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  1. Farnboro John

    Should you tick "heard only" birds?

    Sorry, haven't got the one-time pad for that message.... ;) John
  2. Farnboro John

    Should you tick "heard only" birds?

    I hope you aren't suggesting that "wet my lips" is an invitation to throw VX at my face.... :eek!: John
  3. Farnboro John

    Should you tick "heard only" birds?

    Thanks Chris! All it takes is restraint and patience. No hides, no tapes, no trampling. Just standing on paths or even sitting in the car eating a Hobnob. :t: John
  4. Farnboro John

    Should you tick "heard only" birds?

    Just to emphasise the point being made by the people posting photographs, two different Quail (Elmley, Kent and Cambridgeshire) without crop trampling and a Corncrake out of the car window (Balranald) John
  5. Farnboro John

    Should you tick "heard only" birds?

    Quail are generally in cereal crops that stand between 18" and 2' high: it's a reasonable bet if you can't see their backside sticking up it's not a birder with a tape. John
  6. Farnboro John

    Should you tick "heard only" birds?

    But the more experienced will know that pursuing Quail is futile - you will only ever get blip views. Watching the edge of a crop with a Quail in and deploying fieldcraft (e.g. stillness, silence and concentration), or talking to locals and being told the place to stand, or even which individual...
  7. Farnboro John

    Should you tick "heard only" birds?

    I have encountered blind and partially sighted birders who use parabolic dishes with microphones as their primary instruments. I am not going to be the one to tell them what is being said on here about ticking heard birds: nor to tell them that they are not part of the mainstream birding...
  8. Farnboro John

    Should you tick "heard only" birds?

    You've just brought back my first Thrush Nightingale to me: I watched its silhouette against the deepening blue and stars of an early summer evening while listening entranced to its song at a range of about eight feet. I was sitting on the ground under bushes at Walsey Hills. I probably wouldn't...
  9. Farnboro John

    Should you tick "heard only" birds?

    Mmm.. The point I was trying to make was that there is no need, and one can actually reduce the level of fun and enjoyment, by concentrating on one aspect of what is actually a multi-sensory experience: and at different times and in differing circumstances different aspects of the bird come to...
  10. Farnboro John

    Should you tick "heard only" birds?

    That's simply the emphasis of our lives, we are quite visually orientated. But when a Woodlark is singing high in the sky, how much time do you spend watching the dot as opposed to listening to the melody? John
  11. Farnboro John

    Should you tick "heard only" birds?

    Learning calls takes time. After 35 years I still get caught out by common birds, let alone baffled by unfamiliar ones. But learning is one of the great joys of birding! John
  12. Farnboro John

    Should you tick "heard only" birds?

    I agree with that. Even here in the far North East corner of the county, Ring-necked Parakeets are less than annual in Farnborough (though numbers are resident Northward in Bracknell and Eastward in Sunningdale). They bred at Moor Green about twenty years ago but just an isolated pair. Still...
  13. Farnboro John

    Should you tick "heard only" birds?

    There is also the issue of mimicking: the other day I thought I heard a Ring-necked Parakeet in the back garden but quickly determined it was a Starling mimicking. Unfortunately it may have learned the call from nearer to home than I would have said a while ago, so I may find the real thing in...
  14. Farnboro John

    Should you tick "heard only" birds?

    To me, "heard only" means what it says on the tin: not seen. No indication of doubt. I wouldn't life tick a bird on call (but respect the right of anyone to decide otherwise: who says one sense beats another?) but happy to year-tick on call. I regard this as ethical as it means there is no...
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