Two people break 10,000 species, and on the same day? Can it be? (3 Viewers)

[Andy Adcock]

Pics attached - Red-whiskered Bulbul (in a cage outside a coffee shop as we headed towards southern Thailand) and a "hide" overlooking a bathing pool at Phu Suan Sai National Park, Thailand. Photographers sit for hours in pretty challenging conditions for a 2 minute show of the star species hopefully every afternoon in a four hour session. Also sadly a couple of attachments from papers/articles on the cagebird trade in Asia. As you travel, you become conscious of distributions of birds like White-rumped Shama and Red-whiskered Bulbul affected by areas where trapping is still prevalent. Such birds are even trapped out of feeding sites and the owners of such sites and blinds see some species disappearing.

Any way. I cannot even conceive really the effort made to see 10,000 pictures whether birds are tape lured, fed, habituated or not.

All the best

Paul

Which is what?

 

[Paul Chapman]

Which is what?

The main target at the time was Short-tailed Parrotbill. No idea how tricky. Not many eBird sightings this year but looks reliable in places in Vietnam & China as well. Rufous-throated Fulvetta the other easier species there.

I think that a lot of Asian targets are rapidly changing their population levels and not in a good way & of course, a lot of hides/blinds are about exceptional views and photograph opportunities rather than simply glimpsing the species. I also suspect that a lot of potential subspecific splits have been ignored until now. Very conscious though that those views are hunches not knowledge!

All the best

Paul

 

[Andy Adcock]

The main target at the time was Short-tailed Parrotbill. No idea how tricky. Not many eBird sightings this year but looks reliable in places in Vietnam & China as well. Rufous-throated Fulvetta the other easier species there.

All the best

Paul

Not guaranteed by any means but often occurs with flocks of Fulvettas, we saw one this way in Vietnam at Tam Dao. Sadly, that site 'water tank trail' had a road, driven through it a few years ago.

We saw the Fulvetta, easily in Vietnam at Cuc Phuong.

 

[redowl]

One of the species listed by Mann Buff-breasted button-quail - has had a PHD student searching for it for four years with no sign of it and all records in the past 100 years are in doubt - there’s is no photo of this species or recording of the call the only specimens are from the 1800/s

 

[DMW]

The main target at the time was Short-tailed Parrotbill. No idea how tricky. Not many eBird sightings this year but looks reliable in places in Vietnam & China as well. Rufous-throated Fulvetta the other easier species there.

I think that a lot of Asian targets are rapidly changing their population levels and not in a good way & of course, a lot of hides/blinds are about exceptional views and photograph opportunities rather than simply glimpsing the species. I also suspect that a lot of potential subspecific splits have been ignored until now. Very conscious though that those views are hunches not knowledge!

All the best

Paul

As Andy says, STP is not guaranteed anywhere and has always been considered a bird to target at Tam Dao in Vietnam, or in SE China, both of which can present logistical challenges. It's only recently that it's become available in Thailand. It's a fantastic little bird.

Yes, Asian bird populations are generally in decline and sadly much of this is down to the absolutely pointless cage bird trade. Although Thailand is affected, it's far worse in Vietnam and Indonesia. If either of these is on your radar, go sooner rather than later.

 

[DMW]

One of the species listed by Mann Buff-breasted button-quail - has had a PHD student searching for it for four years with no sign of it and all records in the past 100 years are in doubt - there’s is no photo of this species or recording of the call the only specimens are from the 1800/s

To be fair, Pete Kaestner also had BBBQ on his list. There are some birds which were widely misidentified in the past, and birders ticked them in good faith. It's very easy to forget just how poor identification material was for many species until the last decade or two. We've all made mistakes like this and Pete did the right thing. Colin might well have done so too now.

 

[Andy Adcock]

To be fair, Pete Kaestner also had BBBQ on his list. There are some birds which were widely misidentified in the past, and birders ticked them in good faith. It's very easy to forget just how poor identification material was for many species until the last decade or two. We've all made mistakes like this and Pete did the right thing. Colin might well have done so too now.

And some still are, Malayan Whistling Thrush for one, confusion is mainly through there being a black billed race of Blue Whistling Thrush in the area IIRC.

The only person whose ID of this species that I would trust, in terms of having seen it, is David Bakewell.

Of the commoner birds, Bar-winged Flycatcher Shrike was continually misreported as Little Pied Flycatcher in Goa, probably still is.

 

[Phil Andrews]

As an avid Guardian reader (😉) I am sure Andy has already seen this article but its an interesting "mainstream" view of the race to 10k.

How birdwatching’s biggest record threw its online community into chaos

In late 2023, Peter Kaestner was about to log his 10,000th bird species seen in the wild. Then Jason Mann showed up

www.theguardian.com

Can't be ar$e to work back through the thread to see who is quoted.

 

[opisska]

Apparently seeing 10 thousand bird species is enough to get Jon Hall to admit that birds are somewhat interesting. Peter Kaestner on The Mammalwatching Podcast - Season 3 of the mammalwatching podcast just dropped and our first guest is birding legend Peter Kaestner – Mammal Watching