Remote birding

  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

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...

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

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/  

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/

Africam.com webcams are / were down this morning due to thunderstorm during night. Tembe cam was the first to come up. Usually there's not many birds visible in that camera, but this morning I got a nice surprise: African Fish Eagle  (Haliaeetus vocifer)  was walking on the ground! It's a shame that they don't have sounds in that camera, as it would have been cool to hear Fish Eagle calling - I love that sound, for me it's the master sound of Africa, like roaring of the Lion. https://africam.com/ P.S. later 1 Marabou Stork  (Leptoptilos crumeniferus)  visited Tembe, showing in camera just some 15 seconds.

Evening visit to South Africa, crickets, frogs, owls and nigh jar. Very nice! The species are Fiery-necked Nightjar  (Caprimulgus pectoralis) , African Barred Owlet  (Glaucidium capense)  and African Scops Owl  (Otus senegalensis) . And they are calling all the time. Go and listen:  https:/africam.com/

  Today I'm working in my office in South Africa, virtually of course, but with live video stream and sounds from my second computer.  Cape Turtle Dove ( Streptopelia capicola)  was again singing this morning and right now the Woodland Kingfishers  (Halcyon senegalensis)  are calling close to the Elephant Plains camera. Many other sounds of course, and I'm trying to identify them all, slowly... https://africam.com/ P.S. Crested Barbet  ( Trachyphonus vaillantii)  has been singing several times in Nkorho Pan webcam. Also the Woodland Kingfishers are calling every now and then. Later in the afternoon I got an excellent hint - it was this website: [old link removed] try this: Nkorho live stream   After listening through all the bird sounds from that site, I was immediately able to identify three more birds: Burchell's Coucal  (Centropus burchellii) Crested Francolin  (Francolinus sephaena)  and Emerald-spotted Wood Dove  (Turtur c...

  Well, at least one familiar song bird in South Africa - or so I thought... Sounds like the Eurasian Golden Oriole  (Oriolus oriolus)  but it was not it... instead it was  local Black-headed Oriole  (Oriolus larvatus) . The song is very close to it's European cousin - good reminder that one has to be always careful with these sounds! Bird was singing close to Elephant plains webcam at: https://africam.com/ But all the rest are still unidentified...

Welcome to Nkorho Pan:  Nkorho Live Stream What a mess of singing birds! So far I have not identified any of them... Fortunately I saw 3 Red-billed Oxpeckers  (Buphagus erythrorhynchus)  in the backs of Impalas, but so far it's the only species that I have managed to identify... P.S. Later today I saw at least 10 Red-billed Buffalo Weavers  (Bubalornis niger) , 2 Egyptian Geese  (Alopochen aegyptiaca)  and heard singing Cape Turtle Dove  (Streptopelia capicola)  and House Sparrows  (Passer domesticus) . In addition to those I saw some unidentified Swallows and some Lapwing that had white in the upperside of the wings.

  You'll probably know what birding means - yes, it's watching the birds i.e birdwatching. But remote birding? Well, in remote birding you don't need binoculars, scope nor camera, but  you must have internet connection and TV to watch birds. So, I'm trying to see and identify birds in  live TV broadcasts  and through  online webcams . I will not pay any attention to recordings or movies, all the birds must be out there somewhere right at the same moment when I see them. I'm also trying to capture photos of all the birds, whenever it's possible. At this moment this is just an experiment - I'm just curious on how many bird species I can see and identify via cables! ----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------- Author Olli Haukkovaara email: olli.haukkovaara @ proton.me Valkeakoski, Finland