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

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  1. kb57

    Petrels/shearwaters? Mallorca

    I thought I'd read somewhere that a re-lumping of Cory's and Scopoli's was likely (but not Cape Verde?), although AFAIK they've never been split by Clements. And wasn't there also a proposal to re-lump Balearic and Yelkouan?
  2. kb57

    kb57's 2024 Year List

    Jun 04: Salinas do Forte do Rato, Tavira Met a friendly English birder the other day who gave me more specific directions to the stone curlews. Would've liked to have gone out first thing, but had a work Teams meeting, so had a late afternoon / early evening session instead - unfortunately...
  3. kb57

    Would you personally tick, given a highly unlikely alternative ID?

    I find that quite depressing, I naively thought in Europe the range of species kept by collectors was more limited and controlled - we're all 'bird collectors' in one sense on this site, but prefer to collect memories or photographs without feeling the urge to put them in a cage.
  4. kb57

    Poland - May 2024

    Have grey-headed woodpeckers declined significantly? My only sighting was in a suburban park in Vienna many years ago (with more heard calling), but most of the records from that city seem to be historic. The same site had really tame middle-spotted woodpeckers, habituated to people feeding birds.
  5. kb57

    Which Species Will Be the Next to Breed in the UK?

    Have pectoral sandpiper bred in Britain - I seem to recall they have in Scandinavia? If they aren't already in the 'only once' category, they're feasible candidates for a future one-off.
  6. kb57

    Would you personally tick, given a highly unlikely alternative ID?

    Do people keep Himalayan Bluetails as cage birds in Western Europe? I guess I shouldn't be shocked / surprised at the range of species people want to keep in captivity...
  7. kb57

    Grackle killing and eating sparrows

    Chickadees are capable of some pretty gruesome stuff themselves...this is what our (admittedly somewhat larger and more aggressive) great tit does to bats :oops:! https://www.newscientist.com/article/dn17749-killer-birds-bite-off-bats-heads/
  8. kb57

    Would you personally tick, given a highly unlikely alternative ID?

    The bluetail example by the OP seems like a circumstance where (in the UK at least) you can safely discount the less likely probability, given the very small likelihood of vagrancy to Western Europe of relatively short-range migrants which breed in the Himalayas.
  9. kb57

    Phylloscopus warbler, Langtang trek Nepal

    I've possibly got still less experience with LBLW, from Nepal but a long time ago - a singing bird near Ghorepani therefore unmistakeable. Agree with @dwatsonbirder your pics do look very good for LBLW. However, my abiding impression was of a large leaf warbler with a noticeably large bill...
  10. kb57

    Raptor ID - Portugal (Costa da Caparica - 03/06/2024)

    I'm getting a booted eagle feeling too - I'm not familiar with the other 2 possibilities, and not really identifiable with certainty from pictures, but proportions look good for booted.
  11. kb57

    kb57's 2024 Year List

    I've still not seen white-backed or three-toed - not seen Syrian since 1973, and my last LSW was with a winter tit flock in the Derwent Valley, Co. Durham in about 2002, where I very much doubt they still occur. Iberian green can be really easy here (like the juvenile I saw from my apartment...
  12. kb57

    Visiting UK in June End/Early July - Looking to photograph the Mandarin Duck

    If you are in Newcastle / Northumberland, a scenic spot with a small population of Mandarin Ducks is just upstream of Bellingham on the North Tyne, basically the area between the village and the Kielder Reservoir dam. There are some beautiful walks by the river, and a chance to see a variety of...
  13. kb57

    kb57's 2024 Year List

    June 02: Tavira Finally some unequivocal pallid swifts this year - four in a narrow street giving excellent views. We'd taken binoculars down to the town partly in the expectation of some swifts to sort through, but with close flypast views they weren't needed. 182. Pallid Swift
  14. kb57

    kb57's 2024 Year List

    May 29: Lagoa de Aldeia Nova, VRSA Every time I've been to this site this year I've heard Iberian green woodpeckers calling, without setting eyes on any. On a hot afternoon the pinewoods were quiet, but I finally saw a pair flying through the trees, one of which landed on the side of a pine...
  15. kb57

    kb57's 2024 Year List

    May 28: Santa Luzia, Tavira Evening visit just after sunset to catch up with two crepuscular species - nice flight view of a red-necked nightjar silhouetted against the evening sky, reminding me how big they are compared to common nightjar - and a little owl on a wire. Haven't done any birding...
  16. kb57

    How many cuckoos have you seen?

    Also a modest list of 10 species out of what Scythebill tells me is 150 Cuculidae (IOC): Greater Ani Smooth-billed Ani Greater Coucal Squirrel Cuckoo Asian Koel Square-tailed Drongo-Cuckoo Common Hawk-Cuckoo Lesser Cuckoo Himalayan Cuckoo Common Cuckoo My attempts at adding Great Spotted Cuckoo...
  17. kb57

    kb57's 2024 Year List

    May 17: Castro Verde / northern Algarve Last full day on my own with no work, so I thought I'd have another go at the steppe birds of the Castro Verde plains, after dipping the bustards and sandgrouse last time. I visited some of the same stakeouts (perhaps mistakenly!), albeit in a different...
  18. 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...
  19. 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.
  20. 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...
  21. 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...
  22. 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...
  23. 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...
  24. 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...
  25. 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...
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