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

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  1. S

    Bird Song Quiz

    http://www.garden-birds.co.uk/quiz/quiz.htm The above link is the only British bird song test I could find online. It's quite easy, especially as it's multiple choice. You can choose to do photo ID, songs or songs and calls. Anyone know of anything similar? I get rusty on vocalisations during...
  2. S

    Estimating Flock Sizes in Flight

    I'm not great at estimating the size of large moving flocks. I know all about the count a section then multiply up tactic but think I am pretty poor at it. For any very large flocks I usually put 1000+ and leave it at that. However I have a question from watching a mixed jackdaw/rook roost. If...
  3. S

    Cold Weather: Bird Behaviour

    Has anybody noticed any unusual bird behaviours/occurrences related to the recent spell of ice and snow? Anything really - feeding patterns, unusual species tallies etc. Haven't been out much but have heard quite a bit of winter singing (def more than usual) during sunny spells: great tit...
  4. S

    "Birding" and "Dawn chorus"

    Was wondering about the word "birding" and the phrase "dawn chorus". When were these coined? I think people sometimes complain about "birding" thinking it's a modern variant on "birdwatching". To me "dawn chorus" just sounds like it's been invented for a glossy nature reserve events booklet...
  5. S

    Re-Wilding

    Anybody read British Wildlife magazine? There was a supplement to the most recent edition about "re-wilding" of the countryside. The example given was of the 6000ha Oostvaardersplassen (Dutch is a class language!) Nature Reserve in the Netherlands. Think I'll def pay it a visit some day...
  6. S

    Hooded Crows flocking

    There was a large gathering of well over 100 hoodies (at a distance from me and didn't have scope with me so difficult to count) at Portmore Lough RSPB, Antrim yesterday evening. They were in trees and in flight above them. Quite a bit of aerobatics with birds doing tumbling dives in pairs and...
  7. S

    Pics from Scrabo Country Park Co. Down

    Few pics taken by my Dad on 3/5/09.
  8. S

    Digiscoping help needed

    OK this question and variations on it have been posted hundreds of times but... Thinking about getting a scope and want to keep the digiscoping option open. Is there a simple digiscoping "set"? e.g. a reasonably decent scope and a reasonably decent camera that go together? A camera that's easy...
  9. S

    Other warblers and migrants...

    Anybody seen sedgies, reed, whitethroat yet? Singing blackcap this morning, 2 at Portmore Lough RSPB and 2 at Sandy Bay both Co. Antrim. Also 2 swallows, hundreds of sand martins and quite a few singing willow warblers and 1 chiffchaff. It was a strange mixture of winter and spring this...
  10. S

    San Marino

    Equal rights for San Marino! It needs it's own thread!;) Not really going birding but is there anything special I should look out for in Marino/Rimini at this time of year?
  11. S

    Peregrine?

    Saw an unidentified raptor today. Thinking probably peregrine from behaviour. I was watching rocks by an island at south Lough Neagh about a kilometre distant from me. I'd only bins, no scope. The raptor was seen circling high above the rocks. Hundreds of lapwing and golden plover were flying...
  12. S

    Little Grebe still in juvenile plumage?

    On 20th Oct and 14th November there was a really stripy-headed dabchick on Lough Neagh. Will keep eye out for it. A bit late for birds to still be in juvenile plumage?
  13. S

    BTO Birdtrack website.

    Anybody else been having trouble getting onto the site recently? I haven't been able to get on for about a week.
  14. S

    Birds of the Western Palearctic

    I'm thinking about getting the concise edition but it's very expensive. Can anybody recommend it to me or alternatively warn me against buying it?
  15. S

    Northern Ireland Dialect Bird Names

    Below is a list of dialect names from the "Concise Ulster Dictionary" (Macafee, 1996). Many are of Ulster Scots or Irish/Scottish Gaelic origin. Others would probably still be in use throughout the British Isles. I've highlighted a few that I've heard before and also a few that I just like...
  16. S

    Signs of Spring

    Since mid January I've been hearing singing great tits. Also this week there's been singing blackbirds, chaffinch and woodpigeon. The woodpigeon were displaying too! Jackdaws seem a lot more energetic at the minute lots of aerobatics and chasing eachother. (SSSorry for putting two s's in the...
  17. S

    Singing Great Tits

    In the past week I've noticed quite a lot of "teacher, teacher" song from Great Tits. Is this usual so early in the year? If it is why do they sing in January? Are they setting up territories already?
  18. S

    Birds Having "Fun"

    This is something I often think about when watching birds- do they actually enjoy life or are they just machine-like organisms? Is there any evidence for example that birds at any time sing for pleasure? Do birds ever "play" or engage in aerobatic displays just for the sake of it? I've seen...
  19. S

    Swallow behaviour

    On one of the warm, calm days last week I noticed some interesting behaviour from two swallows. The first bird was carrying a white feather in it's bill. The swallow let go of the feather, which floated downwards, whereupon the swallow wheeled round and caught it again in mid-air, like it was...
  20. S

    Bird Track

    Does anybody else enter their sightings into the BTO's bird track website? I do but I've been having trouble recently trying to log in. Anybody else having similar problems?
  21. S

    TV Fox Programme

    Programme about urban Foxes on Channel 4 @ 9pm tonight.
  22. S

    Sparrowhawks

    There are certainly Sparrowhawks in my local area because I've seen them on a few occasions however they remain very elusive! I know that th best way to see one might be to put up a garden bird feeder ;) but does anyone have any tips for spotting Sparrowhawks in the field?
  23. S

    Raptors @ Frankfurt Airport

    At the weekend I was over in Liechtenstein for the football. (Dublin-Frankfurt-Zurich-Vaduz) Needless to say Norn Iron won our match and we're now top of our group!!!!!!! However I saw 5 raptors hovering over rough grassland at Frankfurt airport as the plane was on the runway and taking off. I...
  24. S

    Buzzard diet.

    Saw a buzzard making a kill yesterday for the first time ever. However I have seen them in the past eating what must have been recently killed juv. rabbits. The buzzard was sitting in a tall tree above an area of grassland/marsh when it suddenly swooped down, twisted in mid air and disappeared...
  25. S

    Northern Ireland

    Belfast Harbour Lagoon Firstly the RSPB Belfast Harbour Lagoon Reserve is perhaps one of the best in the UK?! In winter there are hundreds of widgeon, teal, mallard, curlew, dunlin and oystercatcher and thousands of lapwing and golden plover. There are also shoveller, shelduck, heron, greylag...
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