Tag Archives: birdwatching

Birding Juma Lodge, Amazonia (1)

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When: December 2023  Weather: Hot 30C

Leica Q3, M9P, Nikon P900, 950

We had two full days in the Juma Jungle Lodge about 4 hours from Manaus and we had the services of guide Ralf.

Daybreak on the first morning was followed shortly by rain that lasted a couple of hours…

After a leisurely breakfast we then set off by boat before lunch….

The black skimmers were evident, skimming the water surface as they fished
Amazonian kingfishers were everywhere..this is the female with a white dot in front of eye and no white dots on wing
Here is the male Amazonian KF…with the brown breast, white dot in front of eye and no white on the wing
this on the other hand is the Green Kingfisher, sometimes hard to distinguish from the larger Amazonian KF….note spots on wing and no white spot in front of eye
Ringed KF
charming sun grebe by the river edge
and of course white throated toucans were a common sight although the more iconic toco toucan was nowhere to be seen on this trip
stunningly beautiful Capped heron
solitary sandpiper
striated heron..we get these in singapore too
yellow canary
a yellow headed caracara was foraging nearby
greater anis
green ibis
Fork-tailed flycatcher
white winged swallow
rufescent tiger heron
rufescent tiger heron..worth a second look
southern lapwing
arguably the prettiest of them all…the Agami Heron
Agami heron striking out
pale vented pigeon
brown chested martin
the morning ended with this peregrine falcon and his brunch

A most fruitful morning’s birding on the water….

An uncommon visitor to my Singapore garden

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When: October 2022 Temperature: 30C Nikon P950

A number of common birds are often seen in the Linear Park area near my home in Singapore…

red wattled lapwing
blue throated bee eater
white throated kingfisher

Some days we just hang around our garden where olive backed, crimson and brown throated sunbirds are frequent visitors….on this particular afternoon, my wife called me to the window to look at something in the garden….

a greyish, yellow and olive bird was skulking amongst the leaves…I thought just a common olive backed sunbird…
he then showed himself a little more…..a long decurved beak and partial white eye ring…not typical of the smaller sunbird

he then hopped over to our bird bath which had been sorely underused since we set it up…
He posed willingly….
the long decurved beak, incomplete eye ring, whitish throat with yellow body confirmed this was the Little Spiderhunter….
The smallest but commonest of the three spiderhunters we see in Singapore, it is not that commonly seen
He checked out the bird bath
and hopped in for a bath on this hot day
He liked my misting system for the plants and perched for a while preening himself
Such a delight to have this uncommon spiderhunter visit us in our garden!

As I’ve noted in previous blog posts, we sometimes don’t need to venture far to birdwatch….our own backyard sometimes suffices!

my small garden

Lake Maggiore, Milan and a few birds

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When: September 2022 Weather: Hot 25-30C

Leica Q, Leica M11/35mm summilux, Nikon P950

A short 4 day visit to Milan started when we landed at Malpensa and picked up a car to take a drive to the nearby Lake Maggiore, less than an hour away. The sun was shining as we descended the hilly road into Stresa and the lake was stunning in it blue green colour. The Borromean Islands were easily seen from the shore and we decided to spend a few hours exploring Stresa rather than being stuck on a boat cruising between the islands…

The railway station in Stresa where we parked in a free white parking lot…..there’s plenty of parking here and it’s an easy walk into town…

The streets of Stresa were lined with interesting little shops

the view from Stresa across Lake Maggiore towards Pallanza

the pier where all the boat operators dock
and not far from the shore, our view of the Isola Madre, the largest of the Borromean Islands where there is a botanic garden….

Enjoying the view towards Isola Bella

Near the jetty a cormorant posed
From the cormorants we saw in Bangalore a few weeks ago to the Cormorants here in Italy….such an adaptable bird

Coot on the water
Crow posing

A rather smart sea gull on the pier
After a few hours in Stresa, we headed back to Milan to our hotel, the Melia Milano…..

I was concerned about whether I could park the hire car easily in Milan but as it turns out, there were plenty of nearby blue paid parking lots at 2 euro an hour and we just used the metro whilst in Milano.

of course no visit to MIlan is complete without visiting the church where…
the Last Supper mural by Leonardo da Vinci is….

Galleria Vittorio Emanuele

Just a short trip to Milan which is always interesting and the visit to Lake Maggiore was the icing on the cake.