Birding the Jubail area in June gave a few surprising migrants including Whinchat, European Bee-eater, Red-backed Shrike, Barn Swallow and Sand Martin. A Western Cattle Egret was also a surprise as they are a winter species that has normally departed by this time of year. A few summer plumage Squacco Herons were also present showing […]
Failure Presents Opportunity Says Green Heron
I was on my way to doing a little weed whacking when I realized that I had forgotten the battery pack and would have to go back to drive 10 miles back to go get it. Instead of lamenting about it, I used it as an excuse to look for birds along an urban pond […]
Critically Endangered Swift Parrots visit Sydney
This year, the Critically Endangered Swift Parrots visited the Mt Annan Botanic Gardens in western Sydney. There estimated to be no more than 2000 of them left in the wild. These attractive little parrots breed in Tasmania and fly north to the mainland in winter. While on the mainland, Swift parrots are nomadic, following the […]
Photos and video from Oppland & Hedmark Guiding
Day 4 of my guiding of Lotti and Detlef on Thursday was in Maridalen. The Three-toed Woodpeckers showed impeccably well but we then had a great disappointment when I discovered that the Red-breasted Flycatcher nest had fallen down. Whether it was a predator (squirrel or Great Spotted Woodpecker) or the wind is unknown but there […]
North-west China (Xinjiang) – 6th May (Day 16)
Today was on a knife edge, and stress levels in the group were high, we had two endemic birds to see and only around three hours in which to see them – it could go well or horribly wrong. If the latter then the only bird I would have gained from the Luntain part of […]
A Day in Kabini
On this evening safari in Kabini, we had a lucky sighting of a Bengal Tiger. We first spotted the Tiger sitting in the open near a culvert on the old MM road. As soon as the Tiger realized he was spotted, before we could get our first pictures, he quickly took cover in the thick […]
Crested Serpent Eagle with a Serpent kill in Ranthambore
As we started this particular afternoon safari, the thought that crossed my mind was that after the spectacular sighting of the Tigress with cubs the previous evening, what more could I sight in Ranthambore? As we entered the park, we spotted a pair of Collared Scops-Owl roosting in a tree hollow. A little further, a […]
Cotswold Weekend – 9th and 10th June
We spent the weekend at our cottage in Cowley in the Cotswolds with our good friends Trevor and Julie Codlin. Trevor and I ran the moth trap on both Friday and Saturday night recording a good range of spring and early summer species. On Sunday we headed out looking for butterflies. First we visited Daneway […]