Remote birding

After 13 years break, I will soon start the remote birding again! 😀 My remote birding life list is at bubo.org, approximately 145 species so far, please take a look if you're interested:  My remote birding life list Evenings are still very dark up here in north, so the remote birding season will continue. ----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------- Author Olli Haukkovaara email: olli.haukkovaara @ proton.me Valkeakoski, Finland

  23.10.2013 I will stay now at  Tembe  /  Nkorho Pan  /  Idube  /  Elephant Plains  and  Walter Sisulu Botanical Garden , South Africa plus excellent  Pete's Pond  at Botswana for few days and try to identify all the birds I hear and see there. I opened the window to Nkorho Pan at 18:30. Lot's of bird sounds, many familiar to me but can't remember all the species anymore... But, at least some identifications: 1) Water Thick-knee  (Burhinus vermiculatus)  - at Nkorho Pan, new species, #81, for me, good start! 2) Egyptian Goose  (Alopochen aegyptiacus)  - two in the pond at Nkorho Pan 3) Common Swift  (Apus apus)  - flight calls at Walter Sisulu Botanical Garden, Roodeport, #82 Water Thick-knee in front and two Egyptian Geese 3) Helmeted Guineafowl  (Numida meleagris)  - calling loud somewhere close at Idube, new species, #83 4) African Scops Owl  (Otus senegalensis)  - calling f...

Pullus Verraux's Eagle Windy and rainy weather out there, here in Finland. Good excuse to practice some remote birding. I decided to go to South Africa this time. See what I found :) Pullus Verreaux's Eagle ( Aquila verreauxii )! And bit later an adult arrived to nest too. In addition to those, some unidentfied bird sounds... At least some Swift, sounded like Eurasian Swift  (Apus apus) , but I can't be sure about it yet. Also sounds that reminded me of Starling and many odd sounds... Adult Verreaux's Eagle The online camera link:   http://www.africam.com/wildlife/black_eagle_webcam?ch=alert&src=desktop&id=167064# ----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------- Author Olli Haukkovaara email: olli.haukkovaara @ proton.me Valkeakoski, Finland

It's again winter up here and days are short so I have time for remote birding. Got three "lifers" today from  Luciano Breves's cameras : Allen's Hummingbird (Selasphorus sedentarius) (USA) Pale-breasted Thrush (Turdus leucomelas) Female Blue Dacnis (Dacnis cayana) ----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------- Author Olli Haukkovaara email: olli.haukkovaara @ proton.me Valkeakoski, Finland

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 humming...

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. ----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------- Author Olli Haukkovaara email: olli.haukkovaara @ proton.me Valkeakoski, Finland

  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! ----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------- Author Olli Haukkovaara email: ol...

  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 ----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------- Author Olli Haukkovaara email: olli.haukkovaara @ proton.me Valkeakoski, Finland

EDIT: Finally, after two years, I've managed to identify these. Thanks to Dan McGehee and Larry Sirvio in Facebook group  340 Hummingbirds. Photo 1.  Green-crowned Brilliant    (Heliodoxa jacula) Photo 2.  Also Green-crowned Brilliant    (Heliodoxa jacula) Photo 3.   Long-billed Starthroat  ( Heliomaster longirostris) . Photo 4.  And the same Green-crowned Brilliant    (Heliodoxa jacula) Photos are captured from  http://www.wildlifefocus.org/webcam/index.shtml ----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------- Author Olli Haukkovaara email: olli.haukkovaara @ proton.me Valkeakoski, Finland

Oh my, I've been avoiding this cam but finally I decided to try.... and what a chaos of hummingbirds and other rain forest birds was waiting me there. Well, the  World Land Trust HumminBird Identication Guide  and  Gyorgy Szimuly  helped me identify some of them: 1.     White-necked Jacobin  (Florisuga mellivora) 2.     Sparkling Violetear  (Colibri coruscans) 3.     Black-throated Mango  (Anthracothorax nigricollis) 4.     Green Thorntail  (Discosura conversii) 5.     Velvet-purple Coronet  (Boissonneaua jardini) 6.     Bananaquit  (Coereba flaveola) 7.     Green Honeycreeper  (Chlorophanes spiza) Below is the first photo. The bird in the left is Bananaquit  (Coereba flaveola), big black-headed green one is Green Honeycreeper  (Chlorophanes spiza)  and the big hummingbird on the right is White-necke...

 The Brazilian live webcam of Luciano Breves is simply amazing. So many birds, so many species. Within two days I have identified already 18 species: 1.     Ruddy Ground Dove  (Columbina talpacoti) 2.     Sombre Hummingbird  (Aphantochroa cirrochloris) 3.     Black Jacobin  (Florisuga fusca) 4.     Black-throated Mango  (Anthracothorax nigricollis) 5.     Violet-capped Woodnymph  (Thalurania glaucopis) 6.     Versicolored Emerald   (Amazilia versicolor) 7.     Glittering-throated Emerald   (Amazilia fimbriata) 8.     Rufous-bellied Thrush  (Turdus rufiventris) 9.     Creamy-bellied Thrush  (Turdus amaurochalinus) 10.     Violaceous Euphonia  (Euphonia violacea) 11.     Bananaquit  (Coereba flaveola) 12.     Rufous-collared Sparrow  (Zon...

Ornithos at  http://www.ornithos.com.br/  gave me many new species today, all now identified, thanks again to  Luciano Breves who teached me! The photos below are all from south east Brazil. Below: Great Kiskadee  (Pitangus sulpuhuratus) Below: Dusky-legged Guan  (Penelope obscura) Below: Better photo of Ruddy Ground Dove  (Columbina talpacoti) Below: Violaceous Euphonias ( Euphonia violacea),  an adult male left and female on the right. Below: Creamy-bellied Thrush  (Turdus amaurochalinus) Below: Young male on the left and female on the right... both Violaceous Euphonia ( Euphonia violacea). ----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------- Author Olli Haukkovaara email: olli.haukkovaara @ proton.me Valkeakoski, Finland

Remote birding target of this morning was the island of Fidra in Scotland, UK. Scottish Seabird Centre's webcam shows the breeding colony of Northern Fulmars  (Fulmarus glacialis) . The video stream is bit fuzzy, at least this time of day, but you can still see the Fulmars. I will follow the camera, if I can get a decent photo of these birds. The link to the Fidra webcam is  http://www.seabird.org/webcam-live.asp P.S. got finally a decent photo  ----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------- Author Olli Haukkovaara email: olli.haukkovaara @ proton.me Valkeakoski, Finland

Saddle-billed Stork  (Ephippiorhynchus senegalensis)  came to pond at Nkorho Pan at 23:30.  Nice end to the long day... thank you South Africa! See:  https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=dIChLG4_WNs

Oh no, now I got lost to South-America... and I don't even have any field guides of the birds of South America. The site where the web cameras are is this:  http://www.ornithos.com.br/ Three nice cameras, one in the homepage and two others under links to "Observatorio I" and "Observatorio II". The home page cam is located in Brazil, "Observatorio II" in Ecuador and "observatorio III" is also in Brazil. During very quick visit I sa w a t least 7 different species and I have no clue what they are. Well, ok, one was dove, then there were hummingbirds and one bird looked like some starling - but really, I have no idea of their actual identitity. Below is two photos, just for example. P.S.  http://www.aves.brasil.nom.br/  is a site where you can dig photos of Brazilian birds - it helped me to identify the dove in the first photo above: it is Ruddy Ground-Dove  (Columbina talpacoti) . P.S. 2: Okay, now I know the rest of the birds too: the hummingb...

During afternoon tea break I had a chance to check what happens in South Africa. Lucky me, the above birds were on the Nkorho cam. 3 Ground Hornbills  (Bucorvus leadbeateri) , very nice! In addition to them at least two Burchell's Starling  (Lamprotornis australis)  were calling / singing close to the camera. https://africam.com/  

  11:45 today, while having a lunch, I happened to peek in to Estonian carrion cam. Good choice, White-tailed Eagle  (Haliaeetus albicilla)  had the lunch hour also. Below the eagle there is two Common Ravens  (Corvus corax)  in the photo. The camera can be found here:  http://www.looduskalender.ee/en/node/5696

Woolly-necked Stork  (Ciconia episcopus)  landed about at 12:45 in front of Tembe cam. Nice observation, never seen this bird before. https://africam.com/