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

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  1. J

    ID please-Is it a Little Stint or anything else?

    Structurally it looks rather more like a Red-necked to me - the bill doesn't seem particularly long, and is fairly uniform along the length with a blunt tip, rather than tapering to a thin point as I expect on Little. The legs don't seem very long either, but this is a bit hard to judge as the...
  2. J

    Black or bronzed drongo? Taipei, June 2024

    Black Drongo for me. I'd expect Bronzed to show more glossy blue on the crown, hindneck and breast, contrasting with a blacker face. They also seem shorter-billed and more delicate than this bird. Ashy Drongo on Taiwan should be leucogenis or salangensis I think, both of which are much paler...
  3. J

    Speckled Piculet (?) in Thailand--Doi Inthanon NP

    As well as the head pattern, the wing pattern also fits with Rufous-winged Fulvetta (bright chestnut panel and white fringes to outer primaries) and it lacks the distinctive white stripe along the tail of Speckled Piculet. Rufous-winged Fulvetta: ML617868525 - Rufous-winged Fulvetta - Macaulay...
  4. J

    Uzbekistan Flycatcher

    Uzbekistan is located between the wintering grounds and breeding grounds of Red-breasted Flycatcher, so it seems reasonable that it should show up there on migration. eBird data includes quite a few records, mostly in April. I think your ID is correct. Taiga Flycatcher would be much less likely...
  5. J

    Brown Booby may get split - an issue for British listers?

    Pacific Swift and Black-faced Bunting have also remained on the British list despite recent splits. Have the records for these actually been confirmed to rule out Cook's/Salim Ali's/Blyth's Swifts and Masked Bunting? I assume some Arctic Warblers call or sing to rule out Japanese/Kamchatka...
  6. J

    Hirundinidae

    The case for this seems extremely weak to me. It would also require splitting three species of daurica in southeast and east Asia (the samples from Russia, Singapore and China), which are virtually indistinguishable from each other and from striolata in the field. The fact that striolata as...
  7. J

    Hirundinidae

    I think the oldest species name is daurica, isn't it? This is surely one of the taxa that would be merged with striolata, probably matching the China or Russia sample in that phylogeny. So the text would be correct that the change would involve moving striolata into daurica - the question is...
  8. J

    Three Phylloscopus warblers from Laos?

    First is tricky. My impression is Davison's/Kloss's (I'm not sure which is more likely there) but the crown stripe seems very poorly marked or absent. Second looks like one of the Blyth's complex - Blyth's, Claudia's or Hartert's fokiensis. Note the 'nuthatch' behaviour, perching on the sides...
  9. J

    Taiwan (Hengchun) Waders ID please

    Agree with Marsh Sandpiper, Sharp-tailed Sandpipers and Greater Painted-snipe. I don't think you can identify which species the snipe is from these images - it could be Common, Pintail, Swinhoe's or Latham's.
  10. J

    Eastern or Western Yellow Wagtail?

    Although this bird shows similarities to taivana, I think some caution is needed, because I think some intergrades between other subspecies can produce patterns similar to taivana, eg xanthophrys, apparently an intergrade of feldegg and lutea. These may be more likely in the location than a...
  11. J

    please identify my birds in sri lanka 03

    Among the ones missing here: 4. No idea, sorry. I'm not sure that this will be identifiable. 5. White-breasted Waterhen chick 8. The lower bird looks like a Crested Serpent Eagle, I'm not sure about the upper bird. 14 doesn't look like a Magpie-Robin to me - the separation of the black breast...
  12. J

    Erawan NP Thailand - Leafbird, which one...?

    This looks like Golden-fronted to me - quite a bulky bird with orange-yellow on the forehead, large throat patch and blue on the chin. https://macaulaylibrary.org/asset/616841527 https://macaulaylibrary.org/asset/615462040 Blue-winged is a slightly more slender bird, with more extensive and...
  13. J

    Kanchanaburi Thailand - Some kind of Drongo...?

    Habitat is also a useful clue - Crow-billed and Bronzed are forest birds, Black occurs in more open country, which seems to be the case for this bird.
  14. J

    Lark Morocco

    I'm not sure that this bird shows any moult difference. The primary fringes don't show as much wear as the tertials & coverts, but they are more protected from the elements because of the overlying feathers. On the rear view, you can see that the primary tips are actually quite worn, similar to...
  15. J

    Snipe and Dove from Mongolia

    The snipe looks like Swinhoe's to me - quite a lot of white in the outer tail, and there doesn't seem to be an obvious change between the central tail feathers and the narrow pin-like feathers, as you would see on Pintailed.
  16. J

    West Thailand birds

    Is the minivet Grey-chinned? The pale grey head, whitish chin and greenish upperparts seem a better fit than Long-tailed. Birds in northern Thailand appear to have a yellow throat, not grey as in some other parts of the range. Grey-chinned: https://macaulaylibrary.org/asset/609593347...
  17. J

    Tiny bird seen in north-east Thailand

    As others have said, it's possible that the birds you have seen are sunbirds. In fact, sunbirds are not very closely related to hummingbirds. They are from a completely different branch of the bird family tree, but they have evolved to look similar because they share behaviour and diet (feeding...
  18. J

    Warbler? From Hong Kong

    Arctic Warbler I think. It looks relatively large for a Phylloscopus, with elongated shape, long wings, short tail and relatively large bill. Wing bar fairly narrow (not as broad as Yellow-browed), vague streaking on the breast and long, thin supercilium. The bare part colours are a bit tricky...
  19. J

    Greater Sandplover (Now I have learned the Tibetan) - Bangkok this very afternoon

    They used to be considered a rarity but have been reported more frequently in the last 10-15 years or so. This may be partly from a better understanding of ID features, especially outside the breeding season. Most occur in autumn/winter and leave before they get into full breeding colours. They...
  20. J

    Young bird, Singapore

    Juvenile Asian Glossy Starling maybe?
  21. J

    Greater Sandplover (Now I have learned the Tibetan) - Bangkok this very afternoon

    June is actually not a great month to visit HK for birding. Migration is more or less over, and the weather is hot and humid, with a high chance of rain. If you're interested to see the sandplovers, the best time is spring (April - May) when they are in breeding plumage or late summer...
  22. J

    Greater Sandplover (Now I have learned the Tibetan) - Bangkok this very afternoon

    Some of the past literature on these species has been a bit confused and makes the different species seem more similar than is actually the case. This is often due to confusion caused by geographical variation. I am lucky to live somewhere that all three species occur, and can be seen alongside...
  23. J

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

    As well as the head pattern, the wing pattern is also unusual for any of the Eastern races of White Wagtail, which usually show a lot more white in the adult wing coverts (note that the bird shows moult contrast in the greater coverts, so most of the ones seen are adult). Maybe western alba...
  24. J

    Besra or Shikra, Taiwan

    Has Shikra even been recorded in Taiwan before? It's extremely rare in nearby areas of mainland China, just reaching western Guangdong and a few vagrant records further northeast. The first for Hong Kong was only a year or two ago. For the record, I agree that this looks best for a Crested Goshawk
  25. J

    Greater Sandplover (Now I have learned the Tibetan) - Bangkok this very afternoon

    X-1. I agree, Tibetan Sandplovers. X-2. This is a moulting Tibetan SP. The most useful feature here is the width of the orange breast band - this is very broad on the breast and flanks, and is a deep orange colour. Greater SP has a narrower, paler breast band, maybe half the width seen on this...
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