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Ghana trip (1 Viewer)

Meanwhile I have added just one species, but my wife got two! But the autumn migration is still coming, maybe I can get a second one...

To be fair, most of the border closures are utterly pointless. Yes, it makes sense to close countries with no spread lile NZ and to not allow in a rather stable country people from a raging jnferno like the US, but there is soooo many countries with uncontrollable epidemics that are still closed and it helps absolutely nothing. So if those birders are getting around it somehow, I don't feel bad about it.
 
I'm actually 1 bird down for the year (Northwestern Crow got lumped with American Crow). They better do some splits or it will be a very sad year for me. 3:)
 
How do they get 'in country' in the first place when so many are or have been, closed borders?

Not all countries closed their borders. I think that at the peak less than 50 countries were closed, so you can always go somewhere interesting. Also, you can use creative routes to get where you want. And if you have enough money you can risk getting stuck somewhere, or pay for private transport and bribe people.

Reminds me of my trip to Bangladesh in 2013. There was a "hartel" going on, which is a multiple day strike where they blocked roads and stopped all cars and buses. Kind of a lockdown. However, ambulances were allowed to pass, so rich westerners chartered ambulances to drive them around (denying local people medical help, but what do they care).
 
Not all countries closed their borders. I think that at the peak less than 50 countries were closed, so you can always go somewhere interesting. Also, you can use creative routes to get where you want. And if you have enough money you can risk getting stuck somewhere, or pay for private transport and bribe people.

Reminds me of my trip to Bangladesh in 2013. There was a "hartel" going on, which is a multiple day strike where they blocked roads and stopped all cars and buses. Kind of a lockdown. However, ambulances were allowed to pass, so rich westerners chartered ambulances to drive them around (denying local people medical help, but what do they care).

Also some of these countries only have restrictions on commercial flights. I read the other day that Costa Rica is restricting people from certain US states, but that the rule doesn't apply to private charters.

And then of course you have some folks who are lucky enough to have jobs requiring them to travel internationally, which may also let them skirt some of these regulations.
 
Does birdwatching need to be all about ticks?

Looks like it's all about optics for you, the first 5 pages of your post history is all about optics, I guess the rest are.

If it really was 'all about ticks', I think I'd have managed more than a big, fat zero, even this year so you enjoy what you do and leave other people to do what they enjoy.
 
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The high rankings are not just money though it undeniably plays a part, a list of 5000 for those of ordinary means, is a lifetime achievement for many, requiring years of dedication and probably, at least one divorce ;)

Exactly, including the divorce.

Steve
 
Does birdwatching need to be all about ticks?

My wife has been birding far longer than me, studied ornitholgy in college, grew up in two of the finest birding areas of the USA (SE Arizona and S Texas), and has never kept a list and never will. Yet she is just as crazed and consummed as I am about getting out to new places and seeing new birds. So one can be a gung-ho world birder and not care about ticks at all. But for me they do matter because I set a goal long ago, and I must prove to myself that I can reach it, one way or another.
 
My wife has been birding far longer than me, studied ornitholgy in college, grew up in two of the finest birding areas of the USA (SE Arizona and S Texas), and has never kept a list and never will. Yet she is just as crazed and consummed as I am about getting out to new places and seeing new birds. So one can be a gung-ho world birder and not care about ticks at all. But for me they do matter because I set a goal long ago, and I must prove to myself that I can reach it, one way or another.

Life is about having new experiences, meeting new people, seeing new places and seeing new birds or you're wasting a life.
 
I would have no idea within the nearest few thousand what my bird list is and don't care but I sympathise with the terrible urge to go abroad - although I did manage a quick trip to France and paid the price in quarantine time. It's like withdrawal from a drug but with the withdrawal symptoms getting worse not better. I have a slight hope of doing the trip to Uganda that I had planned for this summer next summer but I'll be very surprised if I leave Europe before then. I'm expected a winter surge in Covid. I do hope I'm wrong though and can do the Tanzania trip I had to cancel last Easter before the hotels I'd booked go bust.
 
My wife has been birding far longer than me, studied ornitholgy in college, grew up in two of the finest birding areas of the USA (SE Arizona and S Texas), and has never kept a list and never will. Yet she is just as crazed and consummed as I am about getting out to new places and seeing new birds...

Totally relate to this - I started a life list many years ago which ended up going awry because I then felt I should indicate Country and sub-species, then I just started forgetting. When I first started birding (&# yrs ago!), I obsessively kept a UK day list which was all about the numbers - loss interest in that through boredom of listing many of the same species repeatedly from week to week. I’m not averse to lists though, as I get older, I rely on them totally from preparing for holidays, shopping, domestic errands and work tasks!

I’m still hoping to do Finland next Spring which is probably a good location given the low infection rates there but everything just feels so uncertain and up in the air that I’m reticent to book anything.
 
Enjoying seeing new birds is a big thing for me and in birding in general but I most enjoy going places where I don't get over whelmed by new stuff. Which is why i keep returning to certain areas, especially southern Africa and SE Asia. I kept a British list until I past 500 but my heart hadn't been in it since the late 80's and most of it wasn't really new as I'd seen most it abroad. I am the only Suffolk birder I know who doesn't keep a Suffolk list. I pretty sure every Suffolk birder I know doesn't believe that I don't.
 
I'm keeping a life list but I'm definitely not obsessed with it. But growing it is a good excuse for new adventures! Most of my travels are a combination of walking, (wild) camping (where possible) and birding so I'm aiming at a holistic nature experience. But it is always nice to have a concrete goal like seeing new birds as well as hiking a certain route. Building memories that will be with me for the rest of my life. When I'm at home browsing through my life list in Scythebill, I'm reliving some of my adventures so it gives me joy every time. This is why I'm keeping a list.
 
I would have no idea within the nearest few thousand what my bird list is and don't care but I sympathise with the terrible urge to go abroad - although I did manage a quick trip to France and paid the price in quarantine time. It's like withdrawal from a drug but with the withdrawal symptoms getting worse not better. I have a slight hope of doing the trip to Uganda that I had planned for this summer next summer but I'll be very surprised if I leave Europe before then. I'm expected a winter surge in Covid. I do hope I'm wrong though and can do the Tanzania trip I had to cancel last Easter before the hotels I'd booked go bust.

A valid question,
how much of the bird or wider, eco tourism infrastructure will remain?

Some tour companies, have very low or indeed, no, overheads so will emerge from this mess and just pick up where they left off to an extent but small hotels may go bust and guides wil be having a terrible time.

Instead of using the funds made out of testing at the airport in Ghana, to refurbish and maintain the airport as stated, testing should be done at cost, to stimulate tourism or, failing that, divert the excess income to a
a fund for those who have no income due to Covid.
 
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Looks like it's all about optics for you, the first 5 pages of your post history is all about optics, I guess the rest are.

If it really was 'all about ticks', I think I'd have managed more than a big, fat zero, even this year so you enjoy what you do and leave other people to do what they enjoy.

You do realize, don't you, that your querulous rendition of the frustrated international birder (var. brexitania)'s plaintive cry on a public forum might result in some replies that fall short of full-throated support?

I can fully understand the desire to bird abroad - but with the "old normal" looking like it might take a while to return (if it ever does...), a lot of us are just going to have to find our "new experiences, meeting new people, seeing new places and seeing new birds" closer to home. Best of luck there, then...

PS. I'm flattered that you took the trouble to read five pages of my post history, but if you'd read through it more carefully, you'd have seen a number of posts relating to the uses to which said optics are put.
 
A valid question,
how much of the bird or wider, eco tourism infrastructure will remain?

Some tour companies, have very low or indeed, no, overheads so will emerge from this mess and just pick up where they left off to an extent but small hotels may go bust and guides wil be having a terrible time.

Instead of using the funds made out of testing at the airport in Ghana, to refurbish and maintain the airport as stated, testing should be done at cost, to stimulate tourism or, failing that, divert the excess income to a
a fund for those who have no income due to Covid.

I don't use tour companies - apart from in Ethiopia when I used a local one - but I really felt for the hotels when I cancelled my bookings and when I promised them I'd be visiting asap I did wonder if that would be too late.
 
I'm keeping a life list but I'm definitely not obsessed with it. But growing it is a good excuse for new adventures! Most of my travels are a combination of walking, (wild) camping (where possible) and birding so I'm aiming at a holistic nature experience. But it is always nice to have a concrete goal like seeing new birds as well as hiking a certain route. Building memories that will be with me for the rest of my life. When I'm at home browsing through my life list in Scythebill, I'm reliving some of my adventures so it gives me joy every time. This is why I'm keeping a list.

I do that a lot by looking through my notes and photos and my website is as much for me to look through as anyone else. I do usually know when a species is new; I just don't keep any lists. I have folders of my wildlife watching diary going back to 1978.
 
I do that a lot by looking through my notes and photos and my website is as much for me to look through as anyone else. I do usually know when a species is new; I just don't keep any lists. I have folders of my wildlife watching diary going back to 1978.

The only reason I know how many birds I've seen is because Scythebill does an automatic report.
 
Since the thread has wandered towards listing, I also keep a life list, as well as "local" regional lists for ABA, USA, states I have lived in, current county, and Japan (which I have also lived in).

I prioritize trips based on those lists (and time of year/expense, obviously). My goal is to hit 700 ABA before I turn 50 (72 to go, so doable if I hit up Hawaii soon), and ultimately to see at least one member of every family and subfamily of bird in the world.

With Covid-19, I was able to add 2 ABA birds just from luck, but haven't felt comfortable traveling further afield (new families in WI are nearly impossible). And of course my first trip to the Neotropics that would have given me a ton of new bird families was also postponed to hopefully this summer. I am hopeful that a vaccine will be available sooner than later, and I can be more comfortable traveling farther afield.
 
We hummed and hawed about taking our usual trip to somewhere warm, sunny, with birds, history and hiking. Eventually we just decided to do an extensive tour of the South West of England (and hope that none of that is declared a Covid hot-spot!) So, starting at Slimbridge on Saturday and working south from there :) Unlikely to see many/any new birds, but will still be enjoyable. (Unless the weather turns, in which case, we'll probably head to somewhere drier, like Norfolk.
 
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