A Leisurely BY 2022 from Herman and Kit

[pedro maia]

You´re cruising, so many beautiful birds and great photos, as a vulture fan I think your choice for the century couldn´t be a better one, congrats for that milestone!

[michael-ibk]

Congrats on passing #100, well done both of you! Are you the first one this year? Beautiful photos, especially like the Masked Lapwing - what an odd bird. The Pitta is great of course. Only the upright photos appear "gigantic" btw - for me at least.

[Dave Williams]

100 had to be on the cards any minute and a lovely bird to mark it. I'm a bit of a vulture fan to be honest but not as much as a fan of the Painted Snipe.

[xelas]

7 hours ago, Kitsafari said:

One thing I don't understand is how Herman's photos appear so gigantic on the screen

Must be because of his gigantic lens ?

[TonyQ]

Well done on storming past 100 with more stunning birds/photos

 

The photos don’t look giant on my iPad, but those in portrait are very tall. As a guess I think when you export your photos you may be setting the horizontal edge to a particular size - on the iPad the horizontal edge of the landscape and portrait shots appear to be the same size.

If the horizontal edge of a portrait shot covers the full width then the vertical edge will be in proportion so bigger than you intend. I think when exporting you can set The largest edge to be a particular size.

 

Of course all of that could be complete nonsense 

[Kitsafari]

10 hours ago, TonyQ said:

Well done on storming past 100 with more stunning birds/photos

 

The photos don’t look giant on my iPad, but those in portrait are very tall. As a guess I think when you export your photos you may be setting the horizontal edge to a particular size - on the iPad the horizontal edge of the landscape and portrait shots appear to be the same size.

If the horizontal edge of a portrait shot covers the full width then the vertical edge will be in proportion so bigger than you intend. I think when exporting you can set The largest edge to be a particular size.

 

Of course all of that could be complete nonsense 

 

thanks for the suggestion. i'll pass it to Herman to try that. 

[Kitsafari]

On 3/17/2022 at 6:17 AM, xelas said:

Must be because of his gigantic lens ?

 

[Kitsafari]

On 3/17/2022 at 12:27 AM, Dave Williams said:

100 had to be on the cards any minute and a lovely bird to mark it. I'm a bit of a vulture fan to be honest but not as much as a fan of the Painted Snipe.

 

the painted snipes, especially the female, are beauties!

[Kitsafari]

In early February, i was looking to travel to use up last year's carryover leave before they expire end-March. I had to regretfully pass on a few potential African trips mainly because of the need to quarantine at  my own cost at a government-selected facility for 10 days on my return. I decided to go somewhere closer to destinations which did not need quarantine at either ends, like Malaysia or thailand but both had even more Covid measures that made travel a huge hassle, and the airfare to Malaysia was just ludicrous - nearly US$800 for a half-hourly flight. Finally i looked at Cambodia - not really widely known for birding but it needed only a pre-flight PCR test and an on-arrival ART test. I was also worried about the silent forests that were widespread in Vietnam and Laos, and wondered if it would be the same in Cambodia. 

But the more I read, the more interesting it became. Cambodia is famous for Tonle Sap, which becomes flooded (like Amazon) when heavy rains add to the Mekong River and the extra waters flow back into Tonle Sap, flooding the shallow areas. From October/November, resident and migrant birds start roosting in the trees, including the endangered Great Adjutant, Lesser Adjutant, Painted and Milky Storks, Cormorants, Darters, Spot-billed Pelicans, Asian Openbills and raptors. It was  big pull. Then add the endangered resident Sarus Crane, the critically endangered Giant Ibis, white-shouldered Ibis, pittas, the critically endangered white-rumped vulture, red-headed vulture and the slender-billed vultures, and suddenly Cambodia became an interesting birding destination for me. the country is making efforts to increase and widen conservation to protect certain species, and have involved the local community, which have substantially reduced egg-poaching and bird hunting. 

I didn't get to see the great adjutant, and i removed the vulture segment leaving me with a 6-day trip without Herman with guide company Sam Veasna. My birding guide worked hard but not a complete professional as he was very impatient with me, and took the best seats in the hide! So if i do return with Herman, i would not go with him.     

According to his count, we saw and/or heard 208 species, but I unsurprisingly managed EBCs and decent photos of substantially less than that. 

 

After that long prelude!, I'll kick off the Cambodian list with 

 

115/CB01: Sarus Crane, Ang Trapaeng Thmor (ATT) Reserve managed by WCS

 

the heat haze plus smoke from the on-going slash and burn practices of the grasslands and farms really made photography challenging. the cranes were in a far distance and we weren't allowed to go closer so as not to disturb them. 

 

 

 

 

[Kitsafari]

I have to mention about the drive to ATT. We left Siem Reap at 5am, and on the way into ATT, we passed rice fields. The sun was just rising, and then thousands of egrets, painted storks, pelicans, cormorants started flying towards the dam at ATT. The dam was built during the awful Khmer Rouge days which used forced labour to build the dam. Hundreds of people died, but now the dam provides electricity to thousands and water to the rice fields. 

 

[Kitsafari]

editing the numbers - forgot we had this kite in the SG list. 

 

67/CB02: Black-winged Kite, ATT

 

Edited March 19, 2022 by Kitsafari

[Kitsafari]

116/CB03 : Red-Collared Dove, ATT

 

Edited March 19, 2022 by Kitsafari

[Kitsafari]

117/CB04: Pied Kingfisher, ATT rice fields

 

 

 

Edited March 19, 2022 by Kitsafari

[Kitsafari]

118/CB05: Grey-headed Lapwing, ATT rice fields

 

TOok me a while to spot this guy. his body was a perfect camouflage for the ground

 

 

Edited March 19, 2022 by Kitsafari

[Kitsafari]

119/CB06: Pin-tailed Snipe, ATT rice fields

120/CB07: Little Ringed Plover, ATT rice fields

 

 

 

Edited March 19, 2022 by Kitsafari

[Kitsafari]

121/CB08. Common Kingfisher, ATT rice fields

 

Edited March 19, 2022 by Kitsafari

[Kitsafari]

122/CB09. Black-collared Starling, ATT WCS office

 

[Kitsafari]

123/CB10. Painted Stork, ATT/Prek Toal

 

[Kitsafari]

104/CB11. Little Egret, ATT/Prek Toal

 

[Kitsafari]

124/CB12. Eastern Marsh Harrier, ATT 

 

 

[Kitsafari]

125/CB13. Oriental Pratincole, ATT/Kampong Thom Province

 

 

 

[michael-ibk]

Beautiful Pratincole! Cool that you were able to get away, I´m looking forward to seeing Cambodia´s birds. I´d love to see Sarus Crane! Wow, that guide really does not sound ideal, sorry about that.

[PeterHG]

A good decision to settle on Cambodia, so it sounds. Wonderful to see some birds from such unknown parts ( to me, at least). Sorry to hear about the guide. A good guide can make so much difference to how many birds you see, but also on the whole trip experience. It is telling that he saw ( or claimed to have seen) many more species than you actually saw.

I agree with Michael: great shots of the Pratincole!

[xelas]

Very good Pranticole, and also good job on other birds. Nice to see you back in action!

[Kitsafari]

@michael-ibk  @PeterHG  @xelas  thanks!

 

re the guide. I finally lost my patience with him on the second last day and told him off. he gave a more genuine apology at the end of the trip.