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

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  1. Mark Lew1s

    Gordano Valley, Bristol today chiffchaff

    While sweeoo seems to be most frequent in autumn, it’s not unheard of in spring. I’ve only listened on my phone (and not looked at a sonogram) but these calls sound like sweeoo types to me.
  2. Mark Lew1s

    Two people break 10,000 species, and on the same day? Can it be?

    It’s pretty simple for me. You have to see or hear the bird to count it. This can be through glass - you’re still looking at the bird. On a camera screen, or a nocmig recording, or a sonogram, you’re looking at an electronic representation of the bird or its call, rather than the bird itself...
  3. Mark Lew1s

    All Nocmig questions answered?

    The confusion here is that there are two French books. The one that covers the migratory species covers 450 species, and the one that focuses on nocmig covers 130 species.
  4. Mark Lew1s

    Gull (white-winged) ID - Cottenham, Cambs., UK

    In which case it’s pretty hard to rule out a herring gull
  5. Mark Lew1s

    Gull (white-winged) ID - Cottenham, Cambs., UK

    I agree - I’m struggling to make out any primaries here
  6. Mark Lew1s

    Spring Migrants for NE Scotland 2024

    Back in Duthie park last weekend.
  7. Mark Lew1s

    Bewick's Swans in Scotland

    Generally Bewick's is a rare bird in Scotland with fewer than ten records per year over the last 10 years. It's in decline and is likely to be considered as a national rarity in a few years if the trend continues. Here's a breakdown from Scottish recording areas between 2012/2019 and a graph...
  8. Mark Lew1s

    Not much to go on ...

    The corvids around it are Jackdaws, so anything else (like the rook in the bottom left) will look bigger. I don’t think the pale parts are safely perceived as real - they could easily be an artifact due to the angle. We really do have very little to go on, and I don’t think it’s a good idea...
  9. Mark Lew1s

    Not much to go on ...

    Why isn't it just another corvid?
  10. Mark Lew1s

    Picture of a bird from Scotland

    Sitting at the very top of a large pine tree in Scotland, in February, is a very mistle thrush thing to do…
  11. Mark Lew1s

    Great Tit's mimicry of Blue Tit

    I think that I’d just accept a certain (very small) amount of error. The things you hear making blue tit noises are still going to be blue tits the vast majority of the time.
  12. Mark Lew1s

    Great Tit's mimicry of Blue Tit

    It's a known thing - e.g. see https://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/S096098221001451X. Doesn't make it any easier in the field though...
  13. Mark Lew1s

    Garden / Yard List 2024

    Further update from AGWE. Slow going here! I've put feeders up but they have spent more time on the ground than anywhere else due to the recent storms. Everything additional has been flyby... 28 - Greenfinch 29 - Pied wagtail 30 - Oystercatcher
  14. Mark Lew1s

    newbie

    I guess shore lark is worth a look.
  15. Mark Lew1s

    Garden / Yard List 2024

    Update from Aberdeen's Glittering West End... 26 - Starling - an ommission from the other day 27 - Stock dove - two over the city centre this morning. One I thought might be hard, but actually these are the second I've had (after one went over with woodpigeons when I was 10 yards down the road...)
  16. Mark Lew1s

    Some kind of diver (Snettisham, Norfolk, UK)

    Rare bird in Norfolk, very nice!
  17. Mark Lew1s

    Garden / Yard List 2024

    Let's see if I manage to keep this up... Just before Christmas I moved across Aberdeen to the much more pleasant (but much less coastal) west end. No garden to speak of, but plenty of windows! 1 pink-footed goose 2 Sparrowhawk 3 Black-headed gull 4 Common gull 5 Herring gull 6 Feral pigeon 7...
  18. Mark Lew1s

    Chennai (India) Outskirts - Jan 15, 2024.

    Probably not OBP, with that heavily streaked mantle - so how about a 'normal' tree pipit?
  19. Mark Lew1s

    What was your best found “patch bird”this year?

    Best for me was a Caspian tern, with a supporting cast of hoopoe, Icterine warbler and Kumliens gulls on my east coast of Scotland patch.
  20. Mark Lew1s

    Spotless Starling

    Merlin is generally good, but frequently wrong. Best to use it as a guide than a definitive answer.
  21. Mark Lew1s

    Small island birding

    No - I think Ouessant is better. Better seawatching, vismig, more birds, more rares. Less good for wildfowl and waders though. Also, the sun shines a little more on Ouessant…
  22. Mark Lew1s

    Small island birding

    Give me Ouessant please!
  23. Mark Lew1s

    Top 5 of 2023

    It's been a good year in spite of the fact that opportunities have been fewer due to parenting and work responsibilities. Never grow up... Caspian tern A huge surprise on a late July seawatch that was intended to be a record puffin count… Needless to say, in spite of high numbers of puffins...
  24. Mark Lew1s

    NEast London flyover gull?

    Primary patterns on herring gulls are extremely variable. I should imagine some dark on p5 is fine (if unusual) for argenteus, and probably less unusual than that small a mirror on p10 in argentatus. Overall, it’s not possible to assign it to a subspecies on these pics, but it certainly isn’t...
  25. Mark Lew1s

    Most misidentified birds in your area

    You had me checking my LB records to see if if entered some by mistake! Totally agree with the species you’ve selected. I suspect skuas are misidentified locally too - but no more than they are misidentified everywhere else…
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