, VIC, Australia 46 Bennet Porter Falmouth, MA USA 200 Long-tailed Duck, Black Scoter, White-winged Scoter 11/19/09 47 Colin Lunt N.Z. 178 48 Chris Done British 109 Toronto island Toronto Canada..3 lifers black throated green and pine warbler plus field sparrow. other warblers included nashville, yellow,cape may,palm and numerous yellow rumps. 5 sp of sparrow. also nice to see plenty fo summer plumaged long tailed duck along with bufflehead,canvasback and hooded merg Not entered in these rankings and want to enter yourself? Update or Delete your ranking Back to Life and Year List Home