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

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

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-necked Jacobin (Florisuga mellivora).

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 (Zonotrichia capensis) 13.     Ruby-crowned Tanager (Tachyphonus coronatus) 14.     Brazilian Tanager (Ramphocelus bresilius) 15.     Sayaca Tanager (Thraupis sayaca) 16.     Azure-shouldered Tanager (Thraupis cyanoptera) 17.     Palm Tanager  (Thr

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).

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:

Saddle-billed Stork (Ephippiorhynchus senegalensis) came to pond at Nkorho Pan at 23:30. Nice end to the long day... thank you South Africa!

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

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. http://www.africam.com/wildlife/index.php

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. http://www.africam.com/wildlife/index.php#

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. http://www.africam.com/wildlife/index.php#  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: http://www.africam.com/wildlife/#

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... http://www.africam.com/wildlife/index.php 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: Sounds of Nkorho Cam 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 chalcospilo) .

A short trip to James Reserve gave me a Steller's Jay (Cyanocitta stelleri). Very beautiful, I saw it last time few months ago live in British Columbia. This Jay was visiting in Tray Feeder: http://www.jamesreserve.edu/webcams.lasso?CameraID=Cam08

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: http://www.africam.com/wildlife/index.php But all the rest are still unidentified...

Welcome to Nkorho Pan: http://www.africam.com/wildlife/index.php# 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.

This place is somewhere in Estonia, very cool webcam indeed. I saw several birds, including the king of carrion, White-tailed Eagle, who flew by but did not land. White-tailed Eagle (Haliaeetus albicilla) 1 adult Common Buzzard (Buteo buteo) 1 Common Raven (Corvus corax) 6 Common Magpie (Pica pica) 2 Hooded Crow (Corvus cornix) 1 sound Great Spotted  Woodpecker (Dendrocopos major) 1 Common Blackbird (Turdus merula) 1 male Hmmm... lots of  "Common" birds .... :-) The site URL is: http://www.looduskalender.ee/en/node/5696 Ravens and Common Buzzard

This site is great: http://www.looduskalender.ee/en/node/5978 The stream has been open in my computer during the day about 30 minutes, and so far I have observed the following species: Great Tit (Parus major) , at least 3 Eurasian Blue Tit (Cyanistes caeruleus) 1 Willow Tit (Poecile montanus) 1 European Greenfinch (Carduelis chloris) , at least 4 Bullfinch (Pyrrhula pyrrhula) 1 sound Hooded Crow (Corvus cornix) 1 sound House Sparrow (Passer domesticus) 3 Great Tit  Greenfinches

Quick trip to Japan gave me two more species: Grey Heron (Ardea cinerea) and Oriental Storks (Ciconia boyciana) . The location was Village Park of Hyōgo Prefecture in Toyooka-shi, Japan. The camera URL is: http://stk.pref.hyogo.lg.jp/ . The actual site for the storks is http://www.stork.u-hyogo.ac.jp

I just found this Great Tit (Parus major) roosting in nest box. Location is Raisio, southern Finland and the website is: http://www.nikulainen.net/pontto/

The first bird I saw was Mountain Chickadee (Poecile gambeli) , just few minutes ago. The location is James Reserve at Lake Fulmor, Idyllwild, California, USA and the website for camera is http://www.jamesreserve.edu/webcams.lasso?CameraID=Cam01 This place seems to be a real hotspot for remote birding! Next one was this Acorn Woodpecker (Melanerpes formicivorus) : And the next ones were House Finch (Carpodacus mexicanus) and Pygmy Nuthatch (Sitta pygmaea) :

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!