Saturday, February 9, 2013

Frontier birding!

Two examples of how useful it is to have your phone with you while spending time with family:

On January 21st I went walking with my younger son in the eucalyptus forest behind my house. I had a pipit high in the canopy, and without my bins I could see nothing on it. It gave some calls that were OK for Olive-bcked Pipit - but I wasn't sure as they were of the more difficult tree-pipit-like type. I got a terrible recording with my phone - but it was good enough for Martin Garner to confirm it was an OBP - village tick of course. How cool is that? This is what MG wrote: "The pitch reaches up to 8 kHz and has fading quality to it - just like an OBP. Tree Pipit pitches around 7 kHz and has strongly modulated end with less fading", Thanks Martin - also for the sonogram.

Olive-backed Pipit, Nir Moshe, Israel, 21 January 2013


And then, this afternoon I was having a picnic in the same forest near my house. Again, no bins. Just before heading home in the afternoon, heard a Hume's Warbler calling from a nearby Carob tree. I couldn't see the bird but got the phone out again - slightly better quality this time (thanks Barak). Again, village tick! Will try to see it tomorrow.

Hume's Warbler, Nir Moshe, Israel, 9 February 2013

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