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Recent content by earlytorise

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    Anti-hunting birders beaten up

    I remember seeing the trailer of Jonathan Franzen's documentary about the poaching of migrants, and one of the guys they caught on film was very confrontational. I've just located an article about it. https://www.newyorker.com/magazine/2010/07/26/emptying-the-skies
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    Do small herons eat koi fish?

    I was walking around a university campus with an artificial lake near the entrance serving as home to both a fair number of Black-crowned Night Heron and Chinese Pond Heron. I thought that since the lake has koi fish, that's what the herons feed on, and it would cost the university a fair bit to...
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    Do Sepilok results depend on season?

    I went once, for 4 days straight, in May of 2024. It was quite nice - for example, the trees were flowering, so you could go up the tower and just watch the sunbirds and spiderhunters roll in - and of course I did the nightwalks, which yielded a tarsier among other things - But the trails...
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    Hong Kong December 2024

    Lesser Shortwing used to be easy to hear, incredibly hard to see. It took me a few years here to see my first one. Indeed, one of them in Tai Po Kau seems to be a bit more showy now. The Giant Buddha place is also called Ngong Ping. Some autumns, it can be a fantastic migration spot. Do you...
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    La Mesa Ecopark - three days, January

    Long weekend, Manila booked on a whim because of proximity to Hong Kong. La Mesa Ecopark is located in Quezon City, about an hour-and-a-half's taxi ride from Manila airport. I stayed at a hotel that is a 20-minute walk from the park entrance, through some very crowded streets, a mall and a...
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    The best vagrant ever?

    Wasn't there an auk from the southern hemisphere that turned up in a garden in Britain in the 18th or 19th century? I don't remember the details.
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    Hiring a bird guide on holiday

    Would the reasons also include help with identifying? I asked the same question to a friend who told me that that was the main benefit of guides in e.g. Latin America. It's not possible to memorise all the calls in advance (of a holiday).
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    Rock Dove - easiest access to tick original ones, and whether you've done so

    I had to look up the scientific name of Rock Dove for a report, and I was surprised by the top photo on the Wiki page. The caption reads, "Rock Dove, flock at Baltasound, Shetland, UK. Rock Doves are the wild ancestors of the Feral Pigeons of towns and cities. The wild, native population in...
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    Everyones most desired or dream bird species?

    I live in Hong Kong. Some winters are spectacular for them, others have hardly any - this winter is of the second category. I once spent 4 days in Sepilok (Rainforest Discovery Centre) and the Bristlehead was absent!!
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    Moving from a lister to a finder

    Back in my 3 years at Oxford there would have been slim pickings but the finders outnumbered the twitchers... I remember walking across Port Meadow with a friend one year my senior and he said "Look at every robin, one of them might turn into a rubythroat". I remember he harboured hopes of...
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    January 1st joint Birdforum list (2025 edition)

    Evocative name. One learns something every day. Hong Kong: Red-whiskered Bulbul Light-vented Bulbul Tree Sparrow Red-billed Blue Magpie Spotted Dove Yellow-browed Warbler Black Kite Great Cormorant Eastern Buzzard Blue Whistling Thrush Feral Dove
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    India: best spots for car-less solo birding

    Can you elaborate on Jaisalmer? Is that a desert? I thought that a desert would be way too big and lacking in shade to be without a car. Velavadar too, from what I read? When I read about Ramnagar it said that while they were walking along the river they suddenly heard a tiger's growl. I would...
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    India: best spots for car-less solo birding

    I am such a fan of India (despite having only done two long weekends there) that I am learning intermediate Hindi. The first long weekend was in Bharatpur, the second long weekend I didn't do proper birding. Please suggest some other places where I can easily go birding alone, without a car...
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    A lifer and other action at Umass Amherst campus pond today

    Cool! I'm a fan of certain economists who work there - I'm not supposed to get into politics here, so I'll leave it at that, lol.
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    Cambodia Siem Reap - without car or tour, how much can I see?

    How about Tonlé Sap lake, or Florican grassland, or some further-away place I might not have in mind? Did you go there, and if so did you pay a tour operator for it?
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