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

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  1. rb_stern

    Servicing a 773 and eyepiece?

    I have had a Kowa 773 and 25-60x eyepiece for years. It has had its fair share of falls and knocks, but still works well. Over the last year or so the overall view has got a bit dark, and there are brownish "floaters" particularly at magnifications of 40x and over. Is it worth sending it off for...
  2. rb_stern

    Best App for Android in Costa Rica

    I'm looking for a good ID Android app for my phone while birding soon in Costa Rica. There are 3 listed in the Google Play store. Costa Rica Birds had many bad reviews with various problems, Bird Data Costa Rica looks excellent but there are no reviews yet, and although it's free there are "in...
  3. rb_stern

    Gull, London Wetland Centre, 1 Dec. 2019

    Gull - dark eye, yellow legs. Size hard to assess because of distance, and kept separate from B-H and Herring gulls. Didn't seem to fit Common, Ring-billed or Y-legged. Didn't have a scope. I was visiting from Canada, and I'm not hugely familiar with the variation in British/ European gulls...
  4. rb_stern

    2 from Nova Scotia

    2 birds in Nova Scotia a few days after Hurricane Dorian passed through, so anything is possible! Thanks for any ideas. 1). Common or Forster's tern? 2). An empid. flycatcher in coastal bushes that gave a single liquid "whit" note. Looks like Least.
  5. rb_stern

    1st W. gull ID ,Nova Scotia, 11/2006

    I have been going through some old photos, and I had labeled this as a Ring-billed. But I think it might be a Common, based on the small rounded head and small bill. Taken at a lake in Dartmouth, NS, Canada, where RB are common but Common/ Mew is an annual vagrant, Nov. 2006. Any comments on...
  6. rb_stern

    Calidris sp. in Nova Scotia - possible Little Stint?

    A friend of mine, Dave Currie, who is an excellent and experienced birder here in Nova Scotia, asked me to post these pictures here, as he feels that the bird could be a vagrant Little stint. Photographed on 23/10/18 on the rocky shoreline at Eastern Passage, near Halifax. Some of the photos...
  7. rb_stern

    Zakka adapter?

    An ad. for a Zakka digiscoping adapter appeared on my FB page. It seems to be for any smartphone, and you can keep the case on. I tried googling it, but nothing found. Anyone have any knowledge, or experience, of this?
  8. rb_stern

    Egret, Parkgate, Wirral, May 4 2018

    This bird was wading around sedately in the water at the edge of the reeds, just off the sea wall. It was perhaps slightly smaller than a nearby Grey heron, and had a long neck. I labeled it as a Great Egret at the time on Ebird, but now I'm not so sure. Head and bill pattern look like Cattle...
  9. rb_stern

    Possible Garden Warbler? (Stocker's Lake, Herts)

    I was recently visiting family in the UK and trying to get in some birding while there. I had a couple of successful mornings at Stocker's and Springwell Lakes near Rickmansworth, Herts. England. I live in Nova Scotia and it's a long time since I birded in the UK. This bird was moving around in...
  10. rb_stern

    New Kowa iPhone 6 adapter

    Just got my new iPhone 6 adapter for Kowa scopes today. Seems very easy to use, and using the shutter "button" on the iPhone earbuds makes it even better. Here are my 1st attempts in the backyard today, with Kowa 773, 25-60 x eyepiece at 25.
  11. rb_stern

    Kowa new TE-11WZ 20-60 vs. TE-17W 30x eyepiece

    Hi, I have a 30x WA eyepiece for my Kowa 773 scope, and love it for viewing and digiscoping. I also have an older 20-60 for viewing at higher powers, but it has a narrower fov and a poorer overall experience than the 30x WA. From reading on line, the newer 20-60 would give a better, wider and...
  12. rb_stern

    Raptor? Netherlands

    I'm a birder on a non birding trip in the Netherlands. Today I photographed this, high over Oude Wetering, not far from Schiphol airport. I apologize for the quality - heavy crop, and I took this picture with my iphone from the LCD of my camera. I checked my Birds of N. Europe app, and can't...
  13. rb_stern

    Birding UK and Europe apps for android

    I have the excellent Sibley ID app for North American birds on my nexus 5 android phone. I'm having a hard time coming up with anything as good for an upcoming trip to the UK, the Netherlands and N. France. I have the Collins guide, but prefer an app if there's a good one. Any suggestions...
  14. rb_stern

    Annual owl survey last night (Nova Scotia)

    After weeks of windy evenings and being busy with other activities I finally got around around to doing my owl survey route yesterday evening, aided and abetted by the good company and excellent ears of 2 birding friends. the route goes 14.8Km down a remote woods dirt road, from Falmouth to...
  15. rb_stern

    Tagus (Portugal) Eastuary Guls

    Hi, I was recently in Portugal for a few days, and had a hard time with some of the gulls around the Lisbon area. Can anyone tell me what these are - Y-legged (and if so, ?atlantis), LBB, or something else? (Pics 2,3 and 4 might be the same bird in different light, but I don't think so). Pic. 5...
  16. rb_stern

    LBB Gulls around Lisbon and Tagus estuary

    Hi, I'm visiting relatives in Portugal, and have been doing some birding while I'm here. I have seen a lot of LBB gulls and a few Y-legged around Lisbon and today at Alcochete across the Tagus Estuary bridge. To me the LBBGs look bigger, bulkier and have duller yellow legs than any I have seen...
  17. rb_stern

    Costa Rica Hummer ID?

    I was able to ID 8 species of Hummer at the feeding station at the entrance to the Monteverde Cloud Forest Reserve on our recent trip there 2 weeks ago, with some help from a guide, but in retrospect I'm not sure about this one -- any ideas? Thanks, Richard
  18. rb_stern

    Tortugero, Costa Rica small bird ID

    Hi, I took this 2 weeks ago at the lodge we were staying at at Tortugero N.P., on the Caribbean coast of Costa Rica. Of many birds I photographed, this was one of the few that I really can't ID at all - it was about warbler sized, was in the company of several Hummers, Mannakins, Euphonias and...
  19. rb_stern

    Zeiss bins after several years' use

    I thought I'd share these thoughts - My 1st high-end bins were Zeiss 10 x 40 BGATs, non-armoured, not waterproof, and I got them 35 years ago. At the time I thought they were superb, but now the image has deteriorated a bit, and they're not as sharp or bright as a pair of much cheaper Eagle...
  20. rb_stern

    Owling in Nova Scotia

    The other evening 3 of us did my annual owl survey route, starting at the beginning of the Mines Road, behind Falmouth, and ending up in the wilds of the upper Avon watershed not far from Black River Lake - a place on the map as Benjamins Mills, but with just woods and logging roads. For those...
  21. rb_stern

    Falcons in ancient Egypt

    Hi, A slightly off-topic question here, but with all the unrest in Egypt at the moment, and a documentary I saw the other day on mummified falcons that were buried with their mummified owners in ancient Egyptian tombs and in the Egyptian Museum in Cairo, both in very large numbers, what was, or...
  22. rb_stern

    Common tern looking like an Arctic?

    This bird was on a floating log 2-3 miles out to sea off Brier Island, SW Nova Scotia at the end of July. We called it an Arctic, based on the bill color, but then my colleague felt that the bill was a bit big, I felt that the legs didn't look short enough, and looking at the pics, the primary...
  23. rb_stern

    Wagtail ID- Keoladeo National Park, Bharatpur, India

    Hi, Is this a Citrine or a Yellow, and why? Photographed low down against a stream, in Feb. Thanks, Richard
  24. rb_stern

    Feisol VH40 video head

    Hi, This tripod head looks very attractive on paper (i.e. Feisol's web site). Does anyone have any real-life experience of using one, and if so, how is it? Richard
  25. rb_stern

    New photos for Opus

    Hi, I have uploaded the following files to Opus. As I can't seem to do it right, perhaps someone could attach them to the appropriate bird discussions. They're all of birds that currently don't have a photo in Opus, except for the Zapata Sparrow, which has one, but I think mine's better...
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