2015 - A Retrospective

A year of travel and fieldwork

After a busy Christmas season and one week into a new job, I'm taking advantage of this stormy weekend to look back over 2015 and pick out some highlights.

The year turned out to be one of the busiest I can remember, here is a quick run-down:

January - Australia. The last of a four month position collecting data on Red-winged Fairy-wrens for Australia National University in WA.
169 species seen.

Red-winged Fairy-wren Malurus elegans.Western Australia 2015

February/March - Thailand. Ten days birding in Phetchaburi Province with Kaeng Krachan Nature Reserve on the Burmese border being the highlight.
229 species.
I then worked in Henan Province, China for Beijing Forestry University on Black-throated and Silver-throated Tits.
100 species.

Red-billed Blue-magpie Urocissa erythroryncha. Henan, China 2015 (photo by Josefina Pehrson).

April - UK

May/June/July - USA. I worked the seabird breeding season on the Farallone Islands, California, for Point Blue Conservation Science.
222 species.

Tufted Puffin Fratercula cirrhata. Farallones, California 2015 (photo by Julia Gulka).

August - UK

September/October/November - Eilat, Israel. Worked as a Ringer in one of Europe's greatest migration hot-spots.
283 species.

Lichtenstein's Sandgrouse Pterocles lichtensteinii. Eilat, Israel 2015

December - UK

A fantastic year filled with great people and birds, let's hope 2016 can live up to it!

Total species seen: 769
Total countries visited: 6
Total continents visited: 4
Total blue whales seen in a single hour: 24! (Farallones, California)

Family Focus - Shorebirds of Maine, USA

I spent spring and summer of 2013 & 2014 working for Project Puffin in Maine, USA. Living on small, isolated islands off the East coast of the continent put me in a position to observe much shorebird migration. Here are a few photos of some of the species that stopped by to feed in the small fresh and salt water pools on the island.

  

Short-billed Dowitcher Limnodromus griseus. Maine, USA. June 2014.

Lesser Yellowlegs Tringa flavipes. Maine, USA. August 2014.

White-rumped Sandpiper Calidris fuscicollis. Maine, USA. July 2014.

Purple Sandpiper Calidris maritima. Maine, USA. July 2014.

Stilt Sandpiper Calidris himantopus. Maine, USA. July 2014.

(Hudsonian) Whimbrel Numenius phaeopus. Maine, USA. July 2014. 

Spotted Sandpiper Actitis macularius. Maine, USA. June 2014.

Semipalmated Sandpiper Calidris pusilla. Maine, USA. June 2014.

Killdeer Charadrius vociferus. Maine, USA. August, 2014.

Least Sandpiper Calidris minutilla. Maine, USA. July 2014.

Semipalmated Plover Charadrius semipalmatus. Maine, USA. August 2014.

Turnstone Arenaria interpres. Maine, USA. July 2014.

In total 23 species of shorebird were recorded by our small team of 4-6 over three months on Seal Island National Nature Reserve, a tiny rock in the Gulf of Maine with the Stilt Sandpiper being the most unusual.