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  1. pianoman

    Appreciate Binocular Advice for Nonprofit Outdoor & Nature Program

    I would say that almost any (non-faulty) binocular these days is going to be a lot better than the naked eye. The issue would really be robustness, as mentioned before, because the cheap ones have a tendency to get fogged or knocked out of alignment - and then they really are useless. So...
  2. pianoman

    Various Raptors - South Essex UK - 12th May

    Thanks Grouse, with my screen resolution and my eye resolution I don't think I'd be able to count the primaries on the OP so I've only general impressions to go on...
  3. pianoman

    Various Raptors - South Essex UK - 12th May

    To DJW the OP: Despite the difficulty in estimating size, In the field I really think you would have jumped out at you if any of the birds were WT Eagles. Don't shoot me but I am kind of getting the look of a Black Kite from pic 5. I tail is quite spread out and I can almost fancy I see a...
  4. pianoman

    Grey Squirrels, Anglesey

    Yes I see
  5. pianoman

    Grey Squirrels, Anglesey

    Actually Pine Martens would be a good thing in this case, since Reds hold out better when there are Pine Martens in the mix. Reds have evolved to cope with them while Greys have not.
  6. pianoman

    hello, birders, I took a bird with some strange features. A hybrid of Motacilla alba with Motacilla cinerea or a strange Motacilla cinerea only?

    With no trace of yellow on the underparts and a shorter tail than I would expect from cinerea, only the head area looks unusual for Alba to me. I would suggest an immature Alba race (which one I wouldn't like to say) at a particular stage of moult.
  7. pianoman

    Wader (Fuerteventura)

    There are some strange shadows going on and the overall exposure is dark, but it looks like either Little Stint or Sanderling to me. First impression was Little Stint. I see both are on the list for Fuerteventura but I'm not sure of their monthly occurrences
  8. pianoman

    Dunlin migrants - E. Ireland May 2024

    Thanks again. I suppose that if the W. European populations are more or less lumped as Alpina then the question goes away, and everything I see here, bar vagrants, would be called Alpina.
  9. pianoman

    Dunlin migrants - E. Ireland May 2024

    Thanks Andrew, and it seems I even posted on that thread and then forgot. I'm still confused mind you, it seems my choices are "Arctica/Schinzi" or "Alpina". I know the picture is quite different between E. Britain and NW Britain (Jane's territory which I'm assuming is not dissimilar to mine...
  10. pianoman

    Dunlin migrants - E. Ireland May 2024

    Hi I've been observing Dunlin in my local patch in Kilcoole, Wicklow, the last couple of days. They have well defined black bellies, but does anyone know the most likely subspecies to be occurring in this location at this time of year? From what I can gather they would likely be passage...
  11. pianoman

    Red comet hummingbird

    Indeed it's thousands of miles outside the range for any Comet species, I can't think of anything remotely similar that might occur in TX. For that reason I'd be fascinated to know what it is you saw.
  12. pianoman

    Limburg Netherlands - several pics of Spotted Redshank...?

    And it appears from this that Ruff do breed in NL? So if you know where to go you might be lucky enough to see a display
  13. pianoman

    Blackcap and garden warbler

    I hear lots of Blackcaps where I am, but very few GW. My first thoughts when listening to the OP was "not a Blackcap" but from the links on 01101001's post (can I call you Hex69 for short?) the adult songs for GW and BC are much more similar than I realized. But the OP song doesn't sound...
  14. pianoman

    Danish Woodland Webcam

    Thanks RT. Reticence would be understandable, I was just thinking in terms of general region.
  15. pianoman

    Danish Woodland Webcam

    Anyone know something more about the location of this webcam - other than Northern Denmark? Not looking for precise location but I like to see these things on a map for some reason
  16. pianoman

    Hornbill spp, C.160km SE Windhoek Namibia (summer 2010)

    More armchair birding - but FWIW the head stripe and the white outer tail look real, rather than an artifact, to me. The bill looks distinctively orange (deeper than yellow). Is Southern Red-Billed out of range? It looks good for that to me. Edit: I see Southern Yellow Billed can have quite...
  17. pianoman

    Where's My Willow Warbler?

    On the other hand some other birders, such as me, might be seeing Willow Warblers but getting annoyed that they didn't see any waxwings this year...
  18. pianoman

    Is my bluetit family behaving as it should?

    I believe that the eggs are incubated at various times and temperatures so that they hatch at the optimum time for weather and food supply. Cooler temperatures (within reason) slow down the development of the embryos but doesn't harm them
  19. pianoman

    Irish hybrid duck

    Hi Joern I see that the sighting is from last year, and that the notes section of the sighting mentions that the bird may be a hybrid, though not of the species that you mention. IrishBirding is a somewhat informal site, privately maintained, and as far as I know it is not a system of...
  20. pianoman

    Bird spotted -banks of Dodder river, Dublin, Ireland

    I normally see them first a couple of weeks later in the year, I don't know if it is an early migrant this year or if I just haven't been paying attention
  21. pianoman

    Picture in gallery, Cuban Crow or Cuban Palm Crow

    I'm an armchair observer here - googled all the images I could find. In those images, to my eyes, Cuban Palm Crow's bill is significantly shorter, noticeably so. But much of the text for diagnostics either doesn't mention that feature, or says that the difference is slight. The only...
  22. pianoman

    Brabant Netherlands - Now more likely a Willow Warbler than a Chiffchaff ?

    Yes the short primaries are well shown in the second photo
  23. pianoman

    Bird Bird Small Feeder

    Bird strikes on windows usually happen when there is another window on the far side of the room, letting the birds think they can fly straight through to the other side. Without that fairly unusual setup, a window hit is pretty unusual
  24. pianoman

    Identify bird call 'puk puk poww', early spring, Kent, slightly wooded

    Ah yes, you could indeed be right there. Likeliest candidate so far in fact
  25. pianoman

    Identify bird call 'puk puk poww', early spring, Kent, slightly wooded

    The sound has the sense of a poultry or game bird - I can't think of a British game bird that would sound like that but there are some unusual-sounding chicken varieties (long-crowing chickens). You may be able to dig out some recordings of those, I can't find one that matches but I haven't...
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