All quiet on the western front - PM 2023

[pedro maia]

W708, BIF105 Japanese tit (Parus minor)

 

[pedro maia]

W709 Warbling white-eye (Zosterops japonicus)

[pedro maia]

W710 Grey-tailed tattler (Tringa brevipes)

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W711 Chestnut-cheeked starling (Agropsar philippensis)

[pedro maia]

W712, BIF106 White-cheeked starling (Spodiopsar cineraceus)

[pedro maia]

And these are only for the BIF count:

 

BIF107 Great Egret (Ardea alba)

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BIF108 Grey heron (Ardea cinerea)

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BIF109 Striated heron (Butorides striata)

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BIF110 Eurasian tree sparrow (Passer montanus)

[PeterHG]

An ever-expanding collection of flight shots. Great to see. You did especially well on the Tree Spattow, I think!

[michael-ibk]

Interesting additions and well done with the Bif. I know nothing about Japan‘s birdlife (except for their Eagles and Cranes), it seems many are just our locals with a „oriental“ or „japanese“ tagged on.

[pedro maia]

7 hours ago, PeterHG said:

An ever-expanding collection of flight shots. Great to see. You did especially well on the Tree Spattow, I think!

 

It took some work but it was easier there, where it´s very common, than here.

[pedro maia]

1 hour ago, michael-ibk said:

Interesting additions and well done with the Bif. I know nothing about Japan‘s birdlife (except for their Eagles and Cranes), it seems many are just our locals with a „oriental“ or „japanese“ tagged on.

 

There are lot´s of bird species in Japan, but before leaving I was checking ebird and realised I wasn´t going to see many different species, and some would be ours with the "oriental" tag, as you say. I was expecting a few more, for instance, I only saw one raptor species, "our" Black kite (the same, without any tag), but as I said it was mostly an urban trip, without any guide, and I was supposed to drive for a few days, before going to Tokyo, but that wasn´t possible, driving would possibly add a few species that weren´t possible traveling by train.

[Galana]

Good to see your outing realised a few species for our joint pleasure.

Nice result.

[pedro maia]

Saturday morning I went to the Lezíria, it was very quiet but I manged a species for my Portugal life list, I had seen theese in Cape Cod but here they are a rarity:

 

PT302 Canada goose (Branta canadensis)

[pedro maia]

And to keep the BIF count in motion:

 

BIF111 Greater short-toed lark (Calandrella brachydactyla)

 

 

They didn´t cooperate...

[pedro maia]

Sunday it was pelagic day, a very long one, a bit too long but it was a great trip anyway, we saw plenty of birds, some cool species, and I got to practice with the R7, even if the result wasn´t allways brilliant, the light was not good  most of the time and the camera, or I should say, the photogtapher, doesn´t perform very well in low light conditions, I probably need to start to understand and use properly the aperture settings.

 

The boat:

 

 

We boarded before 5:30  and returned around 20:30, a long day at the sea, with some rain in the afternoon, including 10 minutes of heavy rain with a few lightings and thunders, thankfully it didn´t last long and the sea stayed as it was, with some swell but nothing serious.

[pedro maia]

The sun was shinning during the morning:

 

Not counting

 

 

Edited September 5, 2023 by pedro maia

[pedro maia]

Also not counting

 

 

 

 

[pedro maia]

Storm petrels are a challenge, especially in low light conditions, they are small, fast and don´t have much contrast, I think I only got one decent pictures even if we saw hundreds of storm petrels.

 

BIF112, European storm petrel (Hydrobates pelagicus)

[pedro maia]

BIF113, Wilson's storm-petrel (Oceanites oceanicus)

Edited September 5, 2023 by pedro maia

[pedro maia]

i´ll continue with the birds later on, now just a few pictures of other sea life we saw.

 

Pilot whales

 

 

And this impressive Blue shark that was quite interested in our chum

 

 

[PeterHG]

Good work on both the Storm Petrels! I’ve never seen either of them. That shark must have been an impressive sight!

[pedro maia]

1 minute ago, PeterHG said:

Good work on both the Storm Petrels! I’ve never seen either of them. That shark must have been an impressive sight!

 

A third species of Storm petrels which would be new for me was seen but I didn´t see it, a rare one here.

[pedro maia]

BIF114, Great skua (Stercorarius skua)

 

Quite distant.