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

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  1. kb57

    kb57's 2024 Year List

    I think I might need to go to Spain one day to have more chance of connecting though...western olivaceous warbler is another which doesn't really get across the border, but should be relatively easy this side of Seville. There's also spectacled warbler which I've never seen yet, and which was...
  2. kb57

    kb57's 2024 Year List

    It wasn't bad! All three at one site too - I'm just left slightly regretting I didn't connect with Western Orphean warbler, as that's a lot harder here than any of the three I saw today.
  3. kb57

    kb57's 2024 Year List

    May 15: Serra do Caldeirão, Algarve Decided to devote a day to exploring some sites in the hills of the eastern Algarve, with a few targets in mind for both year and life lists, as well as the more prosaic pursuit of filling in another concelho on my eBird map. I visited 3 sites in São Bras de...
  4. kb57

    kb57's 2024 Year List

    May 14: Salinas do Forte do Rato, Tavira Early evening visit to my local saltpans, with two year list targets in mind, which duly obliged. Still a few waders around - as well as the resident avocets, black-winged stilts and Kentish plover, I also recorded turnstone, dunlin, redshank...
  5. kb57

    kb57's 2024 Year List

    May 13: Castro Marim, Portugal My first visit to the saltpans and saltmarshes around the derelict-looking visitor centre for about 10 years, on a grey and rainy October day which contrasted with the 26C and sunshine today. I'd had a morning stroll around Lagoa de Aldeia Nova followed by a beach...
  6. kb57

    kb57's 2024 Year List

    May 07: Weetslade, North Tyneside Back in UK and catching up with a couple of local species which will be difficult in the Algarve - estimated 7 willow warbler territories, and got a couple of good views of singing birds, plus an excellent view of a whitethroat. No such luck with the 2 reed...
  7. kb57

    Hearing aids for hearing bird calls

    Unfortunately true, people (especially including my partner!) somehow find it amusing to point out what you can't hear, whether it's a cuckoo or a distant siren. I can still hear both species of treecreeper, but the most recent common treecreeper I heard was literally 2 metres away from me, so...
  8. kb57

    Hearing aids for hearing bird calls

    I've got significant deterioration in hearing higher frequencies, plus left-ear tinnitus, a legacy no doubt of too many metal band gigs in my youth - I think my left ear hearing threshold is something like 60dB at 6kHz, and over 70dB at 8kHz. I finally gave in to my partner's nagging and got...
  9. kb57

    Shots of birds, taken with your pocket camera

    A screen grab of the iPhone video my partner took of the pied wheatear in a Whitley Bay flowerbed, after I forgot to put the battery back in her camera :rolleyes: @Paul Chapman - the ridiculously tame Baillon's Crake in Mowbray Park brings back some memories...I was doing a part time MSc at the...
  10. kb57

    kb57's 2024 Year List

    Apr 24: Heraklion, Crete A non-birding trip which was originally scheduled for 2022, and was going to be an autumn break on the coast - flights postponed twice for different reasons, and we ended up having a city break doing tourist stuff. A very sparse bird list somehow managed to involve two...
  11. kb57

    kb57's 2024 Year List

    Apr 18, Parque Ambiental, Vilamoura I needed to go to Faro to sort something out with my car, so I thought I might as well travel a little further still and check out the wetlands and fields of the Parque Ambiental - my second visit to this site. Just like last time, I was soon being taunted...
  12. kb57

    The ebird update - How do you like it?..

    I really like the new font and web page layout - it gives a really spacious, classy feel to the website. For me, the My Stats page defaults to the country I'm in (although auto-detection can be turned off), and gives all-time rather than monthly species statistics. This also gives localised...
  13. kb57

    Iberian Chiffchaff dilemma

    Merlin IDed little egret and great egret for me at an inland site in Portugal this morning - neither were present, but there were a few toads calling from the river...it also IDed tree sparrow (for house sparrow), Iberian grey shrike (I was looking at a woodchat shrike at the time) and garden...
  14. kb57

    Birding around Glasgow sites

    When my son lived in Glasgow, he used to head north up to the Campsie Fells whenever he felt like getting out of the city - probably the nearest easily accessible bit of upland habitat (by car), and I see that they have some red grouse records on eBird. Alternatively, there's plenty of upland...
  15. kb57

    kb57's 2024 Year List

    16 April: Porto Carvalhoso, Tavira, Portugal An unfortunately too brief trip back to Portugal, with a few admin things to sort out as I'm now a Portuguese tax resident, and a report to work on. Decided on a morning visit to pick up some inland species in the hills of Tavira concelho, about 20...
  16. kb57

    kb57's 2024 Year List

    12 April: Newbiggin-by-the-Sea, Northumberland My first chance to visit the Northumberland coast on this short trip to UK, and decided on a walk to Beacon Point as there were a few potential year list additions on eBird. Unfortunately I had very little spare space in my bag on the way back to...
  17. kb57

    Crowned Cranes - are they introduced in the UAE?

    I get your point, and I guess this reflects the difficulty of reaching a consistent definition of 'self-sustaining'. Given sufficient data, this would be easy enough to model in terms of population dynamics (as has been done, for example, with deliberate re-introductions to estimate necessary...
  18. kb57

    Internet issues

    I've no doubt Niels is correct, as my experience wouldn't explain the issue appearing on multiple devices, but...I've had a similar issue with random websites on my partner's Sky ISP account in UK, which I don't experience in Portugal. Using a VPN helps, but clearing the cache on my browser...
  19. kb57

    kb57's 2024 Year List

    Apr 11: Blagdon, Northumberland I've not done any dedicated birding over the last few weeks - been to Paris and saw more short-toed treecreepers and rose-ringed parakeets, and just had a flyover sparrowhawk this morning at my partner's place near Newcastle, but no new year list additions. I...
  20. kb57

    What are the most interesting wildlife that you've seen in YOUR HOUSE?

    My adoptive dad was in the Libyan desert in WW2, and his advice to me before I went travelling to the Middle East was always to shake my boots out before I put them on. I'm going to Crete shortly myself, so your post is a timely reminder to heed his advice!
  21. kb57

    What are the most interesting wildlife that you've seen in YOUR HOUSE?

    I used to live in an old terraced cottage with coal fires - the bedroom had its own fireplace and chimney. One morning my ex-wife and I were woken up to a western jackdaw flapping around the room, distributing black soot everywhere. We'd had a cowl fitted to the main chimney, as otherwise...
  22. kb57

    Crowned Cranes - are they introduced in the UAE?

    As eBird is placing them in the 'exotic-escaped' category (i.e. Category E), this presumably means that locally they are still not accepted as a naturalised exotic (i.e. Category C)?
  23. kb57

    The 10% Club - Milestones

    This is a timely post from my perspective, as I've been wondering whether I can join the '10% club' myself in the not too distant future. With the help of old notebooks I'm currently migrating my slightly incomplete and slightly inaccurate Scythebill list (IOC) to eBird, which of course is...
  24. kb57

    Curlew /whimbrel ? Derbyshire uk

    +1 for curlew. Apart from the massively greater probability of curlew in a field in the Peak District, there is one feature that is apparent in the photo which clinches it for me...the even curvature of the bill along its length, compared to the straighter base / more strongly curved tip of...
  25. kb57

    Poncho vs. Rain Jacket and Pants

    Resurrecting this thread as I'm heading to the humid tropics for a short trip in November, and thinking an umbrella might be a useful addition to my packing list. I found this hands-free trekking umbrella which is made in Germany and wondered if anyone has used it...
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