Chris in France's 2010 list. (1 Viewer)

[Chris in France]

I made two New Year resolutions: 1) to get out birding more often and 2) to start a 2010 Year List on Bird Forum.

It snowed and sleeted in the morning and so I had to content myself with garden birds early on but I managed a short walk around the town in the afternoon. Whilst we await the 2010 Year List thread, I'll start my year list here:

1. Goldfinch
2. Blue Tit
3. Greenfinch
4. Chaffinch
5. Siskin
6. Great Tit
7. Dunnock
8. Magpie
9. Jackdaw
10. Collared Dove
11. Blackbird
12. House Sparrow
13. Feral Pigeon
14. Marsh Tit
15. Hawfinch
16. Jay
17. Moorhen
18. Carrion Crow
19. Grey Heron

 

[Chris in France]

Sunny but quite cold for most of the day. I wasn't able to go out much further than yesterday and consequently only managed 7 additions to my year list:

20. Wood Pigeon
21. Starling
22. Chiffchaff
23. Mallard
24. Robin
25. White Wagtail
26. Linnet

 

[Chris in France]

Reasonably sunny today but slightly colder. Managed to get out of town for a couple of hours late morning but with poor results, only 4 new birds added to the list:

27. Common Buzzard
28. Mistle Thrush
29. Great Egret
30. Rook

The weather forecast for the next three days is that daytime temperatures will be below freezing, as much as -7. Birding could be difficult!

 

[Chris in France]

Weather below freezing all day. Sun came out briefly late afternoon which persuaded me to take a walk around the local 'plan d'eau' for an hour. My ticks included the usual suspects plus the following two exceptions:

31. Kingfisher
32. Redwing

Off to Paris tomorrow and so I'll see what I can find en route to the big city.

 

[Chris in France]

I am in Paris for a few days and thought I would do some birding whilst in the city. This morning I went to the Parc des Buttes Chaumont but the visit was short-lived as heavy snow began to fall within 45 mins of my arrival. Nevertheless, in that time I managed to tick four new birds for the year:

33. Black-headed Gull
34. Nuthatch
35. Canada Goose
36. Bar-headed Goose (on the partly frozen lake, a surprise!)

Weather permitting, I hope to go to Bois de Boulogne tomorrow morning.

 

[Chris in France]

Paid a brief visit to the Bois de Boulogne (Paris) this morning; it was very cold and there was a layer of snow on the ground. The trip provided two more birds for my year list:

37. Lesser Spotted Woodpecker (female)
38. Long-tailed Tit.

 

[Chris in France]

Returned from Paris today and en route I spotted:

39. Coot

 

[Chris in France]

Walked around the mostly frozen local 'plan d'eau' for an hour and came up with:

40. Grey Wagtail.

 

[Chris in France]

With freezing temperatures and heavy snow restricting birding options I decided to return once more to the town's 'plan d'eau' (a man-made lake adjoining the river Nièvre) without much hope of adding anything to my 2010 list but I found:

41. Winter Wren.

 

[Chris in France]

In the garden this morning:

42. Brambling.

 

[Chris in France]

Due to rain I could only take in the local lake and adjoining river this afternoon but I was rewarded with:

43. Great Spotted Woodpecker.
44. Short-toed Treecreeper

 

[Chris in France]

This afternoon on my usual walk (in the rain, yet again) around the local lake and river I came across:

45. Green Woodpecker

 

[Chris in France]

Outside my front door this morning.

46. Black Redstart

After lunch at La Charité-sur-Loire I spent an hour or so at the nature reserve on the Loire. Disappointingly, I saw only two new birds but one of them saved my day!

47. Cormorant
48. Rock Bunting (lifer) (see attached photo taken at the time)

 

[Chris in France]

A walk around my local patch this afternoon brought:

49. Song Thrush

 

[Chris in France]

Birding activity has been restricted these past few days due to adverse weather conditions.

4th February. A visit to the Bois de Boulogne in Paris brought 22 species but only one of them could be added to my year list:

50. Mute Swan (on Lac Inférieur)

 

[Chris in France]

9th February. At Le Gué d'Heuillion, en route from home to Nevers, an overhead sighting of:

51. Red Kite.

 

[Chris in France]

Scheduled train journey on the 16th to see wintering geese on the Dutch polders abandoned due to the Brussels train crash and subsequent cancellation of all trains through Belgium.

Yesterday I paid a short visit to the river Loire at Nevers and found:

52. Great Crested Grebe.

 

[Chris in France]

I went to the lake at Fleury-la-Tour for an hour or two today and added five birds to my year list:

53. Greylag Goose
54. Eurasian Wigeon
55. Northern Shoveler
56. Hen Harrier
57. Reed Bunting

 

[Chris in France]

Following yesterday's promising visit I returned to the Etang de Fleury-la-Tour today for a longer and more intensive search. The result was four new birds for my year list:

58. Common Pochard
59. Common Teal
60. Tufted Duck
61. Gadwall

 

[Chris in France]

Poor weather conditions and then illness have severely restricted my birding activities of late. However, this morning I chalked up my first year bird since late February and I feel much better now!

62. Blackcap