Belated BY - 6th year! Herman&Kit

[Peter Connan]

How quickly things change.

 

Three weeks ago when we were at Rietvlei, all the bishops and widows were still wearing their winter coats.

[Kitsafari]

14 hours ago, Galana said:

Would those be the same sharp eyes that noticed a duplication with #134 & #164?

 

Indeed, your sharp eyes have detected correctly and showed how foggy my brain is!

 

[Kitsafari]

14 hours ago, Tdgraves said:

@Kitsafariyou can change your preferences in eBird from US to UK English, then the gray aberration will disappear….

 

Thanks  - oddly my preference is already in UK English. i'll just spell everything as grey from now on. 

[Kitsafari]

12 hours ago, Peter Connan said:

How quickly things change.

 

Three weeks ago when we were at Rietvlei, all the bishops and widows were still wearing their winter coats.

 

@Peter Connan sorry Peter - our shots were made months ago!  in January to be precise.   hence belated in my title. 

[Kitsafari]

In late March, I joined my sisters for a non-birding leisurely trip to Mount Fuji-Tokyo area for some sakura sessions. Unfortunately, my Sony RX10 had to be hospitalised (electronic woes). I had to use Herman's Lumix DC-TZ90 pocket digital camera which is really bad for  birding but at least had  bit of zoom. but I dropped and murdered it on the 3rd day.

so pse excuse the photos as they are all of low quality but some of the birds I saw in Japan are new to me, hence I wanted to add them here. I think a birding trip, esp in winter to Hokkaido would be excellent. 

 

165. Brown-eared Bulbul

a fairly large bulbul, the brown-eared Bulbul is a greyish songbird that has a wide plumage variation throughout its limited range in east Asia. 

 

[Kitsafari]

166. Eastern Spot-billed Duck

Distributed mainly in the eastern Asian region, it is separate from the Indian spot-billed duck.

167. Eurasian or Green-winged Teal 

A more global distribution - a pair was just dozing on a stone along the stream, ignoring the much larger duck next to them. 

all taken with mobile phone. pse excuse the quality.

 

 

 

[Kitsafari]

168. Black Kite

An almost EBC  - trust me, it is indeed what it is. 

 

 

[Kitsafari]

169. Grey Heron

 

I recall how the grey heron drew much attention in the UK while we shrugged it off. Chris had to tell the other birders tht we weren't excited as we get lots of them back home. even then, we failed to get a photo of the heron at home! so i'll make do with this grainy one from Lake Kawaguchiko. 

 

[Kitsafari]

170. Oriental Greenfinch

a lifer for me and an almost EBC

 

[Kitsafari]

171. Blue Rock Thrush

a true blue EBC

 

[Kitsafari]

172. Oriental/ Rufous Turtle-Dove

 

 

[Kitsafari]

173. Grey Wagtail

not sure if I have a better photo from other trips but i'll put this in first. 

taken with the mobile

 

 

[Kitsafari]

174. Japanese Wagtail

distinct from the pied wagtail in its black head white crown and black shoulders

175. Pied/white wagtail or black-backed wagtail

 

all taken with  mobile from the high banks of the river. 

 

 

japanese wagtail

 

pied wagtail

 

[Kitsafari]

176. Japanese tit

 

[Kitsafari]

177. Dusky Thrush

This was a surprise bird, flushed out from a bush when we were walking in the  park and it was my sister who spotted it. lifer as well. Found only in east Asia and far eastern Russia. 

 

and the best species photo of all the photos. 

[Galana]

6 hours ago, Kitsafari said:

167. Eurasian or Green-winged Teal 

Er??

Eurasian.  Anas crecca. 

GWTeal Anas (crecca) carolensis is a separate species with a vertical white stripe on the body/breast (although those darn Yanquis like to think differently.)

 

 A rewarding side trip although I can imagine Herman not agreeing after you murdered his camera.

[Kitsafari]

5 hours ago, Galana said:

Er??

Eurasian.  Anas crecca. 

GWTeal Anas (crecca) carolensis is a separate species with a vertical white stripe on the body/breast (although those darn Yanquis like to think differently.)

 

 A rewarding side trip although I can imagine Herman not agreeing after you murdered his camera.

 

@Galana

Hmm. eBird (as I say I use this as my main reference) referred to the eurasian as the green-winged teal (Anas crecca) but did say there was an american sub species (not separate species)  that was Anas (crecca) carolensis  https://ebird.org/species/gnwtea

In the Waterbirds of Asean reference, the green-winged teal is a vagrant to east Asia but as you pointed out, the American variant has a vertical white stripe while the eurasian one has a horizontal stripe. so 

 

well i offered to buy Herman another camera but he declined, grudgingly so. 

Edited October 9, 2023 by Kitsafari

[pedro maia]

I just caught up and I´m tired.

 

It´s great that you decided to do a BY and congrats the lightning fast first ton, and also on Herman´s new gear, although I have mixed feelings about that, another good photographer with the same gear as me, it will only expose my struggles.

 

By the way, you should check #52 and #113.

[Galana]

8 hours ago, Kitsafari said:

referred to the eurasian as the green-winged teal

Ha ha. Odd that they say that . It is usually the opposite with 'you know who' arguing that theirs is the true Teal and Europeans have the SSp. I leave it to you. As you suggest..

[Kitsafari]

On 10/10/2023 at 12:26 AM, pedro maia said:

 

By the way, you should check #52 and #113.

 

 

Well spotted! i'll adjust the number in the next lot. Thanks @pedro maia

[Kitsafari]

Herman made a quick trip to Sabah, a east Malaysian state in the island of Borneo in May. I wasn't able to take any more leave so was unable to join, thus  missing on some wonderful birds. Thought I would share these birds here. 

We plan to go sometime in the near future, and will extend it into a trip into Kinabatangan as I'm very eager to see pygmy elephants in the river. 

 

177. Ashy Drongo (borneo race) this species has several races.

(Repeating no 177 to adjust for the repeat in #113)  

 

Edited October 11, 2023 by Kitsafari

[Kitsafari]

178. Asian Emerald Dove

[Kitsafari]

179. Black-headed Swamphen

Edited October 11, 2023 by Kitsafari

[Kitsafari]

180. Black-capped Babbler

[Kitsafari]

181. Black-capped White-eye