ICELAND

Reykjavik Feb 20-22nd 2007

There arent many birds around! On the Golden Circle tour we saw Crows (everywhere) and glimpsed a couple of PTARMIGANS still white and thats all. On day 2, we found redwings in suburban gardens, Whooper Swans, Greylag Geese, Tufted Duck and Mallard on the central lake, then from the steam of the Blue Lagoon I saw a 'snowflake' of SNOW BUNTINGS. Day 3 we drove up to Snaefellness, stopping for some time at Bogardnes. At Bogardnes i saw a distant diving duck with white head and black body. Book says it must be King Eider...but see below. Along the coast are many Eider, occasional Red Breasted Merganser. Late afternoon we went out to the lighthouse at Grotta where i saw Redshank, Cormorants and more of those mystery ducks. Finally I glimpsed a long tail as they dived, and then i saw them swimming along with the tail erect - LONG TAILED DUCK. Magnificent.

Feb 2007: Norfolk, Suffolk

Minsmere (54): Magpie, crow, 25,000 starlings!, jackdaw, woodpigeon, blackbird, pheasant, blue tit, great tit, long tailed tit, coal tit, MARSH TIT, siskin, REDPOLL, dunnock, chaffinch, goldfinch, bullfinch, greater spotted woodpecker, green woodpecker, jay, whooper swan, mute swan, greylag goose, snipe, JACK SNIPE, WATER PIPIT, mallard, tufted duck, goldeneye, gadwall, pochard, moorhen, dabchick, coot, marsh harrier, dunnock, black headed gull, robin, greater black backed gull, herring gull, lapwing, redshank, dunlin, ruff, avocet, turnstone, pintail, smew, shoveler, shelduck, teal, wigeon, black tailed godwit
Hen Reed Beds: barn owl, BITTERN

CLEY Pied wagtail, GLAUCOUS GULL, SNOW BUNTING, golden plover, dark bellied brent goose, PALE BELLIED BRENT GOOSE, black headed, greater black backed juvenile, herring & common gull, black tailed godwit,bar tailed godwit, redshank, tunstone, pintail, mallard, wigeon, shelduck, shoveler, oystercatcher, curlew, mute swan, redstart, teal, moorhen, coot, common scoter, dunlin, greylag goose, crow, jackdaw,lapwing, common snipe,little grebe

Titchwell

Robin, woodpigeon, dunnock, housesparrow, chaffinch, greenfinch, marsh harrier, redshank, spotted redshank, dunlin, bar-tailed godwit, black-tailed godwit, sanderling, common scoter, red breasted mergnaser, goosander, goldeneye, brent goose, pintail, teal, brent goose, curlew, little egret, shelduck, shoveler, skylark, coot, great tit, blue tit, black headed gull, herring gull, starling, oystercatcher, turnstone, great crested grebe, avocet, magpie, LITTLE GULL, golden plover, common gull, wigeon,lapwing,knot, egyptian goose, canada goose

Singapore & Australia Jan 2007

Singapore jan 2007

at the botanic gardens: yellow-vented bulbul, cattle egret, lesser treeduck, white-breasted water-hen, common kingfisher, scarlet-backed flowerpecker, black-naped oriole.We also travelled out to Sengei Buloh, which is a nature reserve based around mangrove swamps on the north coast facing Malaysia (one can hear the mosque across the strait). In the pouring rain we saw whimbrel, pacific golden plovers, little egret, redshank, greenshank, grey heron all very familiar from uk. But we also saw 3 enormous Monitor lizards, the biggest about 5 feet long! New birds were stork-billed and white-collared kingfisher.

Australia on our first day in Sydney we travelled out to the blue mountains and saw a black widow spider, masked lapwing, common bronzewing, eastern & crimson rosella, laughing kookaburra. We also heard a Lyre Bird and were played a recording of it imitating a variety of birds including a Kookaburra. A trip round the sydney botanic gardens yielded a tree full of ginormous flying foxes, australian white ibis, australian wood-duck, pacific black duck, dusky moorhen, silver gull, sulphur-crested cockatoo On to Melbourne: the botanic gardens/yarra river: Australasian Grebe, White-Faced Heron, black swan, little pied cormorant, purple swamp hen, black-faced cuckoo-shrike, grey & willy wagtail, brush wattlebird, bell miner, silvereye, common starling

Autumn 2006

Dorset in October
Highlight was a trip to Arne where we saw a Dartford Warbler on the heath, plus a superb view of a Peregrine attacking. Loads of little egrets and curlews.At Studland we watched Red Breasted Merganser out in Poole Harbour, Redshank on the mud and Stonechat on the Heath.

Dec 9/10 at Staines
Great Northern Diver and Black Necked Grebe, plus Goldeneye.

Dec 17 at Oare
Leo glimpsed Long Billed Dowitcher. Also Little Stint.Dec 21 at Barnes. I saw the Bittern which Leo had been watching all week. Also an avocet, pintail and a sparrowhawk in a bush right outside Peacock hide.

Hong Kong Sep 2006

3 days in Hong Kong. Found the HK Birdwatching Society website and managed to carve out an hour to visit City Park, which was the only recommended site within reach. After wasting a lot of time tramping round empty (it's 630am!) shopping malls i finally found the park.Black Kites overhead, several Sulphur Crested Cockatoos (not native, but have graduated to the main section of Clive & Karen's definitive text) in the trees, Crested Bulbul and on the ground Spotted Doves and Black Faced Laughing Thrushes. A few other species in evidence but I couldnt get a good enough view.

USA August 2006

First stop was the Luxor in Las Vegas. Fossicking about on the ground outside were a number of long tailed brown birds. Mocking Birds?
On to Howard Hughes' ranch at Spring Creek. In the paddock with the horses we saw a Greater Roadrunner stalk the sparrows, pounce, catch one by the tail then bash it on the ground before scuttling off with it. Also lots of Brown Crested Flycatchers and a scarlet Tanager.
Passing over the mountains at Mountain Spring Lydia spotted what Leo identified as a Red Tailed Buzzard.
On to Furnace Creek Ranch in Death Valley (180 ft below sea level and 112¤F!) where there were several glossy (Greater ?) Grackles on the lawn plus some Ravens. Walking to the golf course we saw another pair of Roadrunners, Starlings roosting in the palm tree, Inca and Mourning Doves.
From the pool as dusk fell we saw some bats and then 3 Common Nighthawks with their slender wings, agile flying and the white stripe under the wings distinctive even in the gloaming.
In the morning we saw on the golf course Killdeer, Yellow Headed Blackbird, Brown-Headed Cowbird and a White-Faced Ibis, which we then saw in a flock, superb with iridescent green flashes under their wings. Rock Dove/Feral Pigeon.
At the lowest point, Badwater 282ft below and 116 F, we saw a Turkey Vulture.
Next day on to the Grand Canyon in a plane roughly the same size as that vulture! We saw a group of Elk near the airport. At Bright Angel our driver guide pointed out one of the 52 Californian Condors perched on a rock below. Also Moutain Chickadee and a female Western Tanager and a Ground Squirrel.
I went for an early morning run and saw Western Bluebirds and a Mule Deer. Leaving our cabin en famille we saw also lots of Pygmy Nuthatches, a Hairy Woodpecker and Dark-Eyed Junco. On our Rim walk we saw Least Chipmunk, Western Scrub Jay, Bush Tit, White-Throated Swift, Spotted Towhee, Black and White Warbler and several Hummingbirds.
At Jackson Hole we stayed at the Wagon Wheel village. Right outside our cabin were Yellow Headed Blackbirds and Red Winged Blackbirds. Common Grackle and Black Billed Magpie are common. At the Visitor Centre we saw Gadwall, Trumpeter Swan, American Coot, Canada Geese.
In Grand Teton we saw a glorious Osprey. We went for a walk round south shore of Jenny Lake and saw American Robin, Western Tanager, Audubon's Warbler, Rock Wren. Later a Western Gull on Jackson Lake near Sacred Heart.Late afternoon we went for a walk on Willow Flats and saw Cedar Waxwing, Cliff Swallow, Red Naped Sapsucker, Northern Flicker.On the way back we saw an American White Pelican near Oxbow then a Northern Harrier near Elk Flats.
Next morning, following a Ranger tip we saw 2 Sandhill Cranes near Flat Creek.On the way to Yellowstone we stopped at Oxbow and saw superb moose, an osprey diving right infront of us....magnificent.
On to Yellowstone proper where we saw Bald Eagle and Golden Eagle between West Thumb and Old Faithful. Subsequently Least Sandpiper and Great Blue Heron on the Madison (my favourite place in the world). Ferruginous Hawk at Canyon. White Crowned Sparrow at Fishing Bridge.Then on Swan Lake a dozen American Avocet and Ring Necked Ducks, at Sheepeater Cliffs Gray Jay.
On a float trip from Chico Spring we saw Belted Kingfisher and Kingbird.Next day in Blacktail we saw Swainson's Thrush,Mallard and Ruddy Duck, up beyond Jardine Clark's Nutcracker and Red Breasted Nuthatch, and in Lamar Valley, Mountain Bluebird, Western Wood PeeWee and a Peregrine.

Singapore June 2006

Only had a few days in Singapore, so I popped out early on the last day to the Botanical Gardens. Unfortunately it was so humid that I couldnt see through my binoculars and all the birds were hiding away. And my specs were misted up which was a bit worrying as there were flying beetles the size of goats. I didnt see a single bird for 30 minutes!

It began to clear and the birds appeared just before I had to leave.

Spotted Neck Dove
Yellow-Vented Bulbul
Brown Throated Sunbird
Little Spiderhunter
Eurasian Tree Sparrow (hooray!)
Philippine Glossy Starling
Common, Hill and White Vented Myna.

I also saw some unimpressively-tailed squirrels and a rat thing which scurried about with its tail pointing straight up.

South Africa Jun 2006

Johannesburg
Cape Wagtail (from the plane before we even disembarked)
Egyptian Goose in the Hotel Swimming Pool
Hadeda Ibis
Blacksmith Plover on Roundabouts
Black Collared Barbet
Grey Lourie
Cape Robin
Indian Myna
African Pied Starling
Laughing Dove
Cape Sparrow
White-browed Sparrow-weaver
Cape Town
Kelp & Grey-Headed Gull
Cape & Reed Cormorant
Great White & Little Egret
White Stork
Sacred Ibis
Helmeted Guinea Fowl at a Vineyard....maybe kept there to deal with snails??
Common Fiscal Shrike perched on posts at the Vineyard (as advertised)
Pied Crow
Red Winged Starling
Cape White Eye
Red Eyed Dove

7 May 2006

Leg O'Mutton
The terns are back
Grey Wagtail
Long Tailed Tit
Ruddy, tufted ducks
Dabchick
Reed Warbler

31 April 2006

Barnes WWT
Canada, Greylag, Barnacle Geese
Avocet; Dunlin
Common Sandpiper; Green Sandpiper
Reed Bunting; Reed Warbler
Shelduck; Sand Martin
Lesser Ringed Plover
Wandle
Blackcap Pair

Gran Canaria 10-17 April 2006

Maspalomas Charco (Lagoon/Oasis)
ChiffChaff
Moorhen
Littel ringed Plover
Kentish Plover
Whimbrel
Hoopoe
Sanderling
Monk Parakeet
Collared Dove
Feral Pigeon/Rock Dove
Water Pipit
Bertholet's Pipit
Ugly Goose Thing (partner at Palmitos?)
House Sparrow
Spanish Sparrow
Coot
Great Grey Shrike
Blackbird

Castillo de Romeral

• Turnstone
  Little Egret
  Grey Plover
  

Kestrel
Common Sandpiper
Squacco Heron
Sardinian Warbler
Waxbill
Black Headed Gull
Canarian Warbler
Turtle Dove
Goshawk
Buzzard
Grey Wagtail

East Anglia 16-18 Feb 2006

Travelling
Magpie
Kestrel
Crow
Woodpigeon
Rook

Amwell Quarry
Tufted Duck
Mallard
pochard
Great Crested Grebe
Shoveler
Gadwall
Canada Goose
Greylag Goose
Shelduck
Cormorant
ReedBunting
Great Tit
Blue Tit
Pheasant
Robin
Coot
Moorhen
Lapwing
Black Headed Gull
Lesser Black Backed Gull
Grey Heron
Fieldfare
Goldeneye
Bittern
Chaffinch
Mute Swan

Minsmere
Pied Wagtail
Shore Lark
Pintail
Herring Gull
Greater Black Backed Gull
Blackbird
Smew
Barnacle Goose
Snipe
Ruff
Dunlin
Redshank
Black Tailed Godwit
Peregrine Falcon
Turnstone
Greenfinch
Teal
Wigeon
Red Throated Diver
Coal Tit
Long Tailed Tit
Goldfinch
Jay
Wren
Dunnock
Goldcrest
Treecreeper
Starling

Hen Reed Beds
Marsh Harrier
Oystercatcher
Barn Owl
Jackdaw

Titchwell Marsh
Cirl Bunting
Egyptian Goose
Brent Goose
Water Rail
Eider
Common Scoter
Red Breasted Merganser
Spotted Redshank
Golden Plover
Grey Plover
Ringed Plover
Knot
Bar Tailed Godwit
Siskin
Curlew
Whimbrel
Avocet
Dabchick
Merlin
Sanderling
House Sparrow
Tree Sparrow

Morocco 20-25 March 2006

Marrakech
House (Striped) Bunting

Travel to Tamtert
White Stork
Little Egret
Cattle Egret
Magpie
Goldfinch

Tamatert
Rock Bunting
Chaffinch (N African Variant)
House Sparrow
Blackbird



Walk 1: Tamatert to Pass de Tamatert
Black Wheatear
Moussier's Redstart

Walk 2: Tamatert to Sidi Charamouche
Blue Tit
Great Tit
Coal Tit
Green Woodpecker
Crag Martin
?Vulture
Black Redstart
Chough
Alpine Chough
Pigeon

Walk 3 Azib Tamsoult
Bulbul
Great Spotted Woodpecker
Barbary Partridge
Barbary Falcon

Walk 4
Black Cap
Shore Lark
Kestrel

Walk 5
Crested Lark