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

Shanghai Perambulations (1 Viewer)

Frogfish said:
I also had a gorgeous Hwamei, almost certainly an escapee but never less a lovely bird singing it's heart out. Would escapees still breed in the wild (if they could find a mate) in Shanghai ? Yus mate

Anyone I'm off to add some Middle Eastern and European birds to my list in June. Wife's bought me a ticket to Iceland via Abu Dhabi (she is also going but will be taking her mother on a Med. cruise) so I've a few days in AD and then 3 weeks touring Iceland ... Puffin breeding season !! Anyone any experience / tips of either locale ?
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Usually some good landscape threads on this Canon forum Nikon-boy ;0)
http://photography-on-the.net/forum/forumdisplay.php?f=28

Plus the BF Iceland area:
http://www.birdforum.net/forumdisplay.php?f=600

cheers bud
McM

PS...

http://www.theguardian.com/football...d-sent-off-stamp-herrera-brick-by-brick-video :D
 
Jeff hopkins said:
I've been to Iceland but in November, so much of what I could suggest probably wouldn't apply to June. Plus it wasn't a birding trip, but I do remember getting the @#$% scared out of me by a ptarmigan at a lava cave somewhere near Reykjavik, so getting out into the interior could be "fun."

Re some non-birding activities:

- They have something they call "super-jeeps" which they literally drive up onto glaciers. That was pretty cool.

- The blue lagoon is a "hot springs" near Reykjavik where people swim. But it's really the cooling pond for a geothermal power plant. My friend and I (both chemical engineers) thought that was pretty gross. We didn't partake.

- I thought the tour of Gullfoss, Geysir, and the place where the tectonic plates are coming apart was neat. Scenic as well as geologically interesting.

- People who took the tour riding Icelandic horses were not impressed. We didn't do that. That was they day we went super-jeeping.
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Thanks Jeff !

I will have a hire 4x4 and will be camping most of the time. The Blue Lagoon was not on my list before and most certainly isn't now ;) Ditto horse riding and Super Jeeps (already checked that one out). Gullfoss, Geysir etc. are already on the list, I may also take a couple of days out to go to the Westland Isles - more Puffins where the chicks often end up walking through town (attracted but the lights) before being rescued and taken back to the beach :t:

I'll be touching on many of the most highly rated locations (fragments of icebergs on black sand beaches and huge waterfalls etc.) and with 20-24 hours of daylight (and many hours of 'sunsets' and 'sunrises') the landscape photography should be wonderful.

However I'd love to tick all those birds I may not otherwise ever see. And hopefully get some top-notch Puffin shots !
 
Great photo's Frogfish! Thanks for sharing.

We have much in common as it turns out. My first trip to China was in 1999 to Shanghai and some traveling up into Shandong Province. I returned for an extended stay the next year to Dahlian and on to Shenyang the next year. I have been back and forth teaching in Shenyang until last year when Liaoning decided to start enforcing the retirement ages on foreigners and refused to issue new work visas to four of us at our university due to our ages. Hence I am retired now. Fortunately, I had been back and forth often enough that getting a family visitation visa was easy and the local police have even said that they will renew the visa for me here without having to leave the country at the end of the six months if I ever want to just stay.

Like you, my Chinese wife (also retired with a Chinese teacher's pension) has little interest in tramping around looking at birds with me, so I am often by myself, which is fine with me. Her hobby is that she has one of the dance/exercise groups that you see in the squares every night. I'm not interested in that, so it evens out. I've never gotten a Chinese driver's license so I need to get a bike or e-bike so I could range out a little better.

Also, like you, the photography side is an interest in itself. I do like the challenge of identifying what I see and use the photos as records and as a way of verifying ID better. Along that line I would be interested in what lens/body you are using to get your pictures.
Also like you

Retirement has it perks in that I can go out with the camera when I want and for as long as I want. ;-)
 
Owen Krout said:
Great photo's Frogfish! Thanks for sharing.

Also, like you, the photography side is an interest in itself. I do like the challenge of identifying what I see and use the photos as records and as a way of verifying ID better. Along that line I would be interested in what lens/body you are using to get your pictures.
Also like you

Retirement has it perks in that I can go out with the camera when I want and for as long as I want. ;-)
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Thanks Owen !

I'm currently using a 300/2.8 VRII with a D800E and D3s. I am in the throes of changing that to a 500/4 VRII and TCs for China and bird-specific trips, with the new Nikon 300/4 PF and TCs for travels (e.g my Iceland sojourn in June).

Retirement - envy ! Though I'm sure Dev and Mark would say I'm halfway there now ;)
 
1x Arctic Warbler, 1x Pallas' and 3x Red-Flanked Bluetails the best of today's dog walk in the compound. Looks like the kingfishers have left for another year (they are usually around late-Jan or early-Feb thru March).
 
Today's dog & wife walk in the compound netted the pair of kingfishers who obviously haven't left yet at all - lovely ! And a mini-wave comprised 1x Arctic Warbler, 4x Japanese White-eyes and, a shock to me as these are the first I've seen in 11-12 yrs in this compound, 2x Marsh Tits.
 
Frogfish said:
Today's dog & wife walk in the compound netted the pair of kingfishers who obviously haven't left yet at all - lovely ! And a mini-wave comprised 1x Arctic Warbler, 4x Japanese White-eyes and, a shock to me as these are the first I've seen in 11-12 yrs in this compound, 2x Marsh Tits.
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Hey Kevin,

Would you happen to have any photos of the Marsh Tits? I don't think the species has been recorded in Shanghai at all in recent years, if ever.

Regards,
Larry
 
Sorry Larry - no photos, out walking the dog. Either Willow or Marsh and since Willow aren't found in this area then they must have been Marsh. We're not that far from Anhui ;)

Another good day today with the dog and bins .... a flock of ca. 10-12 Long Tailed Tits (another '1st' for the compound) and the first Long Tailed Shrike of the year (here).

Whilst enjoying morning coffee in the garden with the dog a Turdus landed in the large tree close by (6-7m away). This one was obviously one of the first fledglings of the year, light brown breast heavily imbued with cream flecks and what threw me at first being the strong cream 'eyebrow' and even more the bright yellow line from the lower edge of the eye to the bill. An urgent single note call was being sent forth every 10-20 secs until eventually, after maybe a full 5 mins, probably because I was sat so close, the nervous male Blackbird sailed in, landed less than 50cm from the chick for a mere second and then about turned and flew away ... closely followed by the chick. Sweet.
 
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Frogfish said:
Today's dog & wife walk in the compound netted the pair of kingfishers who obviously haven't left yet at all - lovely ! And a mini-wave comprised 1x Arctic Warbler, 4x Japanese White-eyes and, a shock to me as these are the first I've seen in 11-12 yrs in this compound, 2x Marsh Tits.
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Did you bring them from Inner Mongolia? 8-P
 
thirudevaram said:
Did you bring them from Inner Mongolia? 8-P
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Drat. Foiled again. Now you know it wasn't me just practising my bird calls on the plane. ;)

I'm really getting excited about my upcoming 3 weeks hiking/camping/birding in Iceland ... less than one month to go to breeding Puffins, Razorbills, Guillemots, Skuas, King Eider, Ptarmigan, Gyr Falcons, White-tailed Eagles and Arctic Foxes (if I'm lucky) ! Any one know of any birding in Abu Dhabi for my 3 day layover on the way ?
 
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