Ed Forum birdwatching 2008

Hi all!

I leave Australia on Tuesday, but have managed to see about 160 species, of which most are new to the list. Of interest to Australian birders may be no less than two sightings of Little Ringed Plover and a grand total of 48 Yellow Wagtails. I have hundreds of photos and will simply put them on a CD and give to EHocking when we meet in London. Mailing them would take forever. I will provide a complete list of sighted birds when I come back home.

RedIbis: your mystery bird IS a Loggerhead Shrike. Thanks for those great photos!
 
Kotatsu said:
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RedIbis: your mystery bird IS a Loggerhead Shrike. Thanks for those great photos!
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Thanks Kotatsu. I'm becoming more familiar with the Loggerhead. They are very common around here (perhaps the time of the year?). I only post those photos which are of unlisted birds or particularly good examples. I imagine a lot of these have been listed already.

I just got my new tripod and pistol grip so I should have nice clean shots coming up. I found a great little park in Tampa that has an unusual amount of water and woodland birds. If anyone is ever in the area, please check out Lettuce Lake, it's worth the side trip.
 
Hillsborough River, W. Central Florida

These were taken over the course of the last few weeks, all along the Hillsborough River. None of these pictures are particularly good, either overexposed or not enough light. I'm still getting used to the camera.

Roseate Spoonbill

RoseateSpoonbill.jpg


Glossy Ibis

GlossyIbis.jpg


Black Crowned Night Heron

BlackCrownedNightHeron.jpg


Yellow Throated Warbler

YellowThroated.jpg
 
I am almost on my way to the airport to depart from Perth to Bangkok now, and don't think it's very likely I'll see any new birds on the way. The final number seems to be 169, which is good considering that I was only here for ~17 days, most of which was spent on the beach waiting for cannon nets to fire. I will post a complete list as soon as I get home, as the computer here at the internet cafe decided to eat my first attempt, which had reached about 120 birds...
 
Hi all,

I am currently stuck in Bangkok due to the events at the international airport, and have no idea when I will be able to continue home. I have taken the opportunity to do some birdwatching (I actually bought a bird guide at the airport before they closed all the shops because it was so cheap and I thought that why not? I didn't think I'd actually have time to use it, though), and have seen about a dozen species, two of which (I think) are new to the list. I will post them when I get home (if ever^^).
 
Kotatsu said:
Hi all,

I am currently stuck in Bangkok due to the events at the international airport, and have no idea when I will be able to continue home. I have taken the opportunity to do some birdwatching (I actually bought a bird guide at the airport before they closed all the shops because it was so cheap and I thought that why not? I didn't think I'd actually have time to use it, though), and have seen about a dozen species, two of which (I think) are new to the list. I will post them when I get home (if ever^^).
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I just saw the Bangkok airport on BBC news. Never would have guessed that I "know" someone affected by the problem.

Good luck getting home! And for being so positive about the situation, you are my hero for today.
 
Mercutio said:
I just saw the Bangkok airport on BBC news. Never would have guessed that I "know" someone affected by the problem.

Good luck getting home! And for being so positive about the situation, you are my hero for today.
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Haha! Thank you! I see no need to get too upset, even if this might potentially interfere with my visit to London which is supposed to start on the 30th. In the best of worlds, I'll be able to get home in time, but otherwise the Uni will have to pay for another few nights and a flight to London...
 
Kotatsu said:
I am almost on my way to the airport to depart from Perth to Bangkok now, and don't think it's very likely I'll see any new birds on the way.
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:D

I hope the "terrorists" (that's how they're being characterised here) are friendly. :cool:
 
Here it is an "anti-government rally". Just outside the Business centre of the hotel (where I am now back at) there is what is called a "bird sanctuary", which is basically a few trees and bushes squashed in between four buildings. They have Nicobar Pigeon, Crowned Pigeon, Peaceful dove, and some kind of whistling duck, at least, probably more. They're all captive, though, so I can't count them^^. Now I am off to find harem trousers!
 
Kotatsu said:
Here it is an "anti-government rally". Just outside the Business centre of the hotel (where I am now back at) there is what is called a "bird sanctuary", which is basically a few trees and bushes squashed in between four buildings. They have Nicobar Pigeon, Crowned Pigeon, Peaceful dove, and some kind of whistling duck, at least, probably more. They're all captive, though, so I can't count them^^. Now I am off to find harem trousers!
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Just as long as you balance your curiosity with safety. I wish you a speedy and safe return home.
 
RedIbis said:
Just as long as you balance your curiosity with safety. I wish you a speedy and safe return home.
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Personally I'd feel safer in Thailand during a "crisis" than in many parts of the world during "normal circumstances". I've wandered around temples, fields, salt pans and hotel grounds and the residents have either not taken a blind bit of notice, or been kind enough to point out the local bird life, when I've shown them my bird book and bins. I can manage little more than "sat wat dee krup" (Hello) and "cob koon krup" (Thank you), but I've yet to find any Thai who was even impatient or abrupt with my lack of basic language.

Kotatsu - Taking a tuktuk to Lumphini park is well worth it, if you know you've got a half day free.

http://www.thaibirding.com/locations/central/lumphini.htm

If you've got longer look into Samut Sakhon (about 2-3 hours away?), don't miss the chance to see spoon-billed sandpiper and Nordmann's greenshank!
 
sphenisc said:
Personally I'd feel safer in Thailand during a "crisis" than in many parts of the world during "normal circumstances". I've wandered around temples, fields, salt pans and hotel grounds and the residents have either not taken a blind bit of notice, or been kind enough to point out the local bird life, when I've shown them my bird book and bins. I can manage little more than "sat wat dee krup" (Hello) and "cob koon krup" (Thank you), but I've yet to find any Thai who was even impatient or abrupt with my lack of basic language.

Kotatsu - Taking a tuktuk to Lumphini park is well worth it, if you know you've got a half day free.

http://www.thaibirding.com/locations/central/lumphini.htm

If you've got longer look into Samut Sakhon (about 2-3 hours away?), don't miss the chance to see spoon-billed sandpiper and Nordmann's greenshank!
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I don't doubt the friendliness of the people but an anti-gov't rally shutting down the airport seems extraordinary.
 
Honeymoon Island, Dunedin, Florida

It's a bit ironic that I'll be eating bird later today, but for now, this was by far the best birding expedition that I've ever been on. I read up on this spot and belong to a Florida birding forum, so I knew the bald eagles were here, but I didn't expect the education I got.

I took a long trail until it was fenced off for the nesting eagles where I found what I'm always hoping for on these trips: an old guy with a scope, camera and long lens. The older the person, the better. He ID'd birds by call and answered all of my questions. Than another guy walked up and turned out to be a professional bird photographer and zoologist from Germany. Two hours later I learned more about birds and photography than I ever could have imagined. It was truly remarkable listening to these guys talk about the competition between the eagles, ospreys and owls for nests. And then a debate sprung up about the best cameras, settings, lens, file formats, etc. I'm surely giving thanks today.

Great Horned Owl - appears to be sleeping

GHOwlII.jpg


Bald Eagles - Watching their behavior over a long period of time is just incredible. A lot of nest building, whining and tension with the osprey.

BEagle.jpg


BaldEaglepair.jpg


American Kestrel - I was quite excited to see this bird, the other guys, not so much. Apparently, they're quite common, unlike Merlin which have made appearances.

AmericanKestrel.jpg



I didn't get pictures but a Northern Harrier was spotted, and a lot of catbirds, red bellied woodpeckers, yellow warblers (pine, palm,rumped, throated), red shouldered hawks. I never made it to the beach for shore birds, so I'm tempted to head right back tomorrow. Or I might go to the Venice rookery for the Great Blue Heron courtship rituals.
 
I haven't actually been around much, as the air here is awful and gives me the coughs. All I have seen during the last few days (and I have never gone very far from the hotel, to be honest...) is domestic pigeon and tree sparrow, same as everywhere else... My supervisor has suggested I take a train to Kuala Lumpur and take the plane home from there, and provided I can rebook my flight there somehow, I might just do that. But for some reason, the air here conspires with the first proper bed I've been in since mid-september to just make me lazy and not want to do much... bleh... if I fell more energetic tomorrow, I will contact a friend of my supervisor who is a birdwatcher. Maybe he can show me around a bit. Those spoon-bills and nordmann's seem interesting^^...

Edit: RedIbis, your pictures are phenomenal. I salute you!
 
I've been trying to photograph the garden birds at my bird feeder (the ones Caramel hasn't eaten that is....).

My only conclusion is that I now hate RedIbis. Or possibly RedIbis's camera.

Rolfe.
 
Rolfe said:
I've been trying to photograph the garden birds at my bird feeder (the ones Caramel hasn't eaten that is....).

My only conclusion is that I now hate RedIbis. Or possibly RedIbis's camera.

Rolfe.
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Hate Florida, it's a birder's paradise and I'm just starting to get into it. It is beginning to pre empt nearly every other responsibility I have in life.

I realize I have a much better pic of the Kestrel from yesterday.

AmericanKestrelII.jpg


and a Belted Kingfisher

BeltedKingfisher.jpg
 
Rolfe said:
My only conclusion is that I now hate RedIbis. Or possibly RedIbis's camera.
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Don't we all? But remember: science has proven that you only need to kill him and eat his brain to get all his skills and --- more importantly for a birdwatcher --- his twitches.
 
Just thought I'd pop in and make some of you jealous. Tomorrow, unless something drastic happens, I will go with a local birdwatcher to look at waders in the morning. For those of you who are slow on the uptake, waders + Thailand in the winter = Spoon-billed Sandpiper and Nordmann's Greenshank. He had seens some of each last weekend, I believe. Muahahahahahaha. I can barely contain my delight!
 
Kotatsu said:
Just thought I'd pop in and make some of you jealous. Tomorrow, unless something drastic happens, I will go with a local birdwatcher to look at waders in the morning. For those of you who are slow on the uptake, waders + Thailand in the winter = Spoon-billed Sandpiper and Nordmann's Greenshank. He had seens some of each last weekend, I believe. Muahahahahahaha. I can barely contain my delight!
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How do you think I felt when I got to the Eagles's nest on Honeymoon Island and the professional bird photographer looked at my gear and scoffed, saying, they should shoot whoever sells that tripod, and I thought it was a pretty good tripod.

He then proceeded to tell me that I should never use a tripod, I should replace the 300mm lens I have with a 100-400 and 1.4x coverter, then I might have a chance. His thick German accent is burned into my memory, "learn panning technique, tripod is s***!"

I didn't take it personally, I thought it was funny and very informative.
 
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