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

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  1. M

    Thailand (or elsewhere in SE Asia) the last two weeks of December?

    Wow! Thanks for that itinerary. I’ve already started looking at it in more detail. One concern I have is hiring guides through lodges once we get there instead of hiring directly ourselves in advance. We used to reserve through lodges and have them set up the guiding, but we have found it hit or...
  2. M

    Thailand (or elsewhere in SE Asia) the last two weeks of December?

    Thanks!
  3. M

    Thailand (or elsewhere in SE Asia) the last two weeks of December?

    Ok, sure, that would be great if you could recommend some local guides. We never go on scheduled group birding tours, but we have started using an independent guide to set up our trip, travel with us and set things up with local guides. I have to be super careful about what I eat (else I could...
  4. M

    Thailand (or elsewhere in SE Asia) the last two weeks of December?

    How did you bird independently? How did you work out the transportation, figuring out logistics, etc? I have often thought about trying to do an independent trip, but fear that I will miss out on a lot of the specialty/hard to find birds without expert help. (Also, I have some pretty serious...
  5. M

    Thailand (or elsewhere in SE Asia) the last two weeks of December?

    My husband and I will have two+ weeks of vacation at the end of December and would like to bird SE Asia for the first time. What areas would be good at this time of year? We were originally considering Thailand, but then heard that the holidays are really not a great time to visit due to greatly...
  6. M

    How do big listers bird?

    Thanks for the last two comments. I think I hijacked my own thread, lol. I really do want to know about how big listers get birds. Not really trying to say which is the best way to bird. Besides, my husband and I have always used local guides abroad and I am thinking that my desire to go it on...
  7. M

    How do big listers bird?

    Thanks for your responses! Interesting! One of my ambitions is to use guides less and go more on my own. Well, I do this already in my home country, the US, but I mean in Central and South America. It just seems like it would be more of a challenge and a learning opportunity. I am trying to...
  8. M

    How do big listers bird?

    I’m wondering how big listers go for those elusive species. I am assuming they don’t just sign up for standard bird tours, but instead hire private guides. Or maybe they just go completely on their own? But if they do hire guides, do they just ask around until they find someone who has a good...
  9. M

    Budget travel advice

    I agree. Eric was great!
  10. M

    General question about birding travel, guides

    Thanks! I can definitely look around a little more for info on the people at the new company. But I get what you mean about your guides. Also, come to think of it, we know from experience that we have in the past preferred excellent guides with less than perfect personalities to OK guides who...
  11. M

    General question about birding travel, guides

    I am in the process of setting up a private birding tour for myself and my husband. At the moment, I have had two guides/planners set up various itineraries for us to choose from. We actually like all the itineraries (they aren’t that different), but each outfit seems to have an advantage and a...
  12. M

    Advice for someone who has a hard time ID’ing birds ...

    Wow. The last two posts are really interesting. I just realized that I might have a mild form of prosopagnosia myself. In any case, my husband is considerably better at recognizing human faces than I am. One of my frustrations with movies is that I have a hard time recognizing characters when...
  13. M

    Advice for someone who has a hard time ID’ing birds ...

    Fortunately not. But even if he were here and did read it, I think he would forgive me .... 😊
  14. M

    Advice for someone who has a hard time ID’ing birds ...

    His eyesight is excellent, better than mine.
  15. M

    Advice for someone who has a hard time ID’ing birds ...

    Thanks. I started this thread partly to help my husband, who expressed frustration last night and partly due to my own frustration. So far it has helped me think more deeply about the problems/challenges involved. I think there is more than one thing going on. I think we might be able to chalk...
  16. M

    Advice for someone who has a hard time ID’ing birds ...

    I know what you mean about the stringing. He is actually really honest and careful about the claims he makes to the larger birding community (we both learned the hard way that I need to review everything before he posts it on-line or to eBird) and he would never string on purpose. But I feel...
  17. M

    Advice for someone who has a hard time ID’ing birds ...

    I think he just also needs to study the birds — you know — sitting down with the guide book, pencil and paper ahead of time and really studying them. Its. It isn’t enough to have a more or less vague idea of what your target bird kind of looks like, you also have to know what else you might...
  18. M

    Advice for someone who has a hard time ID’ing birds ...

    Thanks. He does a lot of sound recording too.
  19. M

    Advice for someone who has a hard time ID’ing birds ...

    Actually, in many ways he is more into birding than I am. If he had his way, that is all he would do, while I need a break sometimes. He has discussed doing a US big year and I would never, ever want to do something like that. (I think I have successfully talked him out of it.) He is also more...
  20. M

    Advice for someone who has a hard time ID’ing birds ...

    My husband and I have been birding seriously for almost 10 years now. By seriously, I mean: travel, sometimes to foreign countries, specifically for birding; maintaining and caring about various lists; birding every day — my husband, if not me, has birdied every single day for the last 3 years...
  21. M

    Euphonia ID question - Costa Rica

    Ok. Thanks again! To my eyes the crown looked yellow, but it is clearly a darker, more tawny yellow than the underparts. Seems obvious now that you pointed out the correct ID.
  22. M

    Euphonia ID question - Costa Rica

    And we have another Costa Rican bird ID question. We are thinking either Yellow-crowned Euphonia (although the vent and UTC are white and shouldn’t be) or a White-vented Euphonia (but the yellow on the crown seems too extensive for this species). Please take a look at our small album of the...
  23. M

    Need ID help for Costa Rican bird

    Ok, great. Thanks! Now I see that the although the photos is really washed out, you can indeed make out the face pattern of the Common Chlorospingus. Didn’t notice that before.
  24. M

    Need ID help for Costa Rican bird

    Could someone please help my husband and me ID the Costa Rican bird pictured in the following album on flickr.com: https://flic.kr/s/aHsmPozF2e We saw it in National Park (PN) Tapanti in December. The checklist associated with this visit is: https://ebird.org/checklist/S26426260 To our eyes...
  25. M

    Explaining habitat choice?

    Why is it that species which seem very similar choose different habitats? The species I am currently wondering about are the White Ibis and the Glossy Ibis. Here, in Florida, the Glossy Ibis is almost never found away from wetlands whereas the White Ibis is found almost anywhere -- in wetlands...
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