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

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  1. opisska

    Ghana - Cuckooshrike and Bishop

    The first bird does not show a lot of field marks, but is there anything but Purple-throated Cuckooshrike that would really fit? Amedzofe, Eastern Volta. For the second bird, I understand that this is a bishop/widowbird "not a breeding male" type which are notoriously difficult - near Kakum...
  2. opisska

    Ghana - swifts

    Four swifts from Ghana - the first three from around Kakum NP in the south - I find Common vs. Pallid difficult enough already and there could be maybe Mottled, or even Black or Bate's? Or are better photos needed? The fourth bird is near Kumasi and it could be Black Spinetail maybe? Swift...
  3. opisska

    Mottled Swift?, Kenya

    It has been suggested to me that this is a Mottled Swift. In the absence of any scale, I find myself unable to judge the size of the bird - to me it could be Mottled or some of the assortment of the smaller Apus swifts that can occur in Kenya. From a road between Samburu and Meru, January 2022.
  4. opisska

    American Golden Plover, Bretagne, France

    We twitched and AGP today - we found a bird that was clearly different from all the EGPs very quickly, but it was always very far away for photos - well, expectedly, as all available photos of this bird are even worse than what we got. The bird was visibly slightly smaller than the EGPs and more...
  5. opisska

    Song recordings, Japan (Nagano)

    Two recordings from the same location in mostly birch mountain forest: https://www.inaturalist.org/observations/174855093 https://www.inaturalist.org/observations/174855091 BirdNet claims Narcissus Flycatcher and Blue-and-White Flycatcher for the first and Narcissus Flycatcher, Blue-and-White...
  6. opisska

    Phylloscopus, Japan (Nagano)

    I am a bit confused with this bird - the wingbar is very weak but present, primaries stretch out to the next province. So it's maybe Arctic? I am not entirely sure what is expected here in late July. Some 2200 meters a.s.l. in dense coniferous forest on the ridge of the mountains, Nagano...
  7. opisska

    The tyranny of flycatchers (Brazil)

    I have 13 birds, all of the most tyrannic variety, all taken this May in and around Pantanal (if you can't place the sites, just thing "Pantanal and around). I still have very little opinion on the IDs of Elaenias and Myiarchuses. 1 - Chapada dos Guimares 2 - Chapada dos Guimares 3 -...
  8. opisska

    Indonesia

    After the recent trip to Saudi Arabia, we became absolutely in love with snorkeling. This was literally the first time I have put my head under water in my entire life and it was immediately a life-changing experience. Our friends experienced in this hobby tell us that a good place to expand our...
  9. opisska

    Terns, SA

    From the Farasan ferry. In this area, most of terns were Lesser Crested, with some Greater Crested, Whiskered, White-winged, Gull-billed, Caspian, Saunder's and possibly Little (and one lone Brown Noddy, incidentally sitting on the other end of this very buoy) - but this group is the one...
  10. opisska

    Whitethroat, SA

    In a really random spot halfway between Abha and Riyadh we camped next to some scattered acacias in otherwise really empty desert and there were four birds - they were very active so the photos can be of different individuals. At first I thought Lesser Whitethroat, but they made consistent...
  11. opisska

    Saudi Arabia Feb-Mar 2023

    The 2013 Lonely Planet calls Saudi Arabia "the ultimate frontier of tourism". The country has never been open to leisure travellers, the only western visitors being expats and businessmen - generally anyone with some  other excuse to be there outside of simple curiosity. Much has changed in the...
  12. opisska

    Red-footed Booby, Saudi Arabia

    Farasan ferry today afternoon sailing, quite close to Farasan end. Considering that there are ZERO records on eBird and neither does the Birds of Middle East book mention it for KSA, it's a shame that the documentation is so bad, courtesy of the stupid ferry that doesn't allow outside access...
  13. opisska

    BoP, Sabya, SW Saudi

    This is a weird bird, I am really not sure what to put it as, probably juvenile of some Accipiter sp.? There are quite a few interesting possibilities here. In an agricultural area with loose mosaic of tiny fields and trees, yesterday.
  14. opisska

    Harlequin Quail or Buttonquail, Jazan, SA

    Sabya pivot fields right now, SW Saudi. Harlequins were nicely heard, but this looks more like a Buttonquail? Sorry for terrible picture, but I think it has some field marks :)
  15. opisska

    African or Siberian Stonechast, Saudi Arabia

    This seems to be a topic that everyone (including my Birds of Middle East book) avoids - maybe because it's next to impossible? Both species are reported here by birders, African more often, but the records make me suspicious that the same birds are being reported as both species by different...
  16. opisska

    Daurian/Turkestan shrikes near Riyadh, KSA

    I think the first is Turkestan (Red-tailed) and the second Daurian (Isabelline)? Thanks for any ideas!
  17. opisska

    Israel bird info

    I find swapping Saudi Arabia for Israel mildly ironic, but that's exactly what covid forced me to do. We will be in Israel for a week 27/12-03/01 with the main target being the apparently wintering Verreaux's Eagle(s). However a rarity is never not welcome, especially in a place like Israel -...
  18. opisska

    Swifts, Thailand

    1-3 Pak Thale 4-5 Keang Krachan (low altitude) 6-7 Phu Khieo I am not sure if anything of this is even IDable, but that is the general fate of swift observation in SE Asia I guess ...
  19. opisska

    Warblers, Thailand

    1,2 Nam Nao 3 Phu Khieo 4-7 Khao Yai For some of the birds, I have some more photos, but I didn't want to flood this with them - I am frankly not even sure what are the field marks to look for ... There are so many possible options - and I still haven't even learned how to tell inornatus from...
  20. opisska

    Various, Thailand

    1 & 9 - Kaeng Krachan (low altitude around lower camp) 2 - fields NW from Bangkok (juvenile jacana - bronze-winged or pheasant-tailed?) 3 - 8 Khao Yai I think for all the birds the genus is pretty obvious and then it gets unreasonably hard. I probably just need a better book, the illustrations...
  21. opisska

    Stop requiring archaic forms for rarities

    Several times already I happened to stumble upon a rare bird in some country. Eventually I get in touch with some rare bird recorder or committee and it inevitably comes to the same thing: a form to fill, full of questions I have absolutely nothing to add to. I do understand that in the olden...
  22. opisska

    Call, Ouessant, France, October

    This call - Eurasian Oystercatcher (Haematopus ostralegus) - we have recorded during a twitch of Radde's Warbler. It doesn't sound anything like Radde's to me and no other birders seemed excited by the call - and then I got an ID of Oystercatcher for it on iNaturalist, but I have not found a...
  23. opisska

    Finch, Gran Canaria, July

    I had this down for just the good old Canary, but someone on iNaturalist suggested, I am not kidding, Trumpeter x Canary - Perching Birds (Order Passeriformes) - does that even happen? Would be pretty interesting to me if someone could confirm this, what an amazing concept!
  24. opisska

    Sandpiper, Van, Turkey, May

    This bird still bothers me. Even on iNaturalist there was no conclusion - Calidris Sandpipers (Genus Calidris) - I also showed it to a few friends, the usual line is Dunlin? No ... Temmnick's? No. So ....
  25. opisska

    Thailand November 2022

    This was probably the most complicated trip to plan - between my wife's and my own health limitations (meaning we want a rental car trip and we do not want malaria), the ongoing covidism in some places, a dead specific time window to go, in a season that's bad for many destinations, a dreadful...
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