For the first time, scientists have been able to study the bone structure of one the more extraordinary serpentine tails in the natural world. The spider-tailed horn viper (Pseudocerastes urarachnoides) is found in the Zagros Mountain range in West Asia and remained unclassified as a singular species until 2006. A specimen found in Iran in 1968 was […]
Tag: shrike
Brazil Pantanal Day #3 – Fish Fest
Another great day in the Pantanal, despite the increasing mosquito load. The morning boat trip with Pantanal Nature produced another Jaguar encounter, our fifth in total. We intercepted a huge male swimming across the river, just too late before it reached the shore and disappeared promptly into the forest: Again we had breathtaking experiences with […]
Ranthambhore cleanup – birds
As I had limited wifi and time in Ranthambhore, my ‘real-time’ blogposts from there were rather brief. I did photograph a lot, so here is a collation of some photos taken during the 2.5 days of safari there, mainly of common birds. Asian Openbill Grey Francolin – very common Great Thick-knee. Great indeed Plum-headed Parakeets […]
Winter visitors and passage migrants – Haradh
Phil Roberts and I went to Haradh recently and found plenty of good birds despite the temperature being 1 degrees Celsius the coldest day for many years in the region as well as a bitingly cold northerly wind. Some birds were winter visitors such as Mallard, Northern Lapwing, Desert Wheatear, Eastern Imperial Eagle and Tawny […]
Kaziranga explosion
I have a lot of catching up to do, after several wifi-less days in Kaziranga NP, Assam. Our first day in the reserve was incredible. The weather was good, the birds were active and we just saw so many birds. Our guide, Rofikul, did a great job and our daily score was over 170 species! […]
Japanese Reed Bunting | Emberiza yessoensis
Yesterday I visited the Aso-Kuju area in central Kyushu. Specifically I wanted to see Japanese Reed Bunting (aka Ochre-rumped Bunting), but also other summer birds of higher altitudes. Although this was the middle of rainy season, the forecast seemed promising so I arrived at dawn. Soon after starting off a trail famous for having my […]
Round up of Al Hayer in February
Last year I visited Al Hayer south of Riyadh almost weekly and it became what we birders call my local patch. This year I vowed to make trips more widely within Saudi Arabia and I have been doing so. However last weekend I returned to Al Hayer for the first time in over 6 weeks. […]
Spanish Steppes – Extremadura Nov 2012, Limosa Holidays
Stephen was at Madrid’s Barajas airport and was all ready and waiting with the minibus parked closely for a quick getaway when the group arrived from London. Travelling through the city and out onto the main road to Badajoz was really quiet…once we cleared Madrid! Birds were seen right from the start with Common Magpies, […]