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

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  1. firstreesjohn

    Sichuan Birding

    That is a surreal and powerful image ! I just wish the authors of "1066 and all that" had known of this possibility, in the process creating one of their iconic cartoons. Or Shakespeare: "A plague on all your gerbils". (Apologies to Master Will.)
  2. firstreesjohn

    Sichuan Birding

    “Although sometimes this news feed doth burble, It’s so int’resting ‘bout the Big Gerbil - And how their pesky fleas Brought th’EU to its knees. In those days, just remedies herbal !”
  3. firstreesjohn

    Sichuan Birding

    Surely, with that Swedish label, it’s an Elk, Roland ‽
  4. firstreesjohn

    Sichuan Birding

    圣诞节快乐！ Attached is my greetings card for this year. It depicts a Red-hatted Bluetail Tarsiger rubriceps (similar to species found in east Asia and with a bell-like call), which was the second I’ve managed to stumble on in the UK. For those unfamiliar with the intricacies of birding in GB, a...
  5. firstreesjohn

    Sichuan Birding

    That MUST be the 'old' place: those prices are way, way too low. I predict rates of more than 500 RMB for a standard room. And the mention of the 'dorm' ! That sounds like the previous accommodation, near the cable-car station.
  6. firstreesjohn

    Sichuan Birding

    Thanks, Roland. Yes, this is what I fear, too: noisy and unaware ‘sightseers’, in the worst sense. I can also foresee a resident ‘nature expert’, guiding guests to gawp at the Red Pandas- and at a cost, both financial and environmental. At Emei Shan, as you say, it was ‘emeinently’ possible...
  7. firstreesjohn

    Sichuan Birding

    Wawu Shan Resort ! There is also this: http://www.designboom.com/architecture/hassell-finalize-plans-for-mountain-top-wawu-shan-resort-11-20-2013/ A lot of scrubby vegetation remains in some of these ‘pics’. Will the site end up being more ‘manicured’ than it appears in the CAD generated...
  8. firstreesjohn

    Sichuan Birding

    Wawu ? It's good to see that this superb site may re-open in 2015, but how much of the habitat has survived and will survive- with enormously increased footfall ? Does anyone know what's been done, there, apart from this, for example...
  9. firstreesjohn

    Sichuan Birding

    Similarly glad you've circumvented the need to send you an email, Sid. Relieved you're all safe and well.
  10. firstreesjohn

    Sichuan Birding

    Re the woodpecker: p268 of Woodpeckers (1995 Winkler, Christie & Nurney) revealed that there are six races of this species, in “two fairly well-defined groups.” P. c. pernyii (NW Yunnan to N Sichuan and SW Gansu) has the red on the breast “bordered at sides and below by fairly solid black...
  11. firstreesjohn

    Sichuan Birding

    Roland: your wonderful photo is of an amazingly striking Brahmin or Brahmeid moth: either Brahmaea wallichii or Brahmaea hearseyi, which are very similar, however, "in the apical patches on the forewings in B. hearseyi the inner margin curves towards the body, while in B. wallichii it curves...
  12. firstreesjohn

    Sichuan Birding

    No real idea, Roland; although there must be a correlation. Perhaps the HKBS, or the Singaporean, South Korean, Thai and Japanese (etc.) equivalents can provide some assistance, here.
  13. firstreesjohn

    Sichuan Birding

    Thinking outside the box Roland: The RSPB (http://shopping.rspb.org.uk/c/Nestboxes.htm) says 32mm FOR Tree Sparrows and 25mm for tits- and any other smaller birds than the sparrow. Another site (http://www.bto.org/nnbw/make.htm) states 28mm and larger FOR Tree Sparrows. Here’s another...
  14. firstreesjohn

    Sichuan Birding

    And you can see bits of a third foot, sticking out below the branch- although no extra legs, à la Rolf Harris.
  15. firstreesjohn

    Sichuan Birding

    Could somebody carry me around like that, please ? Especially up & down all those blasted steps ! Lurv the site.
  16. firstreesjohn

    Sichuan Birding

    Re #521 That Saker call/song/gurgle/etc. is the best recording I’ve heard on BirdForum. (I’m not sure where you’d put it on xeno-canto, tho’.) Just got back from Spain and, to reiterate what I’ve previously told you in private: MANY, MANY CONGRATS TO YOU AND MEGGIE ! ! !
  17. firstreesjohn

    Sichuan Birding

    Not exactly me ! Please see: http://www.birdforum.net/showthread.php?t=200407 Thanks to 'honeym'.
  18. firstreesjohn

    Sichuan Birding

    sichuan jiujiu/Mark: I was astonished last week, when two 11-12 year old students (girl, boy, unrelated) I teach independently and immediately ID'd a reference to Monty Python in a lesson. They said they had watched all their parents' DVDs many times. A continuity of culture ?
  19. firstreesjohn

    Sichuan Birding

    Coturnix japonica I will not quail at the ID and proffer, gamely, that your bird would feel more at home in Tokyo than London. Having said that, I've never seen one of either species so well. Fabulous shot.
  20. firstreesjohn

    Sichuan Birding

    Mountain Weasel With the aid of the excellent 'new' A Guide to the Mammals of China (Smith & Yan Xie, 2008), I can almost conclusively give this ID, sj. Scientific name: Mustela altaica. However, I am in no way a mammal expert- so I could be wrong ! Images at...
  21. firstreesjohn

    Sichuan Birding

    Black-browed Tit, methinks James: Have a look at Pls 34 & 35 of "Tits, Nuthatches & Treecreepers" (Harrap and Quinn). Can't see from those how it could possibly be Sooty- or Sweep, come to that ! Regards, J.
  22. firstreesjohn

    Sichuan Birding

    Coots massacre Dabchicks Here in Norfolk, I've seen a pair of Coots systematically kill newly hatched Little Grebe (traditional name above) chicks, over the course of a few days. They didn't seem to eat them, either, but just leave them floating in the water. It almost seemed as if they did it...
  23. firstreesjohn

    Sichuan Birding

    Leiothrix and Partridge- an unlikely combination Yes, Gretchen, the Leiothrix is a truly lovely looker- although surprisingly (?) common in places for such a beauty. Here's one I took on my trip with Sid and Meggie last April. I'm impressively gobsmacked by the CBPartridge pix. I've heard them...
  24. firstreesjohn

    Sichuan Birding

    Retrospective ID from photos This has recently and famously enabled several 'firsts' for Britain. I've done this a few times (with raptors, cuckoos and parrotbill, to name some families)- usually because the LCD monitor on my camera is too small. When edited and on the PC monitor, things...
  25. firstreesjohn

    Sichuan Birding

    Yellow-browed Tit I, too, have struggled (in Thailand and China) to see the 'yellow brow': there is sometimes just a (very) slightly paler supercilium. See the series on OBI, for what I mean...
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