Alex & Zvezdana Big Year 2017

[PeterHG]

Beginning of March I had a business trip to Ulm, Germany. Passing by Chiemsee, and reading about great birding there from @@michael-ibk , I have had great hopes. The rain washed them away efficiently . Another mistake I have done is using a D90 body, and those older generation sensors just cannot cope well with noise as soon as they are pushed over 800 ISO . Lesson learned. Anyway, just for the sake of not throwing all photos away, here are some that could be posted, and counted.

I know all about old bodies not coping well with grey weather, @@xelas, I feel it every day .

You certainly have been unlucky with the weather, but I trust that will change when we meet later this month. The Hooded Crow is a rarity here. When I was younger I used to see quite a few every winter, but not anymore. It's a good thing you got some warmth in Namibia!

 

 

[Peter Connan]

Some beauties, especially the buzzard, Mallard and Starling Alex!

[xelas]

On two consecutive visits to Škocjanski zatok protected wetland, Zvezda has had much better luck. Below photos taken on April 1st and 2nd.

 

BY063 / SI014

Eurasian Teal - Anas crecca

Edited June 10, 2017 by xelas

[xelas]

BY064 / SI015

Garganey - Anas querquedula

Edited June 10, 2017 by xelas

[xelas]

BY065 / SI016

Ruff - Philomachus pugnax

 

[xelas]

BY066 / SI017

Little Grebe - Tachyhaptus ruficollis

 

[xelas]

BY067 / SI018

Black-winged Stilt - Himantopus himantopus

 

[xelas]

BY068 / SI019

Black-tailed Godwit - Limosa limosa

 

Edited June 10, 2017 by xelas

[xelas]

BY069 / SI020

Great Crested Grebe - Podiceps cristatus

 

[xelas]

BY070 / SI021

Eurasian Curlew - Numenius arquata

 

Edited June 10, 2017 by xelas

[xelas]

BY071 / SI022

Mute Swan - Cygnus olor

[xelas]

BY072 / SI023

Night Heron - Nycticorax nycticorax

 

[xelas]

BY073 / SI024

Northern Shoveler - Anas clypeata

 

[xelas]

BY074 / SI025

Common Snipe - Gallinago gallinago

 

[xelas]

BY075 / SI026

Spotted Crake - Porzana porzana

 

[xelas]

BY076 / SI027

European Robin - Erithacus rubecula

 

[Tdgraves]

Dates?

[Dave Williams]

Cracking collection building up, envious of the Spotted Crake!

[michael-ibk]

A very successful outing - beautiful photos.

[xelas]

3 hours ago, Tdgraves said:

Dates?

 

Added them in the opening post; just too lazy to add date to each separate post, plus they are visible in the exif file.

[xelas]

1 hour ago, Dave Williams said:

Cracking collection building up, envious of the Spotted Crake!

 

Spotted Crake was a surprise, a "three second" sighting before it disappeared back into the reed.

[xelas]

1 hour ago, michael-ibk said:

A very successful outing - beautiful photos.

 

Thanks, Michael! Nothing close to Seewinkel, of course .

[TonyQ]

@xelas

Lovely photos - and great to see the Spotted Crake!

[xelas]

19 minutes ago, TonyQ said:

@xelas

Lovely photos - and great to see the Spotted Crake!

 

Thank you, Tony! 

[Peter Connan]

Excellent outing!