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

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  1. Surreybirder

    Northern Bullfinch Identification

    Possibly. Someone posted a pic of a possible northern bullfinch on iSpot so I was reading up about them. Then I came across the statement on vocalisations which seemed a bit inaccurate. Van Duivendeijk also features the uneven leading edge of the tertial bar as a feature of some northern...
  2. Surreybirder

    Northern Bullfinch Identification

    From Van Duivendeijk this is a variable feature.
  3. Surreybirder

    Owl viewing ethics

    That's the one.
  4. Surreybirder

    Owl viewing ethics

    I read somewhere that little owls have become more nocturnal due to the increasing number of predators (mainly buzzards and ravens, I assume). I would certainly agree that they have become much harder to find. I knew of two reliable sites close to my home ten years ago but now I only...
  5. Surreybirder

    Owl viewing ethics

    We had an example locally where a short-eared owl site was posted on Facebook. (They are not at all common in Surrey but there were at least four present.) Photographers were wandering all over the feeding area trying to get the perfect shot. It's hard to be sure but my instinct is that it...
  6. Surreybirder

    Shieldbugs.

    Looks good to me. See (Pentatomidae) Eysarcoris venustissimus
  7. Barklouse

    Barklouse

    I now believe this to be a barklouse nymph, contrary to my earlier ID as a springtail. (approx 1 mm long). It could move like the clappers so it was fun trying to photograph it. In the end, I pinned it in a floating frame for a few minutes. I cannot add anything to what you can see.
    • Surreybirder
    • Media item
    • springtail
    • Comments: 0
    • Category: Invertebrates
  8. Surreybirder

    Insect for ID, New Forest(UK), 02.06.21

    I've seen a few springtails recently but they aren't the easiest to ID. This one looks like Entomobrya intermedia or a close relative. It's one of the larger species.
  9. Surreybirder

    Clements 2023 Checklist Update

    Very droll - but I'd never have got it without the reference :ROFLMAO:
  10. Surreybirder

    Clements 2023 Checklist Update

    Sorry, I don't get it!
  11. Surreybirder

    Clements 2023 Checklist Update

    Thanks for the clarifications!
  12. Surreybirder

    Clements 2023 Checklist Update

    I don't understand the rules on scientific names. I thought that they were meant to be unique. Yet Oenanthe is used for both a genus of birds and the deadly poisonous hemlock family. Or is it the case that there is no communication between botanists and ornithologists?
  13. Surreybirder

    AOS to discard patronyms in English names

    black upstart?
  14. Surreybirder

    AOS to discard patronyms in English names

    When I was growing up we had tomtits in the garden (a name which survives to this day in New Zealand). But I cannot see us going back to yaffles and spuggies.
  15. Surreybirder

    AOS to discard patronyms in English names

    I rather like Mrs Gould's sunbird as a name. Many-coloured sunbird or similar takes away an evocative historical reference. It may be a philosophical point but I think that history does matter. But I'm not sure that historical injustices are restored by renaming birds. Having said that, some...
  16. Surreybirder

    AOS to discard patronyms in English names

    Political correctness hits the birding world, IMO. Let's hang on to Montagu's harrier in Europe - unless Monty was a disgrace. But very few people 'in the field' take any notice of the ever-increasing number of bird name changes. I've never heard anyone say "Oh look a common house martin." So I...
  17. Surreybirder

    Clements 2023 Checklist Update

    Clairvoyant egret!
  18. Surreybirder

    Clements 2023 Checklist Update

    I seem to have gained an intermediate egret but my life-list is unchanged, .... Edited: Probably because my Royal Albatross has become a spuh (if that's the right term). When I saw one in 1987 I was unaware of any potential splits.
  19. Surreybirder

    Clements 2023 Checklist Update

    The Clements taxonomy update is now 'in progress'. https://ebird.org/news/2023-taxonomy-update
  20. Surreybirder

    ID Tips for new moth'ers

    In my, admittedly limited experience, iNaturalist will often get you to the right genus but rarely to the right species. But you'd have to do a lot more testing to evaluate it properly. (It's like these adverts for cream on the TV, 78% of 47 women agree that their skin feels younger - but what...
  21. Surreybirder

    ID Tips for new moth'ers

    There are thought to be about 160,000 species of moths many of which will not have been photographed. No doubt the AI will improve but there could be lots of rather similar looking Noctuidae for example, some of which the AI may not have any visual data on. I am not sure that the AI on...
  22. Surreybirder

    Owl viewing ethics

    I heard of photographers throwing stones at the little owls at Elmley Nature Reserve in order to get some action shots. When I last visited, the owls had disappeared. But one was seen in August according to https://ebird.org/hotspot/L933593
  23. Surreybirder

    Shieldbugs.

    I had a new garden shieldbug a couple of days ago - juniper (at least I hope it is!)
  24. Surreybirder

    ID Tips for new moth'ers

    I suspect that part of the challenge for AI is the lack of reliable information on the internet. If there were thousands of reliable pictures of every moth species, AI would probably be more reliable than a human - but there aren't. On the other hand, looking at the AI efforts with birds on...
  25. Surreybirder

    ID Tips for new moth'ers

    iSpot doesn't use IA for moths. If you want that, iNaturalist is an option although I sometimes find that they put up Australian or North American species for Uk moths. Google Lens is also an option. But some moths are really tricky and a more interactive approach with other users can be...
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