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ZEISS DTI thermal imaging cameras. For more discoveries at night, and during the day.

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  1. opisska

    Petition to AOS Leadership on the Recent Decision to Change all Eponymous Bird Names

    Haha, maybe the same guide, but not the same edition ... I am not kidding, but if you get the latest edition of Czech translation of Collins, the Czech names for McQueen's and Houbara Bustards are now switched around compared to the previous edition, courtesy of the "Czech nomenclature...
  2. opisska

    Petition to AOS Leadership on the Recent Decision to Change all Eponymous Bird Names

    The amount of people who would be willing to learn scientific names for something that they do for fun cannot be anything that miniscule.
  3. opisska

    Birding in Southern Tuscany and thereabouts

    I seem to be coming to the wrong parts of Italy and at the wrong times - this is just soooo different to what I know from the country (mostly mid-summer visits around Naples, with another one coming this July). How do you, after all of the birds, get a Tarsiger in the area is beyond...
  4. opisska

    Britain's most prolific egg collector, reoffends again.

    The problem with harsh sentencing for things like this is that it would imply even harsher sentencing for more serious crimes - I mean surely, it's not nice to the birds, but no humans were harmed here. Some level of harm due to human insanity simply has to be expected.
  5. opisska

    Two people break 10,000 species, and on the same day? Can it be?

    Apparently seeing 10 thousand bird species is enough to get Jon Hall to admit that birds are somewhat interesting. Peter Kaestner on The Mammalwatching Podcast - Season 3 of the mammalwatching podcast just dropped and our first guest is birding legend Peter Kaestner – Mammal Watching
  6. opisska

    Brown Fish-Owl above Adana

    I have just come back from Turkey, where we spent there nights (~20 hours total) turning the 13-km road-accessible stretch of the Manavgat river valley around Üzümdere upside down, still with no owls. We even met a guided group - while the guide was obviously keen for the guests to avoid any...
  7. opisska

    Equipment discussion: to blimp or not to blimp

    So the point of the blimp is to be able to fly to microphone closer to the birds? :)
  8. opisska

    Two people break 10,000 species, and on the same day? Can it be?

    I love the modern journalism where you just report on what you read on birdforum :)
  9. opisska

    Do you count heard only birds on your life list?

    The "tape argument" is probably a larger concern to the typical "birding tourist" who goes to popular birding destinations (or for local birding in heavily populated areas). But I can assure you, that all times that I heard Desert Owl, there were no people for kilometers around me. Also this is...
  10. opisska

    Latest IOC Diary Updates

    Do we really have the bitching about eponyms everywhere? :)
  11. opisska

    Latest IOC Diary Updates

    I hope I'll remember Non-Tahiti Swallow for the next time in Indonesia :)
  12. opisska

    Two people break 10,000 species, and on the same day? Can it be?

    Yes and that's why it is forbidden, or at least loudly discouraged, at an increasing number of sites. Maybe when enough places follow suit, then people will realize that it's nigh impossible to see some birds without this questionable method and that will be a strong motivation to start...
  13. opisska

    Two people break 10,000 species, and on the same day? Can it be?

    I have a pretty good vision, that still doesn't help when the bird is hiding or it's dark... or is an Empidonax :)
  14. opisska

    Two people break 10,000 species, and on the same day? Can it be?

    I considered it for a few mammals, but was never able to get a solid enough ID.
  15. opisska

    Two people break 10,000 species, and on the same day? Can it be?

    If a bird was obscured by a vampire, would using a mirror, which doesn't show the vampire, and thus reveals the bird, be considered cheating?
  16. opisska

    Two people break 10,000 species, and on the same day? Can it be?

    Now I am considering to retroactively tick Western Polecat based on smell around its den.
  17. opisska

    Two people break 10,000 species, and on the same day? Can it be?

    I still don't understand why is it such a great difference from using a scope. What about looking through the viewfinder of a camera, is that fair? Now what if the camera is mirrorless and the viewfinder is actually a screen? If looking at real-time FFT of a sound is not fair, would having the...
  18. opisska

    Two people break 10,000 species, and on the same day? Can it be?

    Yep, that would have been my next angle of attack :)
  19. opisska

    Two people break 10,000 species, and on the same day? Can it be?

    Is that really different from using a scope instead of my own eyes? I am looking at the spectrogram in real time, just using the microphone to help where my own ears are not enough.
  20. opisska

    Two people break 10,000 species, and on the same day? Can it be?

    I can even one-up this discussion: do you count birds that you don't even hear, but see on the spectrogram? I was surprised to learn that European Robin has a very specific high frequency call - I never heard it, but I can immediately tell it from the spectral shape.
  21. opisska

    Two people break 10,000 species, and on the same day? Can it be?

    Funny that you mention Tree Hyraxes! I have actually seen three different species in the wild, but visually they are basically identical, so without hearing the vastly different calls, the ID would be just based on range, which I find unsatisfactory. But the story is similar with many birds...
  22. opisska

    Two people break 10,000 species, and on the same day? Can it be?

    If people want to continue considering "heard only" as a lesser category, they should also consider "seen only" the same and really only count birds that were both seen and heard, otherwise this arbitrary priority of one sense doesn't make much ... sense.
  23. opisska

    Latest IOC Diary Updates

    I mean this is really a tangent but I find this is an interesting disadvantage of the English language - your pronunciation is so out there that it's almost weird that you write English down using the Latin alphabet. This I think is mainly due to your written record being so old - for example...
  24. opisska

    Latest IOC Diary Updates

    Maybe we will get there eventually :)
  25. opisska

    Latest IOC Diary Updates

    But these are geographical names. When you go to a travel agent in England, do you demand tickets to Good Winds, The Angels or Smoky Bay? You know I am in favor of more indigenous names in general, but even if I temporarily assumed your position that the names should be English, surely...
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