Galana's fourth effort. "Never mind the quality feel the width".

[Galana]

17 minutes ago, Dave Williams said:

I hate having a pair of 'bins hanging from my neck too

@Dave Williams

Buy a cross harness. £10 and your worries are over. No swinging and no dropping them on the floor when you grab for your camera.  Like the advert for certain item of ladies underwear "you won't know you are wearing them".

[PeterHG]

59 minutes ago, Galana said:

Buy a cross harness.

I agree 100%. I first noticed some guides wearing them and quickly followed their example. I nearly always take the bins with me and sometimes even leave the camera at home when I go for a walk. It stops me from wanting to take a shot of every bird that shows itself and if the target is tiny and flitting about in the branches the chances of getting it in focus with the bins are much greater than with the camera. At least, this is what I tell myself before I grab the camera  and take it with me anyway..

[Galana]

2 minutes ago, PeterHG said:

It stops me from wanting to take a shot of every bird that shows itself

We must have a whip round to get  a set for @xelas

[xelas]

Scrapping the barrel was productive. Where did you see the Ruff?

[Galana]

46 minutes ago, xelas said:

Scrapping the barrel was productive. Where did you see the Ruff?

Ruffly where the buffalo were sleeping on the Kazinga.

I am not scrapping the barrel, just scraping it.

[xelas]

But eventually, you will put that barrel to scrap metal, or not ?! Kazinga? Date and time will help me better.

Edited April 6, 2020 by xelas

[Galana]

1 hour ago, xelas said:

But eventually, you will put that barrel to scrap metal,

No. It is a wooden barrel. I will recycle it! 15.19.

[Soukous]

Wow! the Blue-headed Sunbird and the African Jacana are exceptional - ebc's 

Yet, somehow I don't think those photos will help me one little bit when it comes to identifying them in the field if I should get lucky enough to see one. 

[Soukous]

17 hours ago, Galana said:

I am not scrapping the barrel, just scraping it

 

be nice

[Galana]

31 minutes ago, Soukous said:

Wow! the Blue-headed Sunbird and the African Jacana are exceptional - ebc's 

You ain't seen nuthin yet...Til later. I am stuck trying to adjust numbers to the correct figure without messing up my overall system.

[Galana]

So I am now in a position to continue up to date.

To finish on a drum roll finale the barrel is well and truly scraped and here is the EBC to end all EBCs.

331. Eurasian Marsh Harrier. Female clearly identified by its golden crown and upright posture and it was in a Marsh at Mbamba.

 

Time for some numbers.

I promised to deduct two from the total to cover accidental duplicates so 331 now drops down to 329 with the next bird coming in at 330. I hoped for more in Uganda so my 'record' of 301 won't survive @xelas total when he gets round to it and there are some that neither of us saw. Where for instance were some of the usual suspects such as Saddle-billed Stork, Goliath Heron and African Darters? White Storks and Abdim's too. It's all very well scratching around for the specials and skulking LBJs but we need the regulars too.

 

Also from now on I will segregate my own country sightings, currently 29 and counting, as it looks as though that is all I can expect at the moment and not many of them either from my lounge window.

So with the BY2020 numbers paused at 329/29 I will finish this particular post and pick up where I leave off next time.

 

[pedro maia]

You finish in style, showing who’s the Boss!!

[Galana]

18 minutes ago, pedro maia said:

You finish in style, showing who’s the Boss!!

I would not go that far. There is some stiff competition out there.

[Peter Connan]

On 4/6/2020 at 3:17 PM, Galana said:

@Dave Williams

Buy a cross harness. £10 and your worries are over. No swinging and no dropping them on the floor when you grab for your camera.  Like the advert for certain item of ladies underwear "you won't know you are wearing them".

 

Have one. It's useless.

Don't know if I bought a rubbish one, or whether 10x50's are too heavy for these things. It works OK with my little monocular rangefinder, but not the binos.

[Galana]

2 hours ago, Peter Connan said:

Have one. It's useless.

That's a shame. Maybe the elasticity is too soft for the weight as mine copes OK with my 10x40s?

Try buying some non elastic webbing and fitting that.

I really would not be without mine.

[shazdwn]

On 4/6/2020 at 2:19 AM, Peter Connan said:

I know I'm going to get flack for this, but a good camera and lens makes binoculars effectively superfluous.

 

I personally cannot identify birds I don't know with binoculars. My memory is too short. Much more effective to take the picture before the bird escapes.

 

This is me totally. I don’t even own any binos (hope this doesn’t get me ejected from BY!) 😊

[Galana]

1 minute ago, shazdwn said:

(hope this doesn’t get me ejected from BY!) 😊

No, but having no camera would!

[shazdwn]

2 minutes ago, Galana said:

No, but having no camera would!

No problem there, I often carry 2

[Galana]

On 1/3/2020 at 9:07 PM, Galana said:

I spend so much time making sure my guests get the bird that I often leave it too late for myself. With three of em to cope with I fear the worst. Only kidding. I have bought some wooden spikes for my elbows and if that fails it's strange what a magnet will do to an SD card!

Look what I said on 3rd January! Was I kidding? The elbow spikes were confiscated by Airport Security and I could not get near enough for the magnets to work. Three of em with two cameras apiece and you wonder why I have so many EBCs?

I shall try and enjoy my lead while it lasts but there is a Tiger on my tail still in Tanzania and that darned Hare warming up with time on his hands now so.......

Safely back home I did manage to get out once or twice before lock down when the only Roller  I saw was one with a handle and paint on it.

On with the new numbers....

330/30M. Chaffinch. NB. No paintshop or processing tricks. The sky really is that blue (when its not cloudy and grey.)

[xelas]

6 minutes ago, Galana said:

The sky really is that blue (when its not cloudy and grey.)

 

And I thought you have used your newly painted ceiling as a background !

[Galana]

4 minutes ago, xelas said:

And I thought you have used your newly painted ceiling as a background 

We never paint ceilings blue over here or we would never know if the roof had blown off!

[Soukous]

3 hours ago, Galana said:

We never paint ceilings blue over here or we would never know if the roof had blown off!

 

Strange, just across the water in Hibernia that is how they tell the roof has blown off, when blue turns to grey. 

[Galana]

For today I offer the charming Dunnock or Hedge Sparrow or Hedge Accentor.

331/31M Dunnock. Note the sky is still blue.

Except when the moon comes up...

The view of "my garden" from the lounge at 20.07 last evening. The ship "Silver River" has a parrot on board!

 

[TonyQ]

@Galana  what a fabulous view (at least in the dark)

[Galana]

Todays offering plus evidence that this lockdown is hitting more than the usual bird watchers!

 

332/32.M. Goldfinch. Ballakesh.

 

And....

I'll get me coat!