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  1. YuShan

    How do you prepare for a birding trip ?

    When birding at home, I don't usually carry a phone at all. Just binoculars and a few snacks in my pockets.
  2. YuShan

    Coal Tits abandoned nestbox

    It seems a bit early for eggs. Also, even if they have started to build a nest, it is quite common for that to get interrupted for some time. After all, they need to time their breeding with the food being available. They might come back days later to finalise it. I have seen that happen myself...
  3. YuShan

    NL reliability anecdotes / info: I hesitate to link this here, but I think it’s worthwhile

    Yes, definitely before. I have no problems whatsoever, and my bins got loads of UV, rain, sweat, dust and sometimes quite rough handling (trekking, backpacking, wild camping etc) during the 13+ years that I have owned them.
  4. YuShan

    Make a list of the most important optically things in a binoculars

    I use close focus surprisingly often, even for birds. Some skulking species can appear right in front of your feet, but mostly obscured by vegetation. When focusing on the bird (i.e. vegetation out of focus) you can pick out the bird well.
  5. YuShan

    Merlin misled?

    I don't normally use Merlin at home (UK), but I found the sound ID works spectacularly well here. Also tried it in Philippines. It did detect a few very common species like Coppersmith Barbet and Red Junglefowl (most of which were actually domestic chicken :D ), but sound ID was useless most...
  6. YuShan

    NL reliability anecdotes / info: I hesitate to link this here, but I think it’s worthwhile

    Never. (EL 8.5x42 SV 2011) They get washed the natural way when I'm walking through the rain. But I don't use sunscreen or DEET.
  7. YuShan

    Scotland advice please 😀

    I have climbed many of the Scottish Munroes and found Ptarmigans to be fairly common near the summits. However, if I really wanted to see one with "limited" effort (though you still need to be relatively fit!), I would still advice Mt Cairngorm and Ben Macdui, because you can easily reach quite...
  8. YuShan

    Evolution of Swaro EL models

    Personally I wouldn't worry about optical quality, because that is excellent anyway. However, I would prefer some of the older models over the newer ones because they can focus at closer range than newer models (they downgraded EL in that sense when the NL got introduced). The other thing that...
  9. YuShan

    Arizona Water Tank - Chiricahua Mountain

    Camping in the Sonora Desert, being woken up by a singing Cactus Wren and Scott's Orioles :love: I was so happy there.
  10. YuShan

    Arizona Water Tank - Chiricahua Mountain

    Usually 6 liters, but a few times as much as 10 liters. Depending on where the reliable water sources are. Better be safe than sorry.
  11. YuShan

    Arizona Water Tank - Chiricahua Mountain

    I hiked the entire Arizona National Scenic Trail a few years ago. Flora and fauna is fantastic! I just spotted some familiar birds on this webcam, bringing back the memories.
  12. YuShan

    RSPB Big garden birdwatch

    Bullfinches breed in a nearby park that is only a couple of hundred metres away, so I'm lucky to get some spill over from that! I have no first hand advice on attracting specific species, because I don't have feeders in my garden. (It's not technically my garden either, but a communal garden. I...
  13. YuShan

    RSPB Big garden birdwatch

    It was a pleasure as always, especially with the gorgeous sunny weather here today. Also heard a Wren singing briefly and a Great Spotted Woodpecker drumming, but not seen and therefore not counted. Also at least one Grey Squirrel.
  14. YuShan

    EL 8.5x42 initial impressions

    You bought yourself a fantastic instrument! I bought my own Swaro EL 8.5x42 in 2011 and it still makes me happy every time I look through it!
  15. YuShan

    Very early for blue tit nestbox investigations?

    I have a nestbox cam too, and can confirm that they are often checking for nest sites already in December. I also had roosting Blue and Great Tits as early as November.
  16. YuShan

    Lynx released in the Highlands

    RIP https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/articles/cvge40jv4gjo
  17. YuShan

    Birding in Arizona in early April

    I hiked the Arizona Trail in 2017 (hiking from the Mexican border to Utah state line) from end of March to beginning of May, so roughly around the same time as your planned visit. I found it fantastic in terms of both scenery and birds (and some other animals too, snakes, Gila monster, etc). I...
  18. YuShan

    Birding In Phoenix, Arizona

    I hiked the Arizona Trail in 2017 (hiking from the Mexican border to Utah state line) from end of March to beginning of May, so roughly around the same time as your planned visit. I found it fantastic in terms of both scenery and birds (and some other animals too, snakes, Gila monster, etc). I...
  19. YuShan

    Latest IOC Diary Updates

    The future of birding: birdsniffing "Sniffed only"
  20. YuShan

    Latest IOC Diary Updates

    I may or may not have seen one. There is no way of knowing really. The annoying thing is that you can't tick Common Crossbill there either, because it could be a Scottish, so whatever you see it's basically an unidentified bird :D No tick. :mad::D. Time to lump it!
  21. YuShan

    Bird Watcher vs Birder

    One time I was staying in a reserve in Ecuador where a group of French people were watching monkeys all day for research purposes. When I talked about "birding", they had no clue what I was talking about. I then coined the term "monkeying". I went birding and they went monkeying. We kept using...
  22. YuShan

    Bird Watcher vs Birder

    Among birders, I use "birder" and "birding" Among non-birders, I generally use "birdwatcher" and "birdwatching", because otherwise they often don't know what I'm talking about.
  23. YuShan

    RSPB proposes cuts?

    I always assumed that the shops and cafes were intended to generate extra income that could be used for conservation. If they are actually losing money, then by all means close them down asap!
  24. YuShan

    Latest IOC Diary Updates

    Darn! Now I need to go on another birding trip to make up for all the lumped species :mad::D
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