Tdgraves big(gest?) year 2017

[Galana]

A Great finale with the Raquet tailed Roller. I can confess that the photo had me reaching for my book with that blue throat etc.,

Then Fanshawe and Ian Sinclair's books have a different artists. What chance have we mere mortals got?

Nice photos too.

[PeterHG]

Great collection from Hwange @Tdgraves ! Glad to see you got quite a few of your targets.

[Tdgraves]

And now we move on to the new ones from Lake Kariba

 

Changa Safari Lodge, in camp, Matusadona National Park, Zimbabwe, 6/9/17

 

Canon 7D mark ii, 100-400 mark ii, ISO 250, f7.1, 1/320, EV +1

 

 

7/9/17

 

Canon 7D mark ii, 100-400 mark ii, ISO 500, f7.1, 1/800

 

 

Canon 7D mark ii, 100-400 mark ii, ISO 500, f7.1, 1/1000

 

 

283) Yellow-bellied greenbul

[Tdgraves]

Changa Safari Lodge, Matusadona National Park, Zimbabwe, 6/9/17

 

Canon 7D mark ii, 100-400 mark ii, ISO 250, f7.1, 1/1000

 

 

10/9/17

 

Canon 7D mark ii, 100-400 mark ii, ISO 1000, f7.1, 1/500

 

 

284) Kittlitz's plover

[Tdgraves]

Changa Safari Lodge, in camp, Matusadona National Park, Zimbabwe, 7/9/17

 

Canon 5D mark iii, 100-400 mark ii, ISO 1250, f5.6, 1/500, EV +1/3

 

 

Canon 5D mark iii, 100-400 mark ii, ISO 1250, f7.1, 1/320, EV +1/3

 

 

285) Terrestrial brownbul

[Tdgraves]

Changa Safari Lodge, Matusadona National Park, Zimbabwe, 6/9/17

 

Canon 5D mark iii, 100-400 mark ii, ISO 400, f6.3, 1/2500

 

 

286) White-crowned lapwing

[Tdgraves]

Changa Safari Lodge, in camp, Matusadona National Park, Zimbabwe, 7/9/17

 

Canon 5D mark iii, 100-400 mark ii, ISO 500, f7.1, 1/3200

 

 

287) Yellow-throated petronia

[Tdgraves]

Changa Safari Lodge, Matusadona National Park, Zimbabwe, 6/9/17

 

Canon 5D mark iii, 100-400 mark ii, ISO 2000, f6.3, 1/800, EV+1 1/3

 

 

Canon 5D mark iii, 100-400 mark ii, ISO 2000, f5.6, 1/1000, EV+1 1/3

 

 

288) Steppe eagle

[Dave Williams]

Fair flying again!  287 could be a Lark though

[Galana]

Surely 288 is a Tawny? Check the gape.

[Tdgraves]

23 minutes ago, Galana said:

Surely 288 is a Tawny? Check the gape.

 

@Galana It was with a tawny - this was a MUCH bigger bird....

[Galana]

As you wish but different sizes usually mean male and female (30% larger) or even youngster with parent.

[Tdgraves]

More like 50% different and the tawny was full sized. Unfortunately I don’t think I got a shot of both together, but i’ll check later. ID was by the guide, not me....

[Tdgraves]

@Galana

 

here is the tawny

 

 

unfortunately no shots of them both together....

[Galana]

As I said it is your thread and your guide's ID but there is only 2" (6cm) difference in size twixt Steppe and Tawny (not 50%).

Then your "Tawny" shows a very long tail protruding far beyond the primaries when folded and no white bars in the primaries.

Fear not you won't lose any points if I am correct (and I am open to challenge) as I don't think you have checked in with Booted Eagle yet. This would account for it appearing much smaller than either of the other two at only 20" as opposed to 29"-31".

My suggestion is the 2nd bird is a juv Pale morph Booted Eagle but what do the others say?

 

[Dave Williams]

Juvenile Martial Eagle sounds like a good guess purely on size comparison but the photo alone still makes me undecided on what it is. Galana is a much better judge than I will ever be.

[Galana]

@Dave Williams None of them are Martials.

Here is a juv Martial.

[Dave Williams]

@Galana Oops, misread the posting then inadvertently posted the wrong species too.

Edited October 19, 2017 by Dave Williams

[Tdgraves]

and now we move on to the new ones from Mana....

 

Mana Pools National Park, Zimbabwe, 11/9/17

 

Not great shots, but they didn't want to pose!!

 

Canon 7D mark ii, 100-400 mark ii, ISO 800, f7.1, 1/3200

 

 

Canon 5D mark iii, 100-400 mark ii, ISO 1600, f8, 1/800

 

 

16/9/17, Canon 5D mark iii, 100-400 mark ii, ISO 500, f8, 1/125

 

 

289) Crowned hornbill (another of my targets)

[Tdgraves]

Mana Pools National Park, Zimbabwe, 14/9/17

 

Canon 7D mark ii, 100-400 mark ii, ISO 640, f7.1, 1/200

 

 

290) Collared palm thrush

[Tdgraves]

Mana Pools National Park, Zimbabwe, 12/9/17

 

Canon 7D mark ii, 100-400 mark ii, ISO 400, f7.1, 1/1600, EV +1/3

 

 

291) Palm swift

[Tdgraves]

Mana Pools National Park, Zimbabwe, 14/9/17

 

Canon 7D mark ii, 100-400 mark ii, ISO 320, f7.1, 1/2500

 

 

292) Bohm's spinetail

[Tdgraves]

and that should be it for the new ones from Zim, unless I find some more when trawling through the other photos that we did not realise at the time.

 

The other new one we saw in Mana was Arnot's chat, who we only got a brief glimpse of and therefore no photo, despite driving through their habitat on several days

[Tdgraves]

I was holding out hope for some better shots of these garden birds, but given that the light is now rubbish, I don't suppose I'll get any better this year....

 

My garden, UK, 4/6/17

 

Canon 7D mark ii, 100-400 mark ii, 1.4x extender mark iii, ISO 1000, f9, 1/200

 

 

293) European greenfinch

[Tdgraves]

My garden, UK, 4/7/17

 

Canon 7D mark ii, 100-400 mark ii, 1.4x extender mark iii, ISO 1000, f8, 1/250

 

 

1/7/17, Canon 7D mark ii, 100-400 mark ii, 1.4x extender mark iii, ISO 2500, f8, 1/250

 

 

294) Greater spotted woodpecker