Parrots in Papua New Guinea
New Guinea is an island located just south of the equator. New Guinea is home to 46 species of parrots 
(s. http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Parrots_of_New_Guinea), which makes it the third most diverse biogeographic region in parrot diversity, after the continent of South America which harbours about 100 species and Australia which has 57 species.
New Guinea on the other side is only a fraction as big in land mass as these two zones. Thus making New Guinea’s parrot diversity truly spectacular.
New Guinea is the land of Eclectus Parrots, Pesquest’s Parrot, Lories, Cockatoos, Fig-parrots, but also of Fruit-Doves, Honeyeaters, Cassowaries and of course Birds-of-Paradise. Because of its astounding variety of habitats due to topography and the influence of tropical climate, New Guinea supports over 700 species of birds.
New Guinea shares three species of cockatoos and five species of true parrots with Australia and other islands. 38 species of parrots are endemic to the island of New Guinea and minor offshore islands.
A good example of PNG´s richness in birds is the Eclectus Parrot, Eclectus roratus. Continue reading
Iberian Chiffchaff on Fuerteventura
Iberian Chiffchaff Phylloscopus ibericus (or P. brehmii as it is called, too) is mainly found on the Iberian peninsula in Spain and Portugal but migrates to the south in fall. This chiffchaff is brighter, greener on the rump, and yellower below than Phylloscopus collybita. This species is a long-distance migrant, occurring every year on the way back from it´s wintering grounds in western Africa as far north as Germany. Right now a bird has been located in Zarrendorf near Stralsund in the north-eastern corner in Germany. This is in the state of Mecklenburg-Vorpommern. Other vagrants has been found in other parts of Germany in the recent weeks, too.
It was a pleasure for me to see a Iberian Chiffchaff in low scrub on the sandy plain on top of the isthmus of Jandia in the southern corner of Fuerteventura/ Canary Islands. Continue reading
Common Snipe in courtship flight
Common Snipes, Gallinago gallinago, are always a prime birdwatchter´s and bird photographers target bird. A beautiful patterned wader that stays hidden normally in the grass, but is seen sometimes in the open; even allowing approach at short distance. If the snipe is startled it will burst out from its cover and fly in a zig-zag pattern to evade predators.
In the internet normally you will find thousands of images with the bird photographed on a fence post. This is the easy way. There are only a few exceptions where you can see Common Snipes in flight in the internet. Bird-lens is proud to show this bird in flight and even in display flight during courtship.
Continue reading
Pratincole in Oman´s deserts
These pictures are from Dawkah Farm on 10th of march 2012. Migration time in the desert could be very rewarding as surprises could arise everywhere. So happens with this pratincole with a wine-red underwing. First I thought of course of a
. But looking at the photos I did not find the white trailing edge on the wing. The wash of orange on underparts are quite extensive and the red on the bill is restricted to the very beginning of the bill. I am thinking of Oriental Pratincole but cannot exclude Collared Pratincole, either. More pictures, you will find under “Photo” in the Gallery. Who can help?
Young Pale Crag-Martin in flight over Oman
Pale Crag-Martin over the Oman Desert. Early spring in the desert could be very rewarding as surprises could arise everywhere. The birder has a chance to see birds in migration and to see the first birds breeding. A surprise was this Pale Crag-Martin, Hirundo obsolete or Ptyonoprogne obsolete patrolling over the little nice oasis of Mudday in the north-western corner of Dhofar/ Oman.
Interesting features of this particular bird were a yellow gape flange and a whitish-grey rump contrasting with the lead-grey back. These characters suggest a juvenile individual. The flight however has been very swift and showed that the bird was not an inexperienced one. Photos of a young Pale Crag-Martin I have never seen in the internet galleries. Bird-Lens is proud to present this nice pictures and more you will find in the gallery under Pale Crag-Marting of Oman. Bird Lens hopes that these images are of value for other birders, too.
Pale Crag-Martin, Hirundo obsoleta is a split of the widespread Rock Martin, Hirundo fuligula, and has been treated as a subspecies of the Rock Martin, Hirundo fuligula obsoleta before.
A Steppe Eagle, Aquila nipalensis: From Eye to Eye
Most pictures of Steppe Eagle you find in the internet are from falconry or zoos. But the keen birdwatchter want the right stuff. Here you can see Steppe Eagle, Aquila nipalensis, in the wild. Photographed in the desert environment of Dhofar/Oman near the city of Salalah. To cope with the growing demand for top shots of the rarer species of the Palearctic, Bird-Lens is keen to enrich the range of pictures of birds you can find in the western palearctic. Trips to remote places to capture images of rare birds of western palearctic were very successful. Part of the images gained are photos of Baillon’s Crake, Heuglin’s Gull and Imperial Eagle. The behaviour of Steppe Eagles is not very eagle-like. They prefer to scavange but are able to kill their own prey, too. This is the reason, that Steppe Eagles can be found on garbage dumps in Arabia where they find easy food supply on carcasses of livestock and slaughterhouse waste. Continue reading
Nearctic specialities on Bird-Lens
Each year, especially in fall, there is a high influx of birds from Northern American. Just have a look at the EUROTWITCH-BIRDLINE with rare bird alerts for Europe and Western Palaearctic under http://www.surfbird.de/eurotwitch. The birdline managed by our friend on the islands to the west of the continent is full with top birding observations as – e.g. ROSS’S SNOW GEESE, SMALL CANADA GOOSE, AMERICAN WIGEONS, BLUE-WINGED TEALS, LESSER SCAUPS, SURF SCOTERS or BUFFLEHEADS.
To cope with the growing demand for top shots of Nearctic birds from customers of the eastern side of the Atlantic ocean, too, Bird-Lens is proud to present a wide range of pictures shot in California, Arizona, New Mexico, Mexico and Florida. Are you interested? A first impression you will find in the gallery of Nearctic birds here. There you will finde 450+ Pictures of various bird species often in different plumages. An update of the image stock in the “Pictures Shop” is coming very soon. Just give me a message, if I could serve you with a request before the pictures are online.
Other successful shootings you can see under: http://www.bird-lens.com/photos-2/birds-of-the-nearctic/.