Collaborative list – April 2019

It’s official. It’s spring. By all measures, meteorological, astronomical and anatomical, spring is sprung. The meteorological date is from March 1st, the Vernal Equinox was passed on March 20th which accounts for the astronomical marker when the sun crosses the equator on its northwards ramble. April is now behind us and Old Tom’s arthritis is clearing up nicely, thank you very much for asking.

The migrants are coming (Hurray!). Some are already here, or passing through.

If I know the readership at 10,000 Birds, they are already way ahead on this one, but please remember to give the migrants a little space. They are tired and hungry. Vulnerable. Make the best use of your binoculars and view from a distance.

Back to numbers. April was a busy time for the beats with 10 of them contributing 164 lists to accumulate 744 species from 7 countries; Costa Rica, USA, Australia, Serbia, UK, Brazil and Barbados. The year list reached 1729 and the life list now stretches to 3720.

You can take my word for it, they are all listed below, but don’t waste your time checking, get out there, It’s spring!

Only joking.

Actually, I have a confession to make. I didn’t expect anyone to get this far and as such, my little deception would have gone unnoticed. But, since you have, it is only fair that I warn you that some vandal has ripped out the last page and the last 2 days of the month are missing. For most people, even those who have powered through to this far, a few birds, other peoples’ birds, missing from someone else’s list is no great tragedy, but if you are Clare and Grant, who struggled to get home in time to submit the remainder of their April sightings in time for inclusion into the collaborative list, then it could be seen as a dreadful business. So I would appreciate it if you didn’t tell them. Their wonderful sightings will go to boost the May figures instead, so all is not lost. Providing, as we agreed, that they never find out.