Over the last couple of years I have seen that more
and more birders (mostly UK rather than Norwegians) are using thermal imagers
to help find birds. They don’t just work in the dark for finding for example owls
but also work very well in the daytime with well camouflaged species that
choose to rely on their camouflage and sit motionless. One of very favourite species,
and my obsession last winter, Jack Snipe is a species that I have noticed to be
often found with the use of thermal imagers.
The choice of models is increasing and price falling
and I wished for one for my birthday and was lucky enough to be lucky 😊. I
had taken it with me on my trip to Store Færder but it had not revealed
anything other moths flying around in
the dark so at least I knew it worked with small subjects. Today I decided to
take it with me to a favoured snipe site and put it through its paces. My first
sweep over the wet field revealed loads of hot spots but switching to
binoculars I could see no birds. I eventually located a couple of Meadow Pipits
but there were far more things out there. It was difficult to judge range and
size but after some Common Snipe flew up I got a better idea of what I was
seeing. I then started to really study the hot spots and use my bins and
eventually found a motioneless Jack Snipe hidden in the grass. I have of course
managed this before but it will be far less hit and miss now and hopefully
result in less flushing of birds. I was also able to locate Water Rail in the reedbed
and Song Thrushes in long grass that I would otherwise not have seen. This technology
is a real game changer but does feel a bit like cheating.
I am off to the famous vagrant island of Røst on Thursday (I was supposed
to go to Værøy for the first time since Covid but circumstances necessitated a
change of plans ad I think Røst will do very nicely) and I am now looking to
finding loads of locustellas hiding in the grass with my new toy😊
No comments:
Post a Comment