This Old Hat(o) Of Mine - Trad Royal Navy Song

Although there was yet another swing in the weather today, back to decent periods of sunshine, little wind but cool, for me it was another of home-ward-bound. A computer glitch mid-morning delayed reaching the target of 6 jobs to do until early evening, but at least my South American maps should be wending there way to me. Coincidental that I should mention SA, as here are a few more shots, this time from Hato Pinero, Venezuela, to whet the apatite before my next adventure. One memory of that fantastic place was on the 5 hours return journey to the capital Caracas when my driver said we would have to stop for petrol. As the attendant pumped 55 litres into the 4 x 4 I made off to get the coffees, but on my return found that I had paid more for these than he had for the bunkers. Seems President Hugo Rafael Chávez Frías 'gives' the stuff away, but insists on a small remuneration for the attendants, as the country is so wealthy in oil. As has been proven in recent weeks, this forms the basis of 'True Democracy' in Venezuela, as Hugo has been voted in for yet another term! 

BAR-BACKED WREN

BLACK VULTURE roost.

BLACK-COLLARED HAWK

BROWN-THROATED PARAKEET

BUFF-NECKED IBIS

ORINOCO CAIMAN with fish.

juvenile CAPIBARI

adult CAPIBARI the World's Largest Rodent.

CAPPED HERON

COMMON BLACK HAWK

and how about this. A photograph sent to me by Jim the Medic, taken just the other day in a garden in East Hull, Yorkshire by a gardener friend of his. Unfortunately, this is all the info at present but I have pestered him for more as I feel sure there will be 'birders' in the area who have not seen TRUMPETER FINCH before!

Back to the Old Chestnut, and just one of several mails and telephone calls I have received, from a Weymouth 'birder' this time, on the subject.

Hi Paul,

          I hope this e-mail finds you well and it comes with my usual apology for not being in touch more often! I am a keen reader of your blog and was incredulous to read about pete saunders' comments to you (P.S. I don't think the name even justifies capital letters). I have never been nor do I wish to be part of the obs clique- I have little time for Martin or most of the 'obsites' (which seems an appropriate term, particularly as the addition of just two letters turns it into GOBSHITES!!) and therefore would not have expected to hear the news under the circumstances. However, as word finally got out I watched developments with a heavy mix of emotions (some of which are I believe included in the Bible as deadly sins...). The rights or wrongs of the suppression (for the record, wrongs in my opinion) paled into insignificance as the 'facts' became public knowledge- to be so 'cloak and dagger' about the bird's presence smacks to me of desperation and as it turns out, a wider audience may have helped to obtain a definitive ID, something which sounds somewhat unlikely now by all accounts (to be absolutely honest I hope the definitive ID remains elusive 'cos at least it would deprive the scrotes of a tick (and yes, envy was on the list!)). Also there seem to be a number of anomalies with the various accounts, not least that one of the original reasons given for the suppression was that the bird was spending most of its time in low shrubs which wouldn't be visible from outside the property whereas a later account on the obs website stated that it was actually foraging high in Sycamores for most of the day (which apparently favoured one of the possible IDs but not the other and again this sounds like desperation to me). Now sadly I am not in possession of the list of the 'chosen few' (though I think I could guess many of them) but gather that Brett's name wasn't on it. Whatever your opinion of Mr Spencer (who incidentally I have a lot of time for) he is without a doubt one of Dorset's finest birders and as was apparently demonstrated, clearly a lot more reliable (perhaps braver too) than any of the chosen ones. I believe that to exclude local birders of such calibre was a huge mistake and I sincerely hope that it has cost them dear!

          As for the comment about you being 'hated' by local birders, whereas I cannot speak for the Portland rabble, this is absolutely NOT the case amongst my birding acquaintances whose opinions I (and I hope you) hold in far higher regard. I can think of two local birders who may possibly evoke such emotion now and amazingly they did both see the bird!!!

and finally, another month gone which must qualify as one of the best and worst on record in local Birding terms, and not at all bad for Statistics. The UK continues to gallop towards the magical 100 Thousand record, with Taiwan readers increasing by a couple of hundred, no doubt due to my friends Vicky Cheng and Syenny Lee. Croatia have been hovering just outside of the 'three figure zone' for several days now, with the only new country to join the list being Myanmar.

Another HUGE World Wide THANK YOU in the hope that each of you can send the Link to other people that you know!

Your log size of 200,500 has 114,794 entries.

	Num	Perc.	Country Name
	82591	71.95%	United Kingdom
	8579	7.47%	United States
	1498	1.30%	Canada
	1272	1.11%	Australia
	1167	1.02%	Germany
	1144	1.00%	Estonia
	1112	0.97%	France
	1027	0.89%	Netherlands
	988	0.86%	Japan
	819	0.71%	Italy
	780	0.68%	India
	738	0.64%	New Zealand
	730	0.64%	Spain
	706	0.62%	Philippines
	550	0.48%	Brazil
	545	0.47%	Taiwan
	469	0.41%	Korea, Republic Of
	453	0.39%	Sweden
	413	0.36%	Poland
	392	0.34%	Switzerland
	386	0.34%	Thailand
	385	0.34%	Belgium
	349	0.30%	Norway
	332	0.29%	Russian Federation
	271	0.24%	Romania
	261	0.23%	Turkey
	260	0.23%	Ireland
	260	0.23%	South Africa
	249	0.22%	Mexico
	247	0.22%	Malaysia
	237	0.21%	Peru
	235	0.20%	Indonesia
	219	0.19%	Finland
	203	0.18%	Greece
	187	0.16%	Portugal
	181	0.16%	Denmark
	180	0.16%	Czech Republic
	175	0.15%	Hungary
	174	0.15%	Argentina
	173	0.15%	Colombia
	154	0.13%	Singapore
	151	0.13%	Israel
	149	0.13%	Sri Lanka
	144	0.13%	Pakistan
	140	0.12%	Saudi Arabia
	134	0.12%	Hong Kong
	133	0.12%	United Arab Emirates
	133	0.12%	Ukraine
	117	0.10%	Bulgaria
	115	0.10%	Vietnam
	107	0.09%	Chile
	99	0.09%	Croatia
	95	0.08%	Slovakia
	92	0.08%	Austria
	83	0.07%	Oman
	82	0.07%	Venezuela
	78	0.07%	Costa Rica
	74	0.06%	Serbia
	70	0.06%	Anonymous Proxy
	68	0.06%	Europe
	63	0.05%	El Salvador
	61	0.05%	Egypt
	60	0.05%	Malta
	59	0.05%	Lithuania
	55	0.05%	Ecuador
	54	0.05%	Bangladesh
	54	0.05%	Madagascar
	46	0.04%	Qatar
	41	0.04%	Palestinian Territory
	38	0.03%	Asia/pacific Region
	36	0.03%	Slovenia
	34	0.03%	Luxembourg
	34	0.03%	Guatemala
	33	0.03%	Mongolia
	32	0.03%
	31	0.03%	Iraq
	30	0.03%	Guernsey
	30	0.03%	Georgia
	29	0.03%	Morocco
	29	0.03%	Latvia
	26	0.02%	Trinidad And Tobago
	25	0.02%	Dominican Republic
	25	0.02%	Jamaica
	25	0.02%	Macedonia
	25	0.02%	Satellite Provider
	24	0.02%	Lebanon
	24	0.02%	Belarus
	23	0.02%	Cyprus
	22	0.02%	Yemen
	21	0.02%	Kenya
	21	0.02%	Kuwait
	21	0.02%	Cambodia
	20	0.02%	Jersey
	20	0.02%	Lao People's Democratic Republic
	19	0.02%	Algeria
	16	0.01%	Jordan
	16	0.01%	Isle Of Man
	14	0.01%	Belize
	14	0.01%	Moldova, Republic Of
	13	0.01%	Maldives
	12	0.01%	Bermuda
	12	0.01%	Armenia
	12	0.01%	Panama
	12	0.01%	Sudan
	11	0.01%	Gibraltar
	11	0.01%	Nigeria
	11	0.01%	Montenegro
	11	0.01%	Bahrain
	10	0.01%	Tunisia
	10	0.01%	Uruguay
	10	0.01%	Nepal
	10	0.01%	Puerto Rico
	10	0.01%	Azerbaijan
	9	0.01%	Tanzania, United Republic Of
	9	0.01%	Iceland
	9	0.01%	Reunion
	9	0.01%	Namibia
	9	0.01%	Virgin Island, U.s.
	9	0.01%	Mauritius
	8	0.01%	Zimbabwe
	8	0.01%	Honduras
	8	0.01%	Albania
	8	0.01%	China
	7	0.01%	Bosnia And Herzegovina
	7	0.01%	Aruba
	6	0.01%	Brunei Darussalam
	6	0.01%	Bhutan
	6	0.01%	Netherlands Antilles
	6	0.01%	New Caledonia
	5	0.00%	Libyan Arab Jamahiriya
	5	0.00%	Guam
	5	0.00%	Uganda
	5	0.00%	Barbados
	5	0.00%	Ethiopia
	4	0.00%	Bahamas
	4	0.00%	Kazakhstan
	4	0.00%	Syrian Arab Republic
	4	0.00%	Ghana
	4	0.00%	Iran, Islamic Republic Of
	4	0.00%	Zambia
	4	0.00%	Seychelles
	3	0.00%	Guyana
	3	0.00%	Dominica
	3	0.00%	Virgin Islands, British
	3	0.00%	Myanmar
	3	0.00%	Bolivia
	3	0.00%	Faroe Islands
	3	0.00%	Gambia
	3	0.00%	Cameroon
	3	0.00%	Fiji
	2	0.00%	Botswana
	2	0.00%	Macao
	2	0.00%	Paraguay
	2	0.00%	Andorra
	2	0.00%	Gabon
	2	0.00%	Cayman Islands
	2	0.00%	Grenada
	2	0.00%	Cote D'ivoire
	2	0.00%	Falkland Islands (malvinas)
	1	0.00%	Uzbekistan
	1	0.00%	Vanuatu
	1	0.00%	Saint Lucia
	1	0.00%	Swaziland
	1	0.00%	Monaco
	1	0.00%	Turks And Caicos Islands
	1	0.00%	Martinique
	1	0.00%	Malawi
	1	0.00%	Suriname
	1	0.00%	Afghanistan
	1	0.00%	Haiti
	1	0.00%	French Polynesia