Remote birding

During last days I've been lurking and peeking several webcams in South America and South Africa. Itamambuca Eco Resort webcam in South Brazil gave me two new species: Golden-chevroned Tanager (Thraupis ornata ) and Half-collared Sparrow (Arremon semitorquatus) . Both of these species were "awards" from persistent waiting - Itamambuca feeder is really quiet place... Backyard of Luciano Breves, also in South Brazil, instead is a heaven for remote birder - lot's of birds all day round. New species from Luciano's feeders are all Hummingbirds: Festive Coquette (Lophornis chalybeus) , White-throated Hummingbird (Leucochloris albicollis) , Swallow-tailed Hummingbird (Eupetomena macroura) and Saw-billed Hermit (Ramphodon naevius) . Very nice hummers all! Long-tailed Sylph (Aglaiocercus kingii) , yet another nice hummingbird, visited the feeder at Buenaventura Reserve in Ecuador. There I have seen also almost every day two big unidentified hummingbird species, please ...

Africam Elephant Plains camera is again up and running and it offered me today two new species: Natal Spurfowl (Pternistis natalensis) and Red-eyed Dove (Streptopelia semitorquata) . Naturally there were many birds that I had identified also earlier, like Burchell's Coucals (Centropus burchellii) and many more. Nkorho Pan webcam instead surprised me with Yellow Wagtail (Motacilla flava) , which was calling long time close to microphone. Surprise was also Common Buzzard (Buteo buteo) . Both are summer visitors in South Africa. And below finally a decent photo of Red-billed Oxpecker (Buphagus erythrorhynchus) in the back of Impala Antelope.

Quick visit to http://www.africam.com/wildlife/index.php this morning gave me four new species: Pied Crow (Corvus albus) and Great White Egret (Egretta alba) in Tembe and Wood Sandpiper (Tringa glareola) and White-throated Swallow (Hirundo albigularis) in Nkorho. I have suspected White-throated Swallows many times in Nkorho, but only now I saw few birds well enough to confirm the identification. In addition to birds above, there was possibly a Guineafowl this morning in Nkorho, but I saw the bird too short time to confirm the identification. In addition to birds there were many interesting mammals this morning in those webcams: 2 Elephants, Rhino, about 10 Wildebeests, 1 Warthog and some 25 Impalas. To put it short: my best visit to Africam.com so far!

Two Bald Eagles (Haliaeetus leucocephalus) in their nests in USA.The nest in upper photo is located in Blackwater Refuge, Maryland, and the other in Norfolk Botanical Gardens, Virginia. Links to these webcams: http://www.wvec.com/marketplace/microsite-content/eagle-cam.html http://www.friendsofblackwater.org/camhtm2.html