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BY 2022 - Soukous (even if there are no birds, you can still enjoy the music)


Soukous

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13 minutes ago, Galana said:

Congratulations on a fruitful trip. You did well and produced some excellent photos too.

 

Asante sana. I felt I should have had more. Kunene River was a real disappointment. There is only 1 Kunene River Lodge.

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A really productive trip to Namibia with so many beautiful photos.

The Queleas are amazing and the Owlet is lovely 

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Over a hundred species is a great count, and each is represented by a fantastic photo. Why is there no Bulbuls among duplicates ?

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7 hours ago, Soukous said:

There is only 1 Kunene River Lodge.

Sadly now Pete Morgan has sold up I fear for even there. You really needed to either visit Walvis and/or Kaprivi.

But lack of time is the killer.

What you got was a decent result.

Edited by Galana
added text.
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9 hours ago, Galana said:

Sadly now Pete Morgan has sold up I fear for even there. You really needed to either visit Walvis and/or Kaprivi.

 

You may be right. When we popped in to have a look the reception we got was not friendly at all. Not quite hostile but it was clear they did not want us there.

 

Caprivi is indeed on my next itinerary. A one-way through to Kasane would be ideal, but one-way fees for rental cars make that prohibitive. So it will have to be a 'creative' loop. 

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12 hours ago, xelas said:

Why is there no Bulbuls among duplicates ?

 

well. How shall I put this? B)

There actually were not any duplicates as I simply chose not to photograph them after the first couple of days.

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13 hours ago, xelas said:

Over a hundred species is a great count, and each is represented by a fantastic photo. 

 

I only managed photos for 87 of them. 16 species went un-snapped. :(

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5 hours ago, Soukous said:

Caprivi is indeed on my next itinerary. A one-way through to Kasane would be ideal, but one-way fees for rental cars make that prohibitive. So it will have to be a 'creative' loop.

And on mine also. You could do part of Botswana by reentering into Namibia at Buitepos after exploring part of Moremi and Central Kalahari. Three weeks min. Maybe in 2023?

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I enjoyed your lovely Namibia shots of the bird species. at least you have the real deal from Africa. We make do with African escapees-turn-breeders here and pretend we are in Africa. 

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Congratulations on reaching 200 and beyond. Again, in your last batch, beautiful photos of your Namibia trip! I'm sorry to hear about Kunene River Lodge. It was a long drive there, but such a special place!

Edited by PeterHG
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1 hour ago, xelas said:

And on mine also. You could do part of Botswana by reentering into Namibia at Buitepos after exploring part of Moremi and Central Kalahari. Three weeks min. Maybe in 2023?

 

Something like that. I was looking at a leisurely journey down the west side of the Delta. I don't know if I'd bother with Moremi. Too many vehicles, too many restrictions.

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The wrong thread but hey! Why not?

Whilst via Moremi is undoubtedly shorter why not go the long way round on tar to Nata? I do 'leisurely'!

1. All the Pans on this route for a diversion and a great reserve in Nata, A lovely Lodge at Elephant sands and then up to Kasane for Chobe.

2. Via Moremi you have the deep sands of the "Ridge road" to Savuti, which is fun but ......

 

And count me in. I am looking for somewhere to replace TZ in February/March 23.

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19 hours ago, Galana said:

And count me in. I am looking for somewhere to replace TZ in February/March 23.

While we are discussing the topic, count me in also, at 65 I still have no problems renting and driving cars in foreign countries 😄. And I started to appreciate  the benefits of “leisurely”.

Edited by xelas
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Lovely additions to finish your Namibia count.  I loved the Quelea pictures especially.

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I think I must have picked one of the worst possible weeks for my trip to Mull this year.

May is supposed to be a good time to visit; reasonable weather and no midges.

 

To be fair the weather had been grim the week before as well, with very strong westerly winds and lots of rain. But, I had booked it so of course I was going.

 

The main reason for my visit was to try and get some decent photos of White-tailed Eagles. To improve my chances I'd booked a trip with Mull Charters; who run daily boat trips specifically for photographers.

 

It was touch and go whether the trip would depart at all, but after getting confirmation in the morning, it was on. It lived up to expectations. The trip lasted between 2.5 - 3 hours, but in that time probably less than 15 minutes was spent actually photographing Eagles.

The way it works is that the Eagles have come to recognise the boat as a source of easy food and, if they are interested, they take to the air and head towards the boat.

 

White-tailed Eagle

 

Once they are sighted a crew member throws a fish over the side for the Eagle to retrieve. They make a point of telling you that these are wild, untrained, birds but it is obvious they do see the boat as a food source.

 

With the fish in the water, we then hope that the Eagle will swoop down and grab it in perfect light, at a perfect distance from the boat. It can happen.

 

White-tailed Eagle

 

White-tailed Eagle

 

White-tailed Eagle

 

White-tailed Eagle

 

Given that this was my primary reason for visiting Mull this year, I was a happy boy.

Just as well; because my other attemps at finding birds during the week were not a great success. I thought it must be me, but speakingot other birders and bird photographers I met, they all said it was a tough week.

 

The day I left Mull, @Galanaarrived. It seems that he brought with him much better weather and he seems to have managed more species in his first day (not even a full day at that) than I managed in my entire week. :(

 

Edited by Soukous
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I did get a few new species for my BY though.

 

#210 - Rock Pipit - Anthus petrosus

Mull. May 2022

 

Rock Pipit

 

Rock Pipit

 

#211 - Common Tern - Sterna hirunda

Mull. May 2022

 

Common Tern

 

Common Tern

 

Common Tern

 

#212 - Oystercatcher - Haematopus ostralegus

Mull. May 2022

 

Oystercatcher

 

Oystercatcher

 

I was not especially excited by either of these as they are species I see regularly on my home patch. But times were hard.

 

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#213 - Ringed Plover - Charadrius hiaticula

Mull. May 2022

 

another one that is easy to find at home

 

Ringed Plover

 

#214 - Northern Wheatear - Oeanthe oeanthe

Mull. May 2022

 

female

Northern Wheatear f

 

male

Northern Wheatear

 

Northern Wheatear

 

The next one made me very happy.

I was driving around Loch Scridain - in the rain - and I thought, " I wonder if I'll see a Snipe on a fence post". and I did.

I tried wishing for lots of other birds, but it turned out I'd used up my only wish.

 

#215 - Common Snipe - Gallinago gallinago

Mull. May 2022

 

Snipe

 

#216 - Shag - Phalacrocorax aristotelis

Mull. May 2022

 

Shag

 

 

 

 

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#217 - Northern Gannet - Morus bassanus

Mull. May 2022

 

With the wind howling in from the west, I decided to head across to the east side of the island. At least it would be more sheltered.

Getting out of my car at Grasspoint I could see a large number of Gannets a couple of hundred metres off shore. They were very busy plundering shoals of mackerel.

 

I love Gannets. They are striking to look at and they are great performers. So I spent an enjoyable half hour sitting on the rocks watching them. I took more photos in that half hour than I did during the whole of the rest of the week.

 

Northern Gannets

 

Northern Gannet

 

Northern Gannet

 

With the Gannets putting on such a show I wanted to try and capture one of them diving. In real time it happens pretty fast. I was hooting at 1/1250th, so from the first to last shot of this sequence was 1 second.

 

incredible to see a bird with a wingspan of 180-190cm turn itself into a missle.

Gannet diving

 

Northern Gannets

 

Edited by Soukous
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#218 - Black Guillemot - Cepphus grylle

Mull. May 2022

 

Black Guillemot

 

another one which I can find quite easily on home patch. Frustrated by the wind, the Barn Swallows spent a lot of the time just waiting for it to drop.

 

#219 - Barn Swallow - Hirunda rustica

Mull. May 2022

barn-swallow.jpg.e878ac2c571ae1222e23e6832ae9b38d.jpg

 

Iona is known as a reliable place to find Corncrakes.

Walking from the ferry landing it didn't take me long to find the place where half a dozen birders had gathered with binoculars, scopes and cameras. Sure enough I could hear the telltale call.

But that was it. Some of them had been there for 2 hours already and not had even a glimpse. It was there, they assured me, skulking in a patch of docks on the far side of the field.

I decided not to wait and set off towards the hostel; another place where Corncrakes can usually be found.

As I was walking along the road, still some distance from the hostel, I heard one calling. It was 3 fields back from the road, behind a site called Iona Pods - sort of wooden tents. I walked through the site and sure enough I coul dhear it calling. I never saw it though; nor did I see one anywhere else.

 

In fact, all I got from my time on Iona was a flashing glimpse of a Sedge Warbler. another bird I can see much more closely at home.

 

#220 - Sedge Warbler - Acrocephalus schoenobaenus

Iona. May 2022

sedge-warbler.jpg.7ed1fbcc9a8f8d900130bb359d999404.jpg

 

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#221 - Hooded Crow - Corvus cornix

Mull. May 2022

 

hooded-crow.jpg.9e19d131e6d448746df4608d8df105a1.jpg

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Nice photos @Soukous. That is a great diving Gannet sequence 

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Given the weather etc., I don't think you did at all bad.

What youndid see you made teh most of with good images.

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Just now, Galana said:

Given the weather etc., I don't think you did at all bad.

What youndid see you made teh most of with good images.

 

I'm still sulking that you saw the Great Northern Divers and I failed to find them over 3 days

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Just to rub it in it was there again today. (but I did not bother as it was cloudy and dull.) AND I missed the Snipe on a roadside rock due to conflicting traffic peventing a stop.

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17 hours ago, Galana said:

Just to rub it in it was there again today.

 

enough already

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