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

2014 - Can I see 1000 species? (1 Viewer)

Enjoy your seven weeks around the globe. My next trip will be Ghana in April. Should bring me up to 700 or so....;)

I think I'll throw in the towel now André! Ghana should be a rich hunting ground, with loads of new families etc. Is it a guided tour? I was hoping to avoid taking a guided tour and find most of it with help here and off my own back, but I might change my mind later in the year. I'm impressed that you got such a flying start!
Good to be in touch, be interesting to see how it develops.
I have a day out around Oxfordshire tomorrow to try to find some of the species that simply don't turn up in Devon any more so I'll try to add to my UK year list, and possibly the world total too!

pip pip!
 
I like RSPB Otmoor. So I went there for the morning. It's heaving with Ducks. Even a few Shelduck. Lots of the surrounding fields are under water and much of the reserve is also flooded (part of a flood alleviation scheme I think). Quite a few possibilities here, and started well with a roadside Brambling in the village on the hill above the reserve. A few Red Kites drifting about, but no sign of Sanderling, Fieldfare, Yellowhammer, Hen Harrier, Short-eared Owl, Bearded Tit, all of which have been seen either today or very recently..... So:
172) Brambling
173) Red Kite
174) Ruff - found one in amongst about a million Lapwing.
So, slightly frustrated, left for Bloxham and found a small flock of
175) Fieldfare nearby,
then when I got home (isn't this typical of birding) from the dining room window as I ate my (late) lunch:
176) Yellowhammer
There are still a few available tomorrow, but at least I don't have to gawp skywards for Red Kites from the M40 as we head for London!
Also, just had encouraging emails from Hong Kong, and New South Wales....
 
I think I'll throw in the towel now André! Ghana should be a rich hunting ground, with loads of new families etc. Is it a guided tour? I was hoping to avoid taking a guided tour and find most of it with help here and off my own back, but I might change my mind later in the year. I'm impressed that you got such a flying start!
Good to be in touch, be interesting to see how it develops.
I have a day out around Oxfordshire tomorrow to try to find some of the species that simply don't turn up in Devon any more so I'll try to add to my UK year list, and possibly the world total too!

pip pip!

I have to confess it, it is a guided tour. We're three birders from Switzerland and everything is organised locally by Ashanti Tours. However I always want to be able to id the birds by myself, so I'm learning hard at the moment...;)
I will be at Lake Constance tomorrow for some new birds and I might squeeze in a day in the mountains this or next week for Wallcreeper and the likes...
There's no towel to throw, we will both be winners at the end of the year, regardless of the total number.

André
 
Tomorrow I had a plan to visit Wraysbury Gravel Pits South West of Heathrow to perhaps see Smew which were reported there just recently, and the fields behind the pits also contain Green Woodpecker and RN Parakeet, but the whole area is under water! I have to get to Egham as I have a friend who lets me park my car in his drive while I'm away, so the Parakeets might fly over! If not, then I'll try when we get back. That is if Egham isn't cut off!
 
Here we go! Packed and heading for Heathrow! Needless to say on a brief walk this morning I saw a flock of 20 Yellowhammers!
Tomorrow in the air, Thursday Hong Kong and Mai Po!

Well the bit of Wraysbury that I wanted to look at was available - just!!! So
177) Ring-necked Parakeet

But the field where the Green Woodpeckers often hang out was under water. The gravel pit across the road from Magna Carta lane was full, but no Smew.

Now in the departure lounge.
 
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Mai Po: if you get the chance -VISIT, it is a great credit to everyone who set it up and keeps it going. I loved it even it rained quite a lot and was pretty cold too.
178) Black-collared Starling
179) Azure-winged Magpie
180) Oriental Turtle Dove
181) Spotted Dove
182) Pallas's Warbler
183) Yellow-browed Warbler
184) Japanese White-eye
185) Daurian Redstart
186) Chinese Bulbul
187) Dusky Warbler
188) Oriental Magpie Robin
189) Plain Prinia
190) Yellow-bellied Prinia
191) Black Kite
192) Tree Sparrow
193) Chinese Pond Heron
194) Olive-backed Pipit
195) Common Koel
196) Masked Laughingthrush
197) Black-faced Spoonbill
198) Greater Coucal
199) Red-whiskered Bulbul
200) Ringed Plover
201) Crested Myna
202) Collared Crow
203) Long-tailed Shrike
204) Red-throated Flycatcher
205) Spotted Redshank
206) White-breasted Waterhen
207) Osprey
208) Asian Brown Flycatcher
209) Heuglin's Gull
210) White-throated Kingfisher
211) Green Sandpiper
212) Watercock
Many of the above are new to me, and there may well be a few more to add once I get a grip with the books and my memory, as well as asking John Allcock about a few other possibles. For instance the Phillipinensis form of Blue Rock Thrush, and the local Great Tit. Were any of the Greenshank Nordmann's?
May be lucky to pick up a few more tomorrow before we hop off into the air once more.
 
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Way to go Jon, The HK books and the HK birdwatching society list the Great Tit as one of the birds in HK but the one you saw was most likely the Cinerous Tit. Apparently the Great Tit does not exist or is rare in HK. It depends on which checklist you use. See my thread in birdforum called Tits in Hong Kong.
 
Way to go Jon, The HK books and the HK birdwatching society list the Great Tit as one of the birds in HK but the one you saw was most likely the Cinerous Tit. Apparently the Great Tit does not exist or is rare in HK. It depends on which checklist you use. See my thread in birdforum called Tits in Hong Kong.

When I was in Hong Kong 9-10 weeks ago I used "The Birds of Hong Kong and South China" by Clive Viney, Karen Phillips and Lam Chiu Ying. That doesn't mention the Cinereous Tit, but does state:

GREAT TIT Parus major (commixtus)

Status Resident throughout China. HK - abundant and widespread resident.

This may be the wrong forum for such a question, but would I be correct in thinking that P. commixtus is the scientific name of Cinereous Tit and the species has been split since the publication of the book in 2005?
 
When I was in Hong Kong 9-10 weeks ago I used "The Birds of Hong Kong and South China" by Clive Viney, Karen Phillips and Lam Chiu Ying. That doesn't mention the Cinereous Tit, but does state:

GREAT TIT Parus major (commixtus)

Status Resident throughout China. HK - abundant and widespread resident.

This may be the wrong forum for such a question, but would I be correct in thinking that P. commixtus is the scientific name of Cinereous Tit and the species has been split since the publication of the book in 2005?
Both IOC and Clements currently split them as Parus cinereus. Parus c. commixtus is a subspecies of P. cinereus as I understand it.
 
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Well well well. The great Tits I saw today were white, not yellow like the ones what I know!!!! I'll get onto MK and JA before deciding whether to include it. Great to have your support guys, I'll need everything going to reach the total!! Seriously loved the reserve, well worth the effort to get there - the underground (MTR) puts the London system to shame. So it wasn't difficult. I'd relish the prospect of going again with a) warm weather and b) high tide. The birds out just beyond a decent view were truly prolific.
 
Both IOC and Clements currently split them as Parus cinereus. Parus c. commixtus is a subspecies of P. cinereus as I understand it.

Good on you, mate! Having seen one at the Hong Kong Wetland Park last December that is a new species for me, another "lifer" you've got me without even being with me!

Allen
 
I had this same problem when I was in HK recently. I originally listed it as Great Tit because that was the only one listed in the book but changed my sighting to Cinereous Tit due to splits.
 
Well OK then guys, I'll do the same then: thanks for your help again.
213) CinereousTit
And I'll leave it as that unless I hear otherwise. Looking into the haze at the very distant loafing Gull flock, I saw a LARGE Gull with a black head...... Pallas's?
The cloud has lifted this morning, so we may head on up to the peak later see what's about up there. I have another reason for going up there: when I was born here in HK that was where we lived! More anon, breakfast calls.
 
Just to stir the pot slightly, according to that Opus link P c commixtus is sometimes put in with the Japanese Tit, not Cinereous.;)

One thing we can say however is that they not (currently) Great Tits!
 
So, been up to the Peak, which was fun, and now idling a moment away before heading for the airport. Only added:
214) Large-billed Crow
215) Pale Thrush
Sadly no sign of the Chinese Thrush.
Next stop Christchurch, via a short stop in Sydney - will be looking through the glass there for any stray oz birds!!!
 
So, been up to the Peak, which was fun, and now idling a moment away before heading for the airport. Only added:
214) Large-billed Crow
215) Pale Thrush
Sadly no sign of the Chinese Thrush.
Next stop Christchurch, via a short stop in Sydney - will be looking through the glass there for any stray oz birds!!!

Chinese Thrush? Is that as in Turdus merula (mandarinus) that appears in Viney et al?

I guess that you might be on your way now, but you won't need to be advised that you might see something at Sydney airport (if it is day time, of course). When I had to change terminals at Sydney in December when I was travelling from Port Macquarie to Hong Kong I saw common mynas and welcome swallows. I also saw a yellow-faced honeyeater in a few trees between T2 and T3 between flights in 2010.
 
I've kept a list of birds seen in transit in Sydney (mostly from the transfer bus between terminals) and have seen Straw-necked Ibis, Common Mynah, Australian Magpie, Little Wattlebird, Silver Gull, Black-faced Cuckoo Shrike, New Holland Honeyeater, Welcome Swallow and Lorikeets that weren't Rainbows...
 
Chinese Thrush? Is that as in Turdus merula (mandarinus) that appears in Viney et al?

I guess that you might be on your way now, but you won't need to be advised that you might see something at Sydney airport (if it is day time, of course). When I had to change terminals at Sydney in December when I was travelling from Port Macquarie to Hong Kong I saw common mynas and welcome swallows. I also saw a yellow-faced honeyeater in a few trees between T2 and T3 between flights in 2010.

Not sure about that Allen, one was reported up there recently, and a guy I met there this morning asked if I had seen it.
Thanks for the gen for Sydney, I should have put my OZ birdbook in my hand luggage! It will indeed be light when we transit, and I think we have 3 hours between flights - bring it on!:t:
 
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