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

a belated Trip Report for Scotland (April 6th - 10th). (1 Viewer)

Thanks for shareing trip report John, sounds like a great adventure.Sleep debrevation,fish and chips and some class birds, it nearly has it all!
Regards
Derek
 
Well done on a great trip John and a good report !

At the risk of being accused of arrogant I would be genuinely interested to know how you ( or Steve) ID'd the crossbills ;) . Maybe you used sonograms ? Visual field ID is virtually unreliable IMO unless you are looking at them all the time (and know what you are looking at/ listening to in the first place !). I had previously said to Steve in private correspondence that Common Crossbills are now in the native pinewoods mixed in with the pine crossbills - these will easily look "Scottish" next to a true Parrot. However, sounds like you had one or the other and possibly both target species.

Might do a little crossbill photo ID test on BF just to see how many people get wrong ! :stuck: Then again, Crossbill ID....Bird Forum, wise up Lindsay.

Must visit Anagach Wood and other Granton on Spey woods myself soon to see if Parrots have bred there. Will check the historical data I have for Speyside from a fellow researcher to see.

Nice you believe that Scotbill actually exists though !

Linz
 
I am going to hold my hands up here and state that I would never have known the difference myself but we did have both species fairly close to each other and enough time for Steve to thoroughly observe them.

I have never seen a better birder than Stve anywhere (and I have met a few) and the way he dissects a bird in the field is amazing. The flat head appearance and beak shape confirmed the Parrot (that much I remember) and then Steve went through the attributes of the Scottish / Common and firmed up on Scottish.

There are not many birders I would totally trust but having watched him in action in Turkey, Cornwall, Lincolnshire and Scotland I can honestly say that I am in awe of his expertise in the field.

John

griffin said:
Well done on a great trip John and a good report !

At the risk of being accused of arrogant I would be genuinely interested to know how you ( or Steve) ID'd the crossbills ;) . Maybe you used sonograms ? Visual field ID is virtually unreliable IMO unless you are looking at them all the time (and know what you are looking at/ listening to in the first place !). I had previously said to Steve in private correspondence that Common Crossbills are now in the native pinewoods mixed in with the pine crossbills - these will easily look "Scottish" next to a true Parrot. However, sounds like you had one or the other and possibly both target species.

Might do a little crossbill photo ID test on BF just to see how many people get wrong ! :stuck: Then again, Crossbill ID....Bird Forum, wise up Lindsay.

Must visit Anagach Wood and other Granton on Spey woods myself soon to see if Parrots have bred there. Will check the historical data I have for Speyside from a fellow researcher to see.

Nice you believe that Scotbill actually exists though !

Linz
 
Reader said:
Rather than type it all out here I thought it best to give a link to my trip rport on my web site. The reason being is that you can see the photos better on that report than I could ever show on this thread.
http://www.coventrybirder.co.uk/main pages/Scotland April 2007.htm

John

Smashing report John. Many of the photos take too long to show themselves on my PC but I prefer text to photos anyway so it didn't spoil the enjoyment. You must have done some mileage!

As we left you must have arrived a few days later. Love the squirrel photos. We saw a guy trying to get photos (we thought he must have been waiting for the squirrel)at the feeding point just outside Boat of Garten but he was sitting on a stool very close to the tree with the feeders. I had to drag Bob away otherwise he was going to be rude to him. Perhaps you can explain why a photographer with a huge lens has to sit so close that no birds come to feed. He could have been over the other side of the road and still got a good photo. I hope the squirrel was having a siesta.

See you in Lesvos! (What did you say - "not if I see you first!" ) ;)

Sandra
 
Sandra (Taylor) said:
Smashing report John. Many of the photos take too long to show themselves on my PC but I prefer text to photos anyway so it didn't spoil the enjoyment. You must have done some mileage!

1,819 to be exact.

Sandra (Taylor) said:
As we left you must have arrived a few days later. Love the squirrel photos. We saw a guy trying to get photos (we thought he must have been waiting for the squirrel)at the feeding point just outside Boat of Garten but he was sitting on a stool very close to the tree with the feeders. I had to drag Bob away otherwise he was going to be rude to him. Perhaps you can explain why a photographer with a huge lens has to sit so close that no birds come to feed. He could have been over the other side of the road and still got a good photo. I hope the squirrel was having a siesta.

I was lucky with the Red Squirrel. One of the CCTV camera in the Osprey Hide showed that there were three on the feeders by the hide so i went outside and there they were, posing for me. It was just a question of waiting for one of them to get into the right position with the right light conditions and, hey presto!! one half decent photo. I must admit I was well pleased with that photo but I agree with you. If you have a big lens then what is the need to get close up.

Sandra (Taylor) said:
See you in Lesvos! (What did you say - "not if I see you first!" ) ;)

Sandra

As we are going on the same plane as you (I think) we are bound to bump into each other. I am meeting Diane and Keith (with Hummerman - Martin) on Saturday to discuss a possible itinerary. One thing we ought to do is meet up with you in Skalla Kalloni square on some of the nights to discuss what we have seen and to compare notes.

John
 
Reader said:
Rather than type it all out here I thought it best to give a link to my trip rport on my web site. The reason being is that you can see the photos better on that report than I could ever show on this thread.
http://www.coventrybirder.co.uk/main pages/Scotland April 2007.htm

John

John,
Thanks for the trip report. I am really impressed by the time you and Stev out into the birding on the trip, I can remember similar days where the eyes begin to hurt from sleep deprivation.

I have never bene North of the border birding proper and your report has realy wet my lips. Seems Steve was destined not to see a capper!! Were there any snow buntings about? I .heard that they are almost resident in the area.

Great pictures, I especially like the velvet. I've only ever seen a balck and white blur about a mile from f'borough and filey, do you know how long they stay there until?

To end, I think you really deserved to find you own king eider after the hours put in.

Thanks again.
 
Hi Marcus

I think the Velvets are there for a while but asking for local knowledge should answer that correctly. I can tell you that Spey Bay was incredible and I have noticed that a Surf Scoter was found there a few days ago. I could imagine anything turning up there.

There may have been Snow Buntings on the top of the Cairngorms but to be honest the weather was not condusive to us going up that high so we didn't try for them.
 
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