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

2017 Western Palearctic Big Year (1 Viewer)

This would be a really weird time to hit up Svalbard wouldn't it? can't expect much in the way of birds with winter in full swing
 
Paul Chapman said:
The attachment is linked up thread but may interest you in light of these comments.

All the best

Paul
Click to expand...

Paul

Thanks - I'm further convinced the Kuwait bird must be a Pale Sand Martin. I'm no clearer on the status / appearance of birds in India and China but that is not relevant to the discussion of this record!

Great to see the Swedish team bagging lots of wintering vagrants - certainly a welcome improvement to the original itinerary and suggests they may set a respectable total for future challengers. :t:

cheers, alan
 
Svalbard in January would indeed be a very odd decision - does it even get light at this time of year? I'm not quite sure what the rationale is behind visiting Svalbard at any point in their year: from what I understand, Ivory Gull is erratic these days, and there is a twitchable one in Germany. I guess it's a way of being absolutely sure of Little Auk. Otherwise, the only likely species I can think of that is vaguely useful is Sab's Gull, and I think that is only semi-reliable by taking a cruise to the northern part of the island. Perhaps they are hoping the Spectacled Eider reappears!
 
Dave Ball said:
It will be interesting to see their full blog entries for these days, I guess they have spent their evenings driving for the last couple of days with no time to write. Wonder if going for the (dodgy?) Hooded Merg, which is on the west side of Scotland, means they are making for the Islay or North Uist ferries?
Click to expand...

The Hooded Merganser is only just West of Glasgow - maybe an hour and a half diversion (if you get straight on it) from a conventional route North via M6-M74-A9.

John
 
DMW said:
Svalbard in January would indeed be a very odd decision ...
Click to expand...

Maybe also a slightly hidden agenda of also ensuring they visit all the weird and wonderful corners of the WP (Urals, Azores, Svalbard, Cape Verde, etc?

Certainly I would try to also do this if I was attempting a big WP year.
 
Jos Stratford said:
Maybe also a slightly hidden agenda of also ensuring they visit all the weird and wonderful corners of the WP (Urals, Azores, Svalbard, Cape Verde, etc?

Certainly I would try to also do this if I was attempting a big WP year.
Click to expand...

True enough - I'm sure they will want to be able to look back on the year and have a lot of incredible memories rather than just a very long list of birds.

Although I think I would still want to visit Svalbard at a time of year when I can actually see it ;)
 
lewis20126 said:
Paul

Great to see the Swedish team bagging lots of wintering vagrants - certainly a welcome improvement to the original itinerary and suggests they may set a respectable total for future challengers. :t:

cheers, alan
Click to expand...

And good to see them leaving the Scottish islands off their itinerary. It really would be prohibitively expensive and difficult. A respectable 700-720 odd is what they need to set. :t:

All the best
 
DMW said:
True enough - I'm sure they will want to be able to look back on the year and have a lot of incredible memories rather than just a very long list of birds.

Although I think I would still want to visit Svalbard at a time of year when I can actually see it ;)
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Yes but it is clear that they won't go now (!) to Svalbard! I just told them on facebook that many of you suggested that they could skip there visit to Svalbard (the planned one in early summer) if they get the ivory gull in Germany. And they answered that they thought about going to Germany, but they want to go to Svalbard (but in summer of course). And I think that it us no hidden agenda to visit it. They are planning a Big Year with great observations and good memories. But they won't hurry as Arjan did...

I personally would exactly do the same if I would ever do a Big Year!

And according the Pink-footed Goose in GB: you really have a very strange island!! Looking for the odd Whitefront within Pink-footed - that is really upside down compared to central Europe...
 
DanielDoer said:
Yes but it is clear that they won't go now (!) to Svalbard! I just told them on facebook that many of you suggested that they could skip there visit to Svalbard (the planned one in early summer) if they get the ivory gull in Germany. And they answered that they thought about going to Germany, but they want to go to Svalbard (but in summer of course). And I think that it us no hidden agenda to visit it. They are planning a Big Year with great observations and good memories. But they won't hurry as Arjan did...

I personally would exactly do the same if I would ever do a Big Year!

And according the Pink-footed Goose in GB: you really have a very strange island!! Looking for the odd Whitefront within Pink-footed - that is really upside down compared to central Europe...
Click to expand...

I might well do the same too! However, if the logistics aren't too complex, and the Ivory Gull is still present, I think they would be well-advised to go see the bird in Germany anyway. First rule of twitching... go! I'm not sure it is guaranteed in Svalbard.

Sadly, my island (Jersey) isn't so strange... Whitefronts are more or less a vagrant here, and Pink-feet are an even rarer vagrant!
 
Alwin van Lubeck said:
As per Facebook they will be heading home for a few days and then to Svalbard. I would have loved to see them go to The Netherlands, Germany and Denmark for a couple of days. Blyth's Pipit, Bufflehead, Ivory Gull and Siberian Accentor would have made great additions.
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I think it isn't as important for their year list whether they go on a twitch tour to NL and Germany now. More important would be, if they just have family time until the flight to Morocco in the beginning of February or whether they will do some twitching now in Sweden as well. Aren't there still Siberian Accentors around at the moment?
 
Paul Chapman said:
Is there now a feature which is said to be suggestive of that identification?

All the best
Click to expand...

The head pattern and the coloration of the upper chest (e.g. no clear breast band) as well as the moult status with darker new inner primaries are underlined. And some more features I now forget...

I hope it helps as well!
 
If they're in Sweden, surely all they have to do is pop over that bridge to get the Accentor in Denmark (if there aren't any left in Sweden), and from there it's no great distance to Schleswig (at least according to Palmerston, Prince Albert and that German professor) and the Ivory Gull(s).

They should be fine as long as they avoid Saga Norén.
 
DanielDoer said:
And according the Pink-footed Goose in GB: you really have a very strange island!! Looking for the odd Whitefront within Pink-footed - that is really upside down compared to central Europe...
Click to expand...

Checked up - 360,000 Pink-footed Geese wintering in Britain :t:

Compare 3,000 European Whitefronts, 13,000 Greenland Whitefronts, 40,000 Greylags, and a few hundred Beans.
 
Dave Ball said:
If they're in Sweden, surely all they have to do is pop over that bridge to get the Accentor in Denmark (if there aren't any left in Sweden), and from there it's no great distance to Schleswig (at least according to Palmerston, Prince Albert and that German professor) and the Ivory Gull(s).

They should be fine as long as they avoid Saga Norén.
Click to expand...

They are a bit north of Stockholm, so only 600km drive to that bridge.
Guess they planned some owls and Scandinavian birds on the feeders first (Siberian Jay, Grey-headed Chickadee, Redpolls)
 

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