Some fantastic wildlife on the @naturetrek.bsky.social Go Slow in Switzerland tour: Nutcracker, Lammergeiers, Snowfinches, dozens of glorious butterflies and masses of great plants. 15 species of orchids today, including Coralroot, Lesser Twayblabe, Globe-flowered, and the epic Lady's Slipper.

Western Olivaceous (Isabelline) Warbler, Coto Doñana, Spain with @naturetrek.bsky.social - client photo. Sometimes a tough-to-find species! #birds 🪶

Success! A client's photo of two fabulous Iberian Lynxes in the Coto Doñana yesterday evening, during the @naturetrek.bsky.social Doñana/Extremadura tour.

Spotted Thick-knee (and chick), Ndutu NP, Tanzania, April 2025. #birds 🪶

Secretarybird, Serengeti NP, Tanzania, yesterday. #birds 🪶

Purple Grenadier, Setengeti NP, Tanzania, today. #birds 🪶

Black-bellied Bustard, Ngorongoro Crater, Tanzania, yesterday. #birds 🪶

Swinhoe's Pheasant, Taiwan, 2012. A fabulous Taiwanese endemic. #birds 🪶

Siberian Crane, India, 2001. An ancient photo from the pre-digital age, but what a bird! Siberian Cranes no longer winter in India; this bird was one of the last two that returned: the entire population of about 3000 birds breeds in NE Russia and winters in a select few wetlands in China. #birds 🪶

One of our bird photos a day #86: White-necked Jacobin, Trinidad, 2006. A genuinely cracking hummingbird! #birds 🪶

Verreaux's Eagle-Owl, Gambia, last week. #birds 🪶

One last shot from Gambia with @naturetrek.bsky.social: the fabulous White-throated Bee-eater. #birds 🪶

Last full day leading Gambia with @naturetrek.bsky.social, and still the great birds come. Pearl-spotted Owlet, Northern White-faced Owl, Senegal Eremomela and African Darter. #birds 🪶

Penultimate day leading in Gambia with @naturetrek.bsky.social: Klaas's Cuckoo, Verreaux's and Greyish Eagle-Owls, and Long-tailed Nightjar at roost. #birds 🪶

Another day in Gambia with @naturetrek.bsky.social , and more great birds. Blue-breasted and Pied Kingfishers, Northern White-faced Owl and Cardinal Woodpecker 1/2 #birds 🪶

Another day in Gambia with @naturetrek.bsky.social , and more great birds. Red-shouldered Cuckooshrike, White-crested Helmetshrike, West African Pied Hornbill and an outrageously out-of-range Brown-backed Honeybird! 2/2 #birds 🪶

Another great day with @naturetrek.bsky.social in Gambia: Violet Turaco, African Golden Oriole, Red-cheeked Cordon-bleu and African Grey Hornbill. #birds 🪶

The good stuff keeps coming for those willing to keep birding through the heat of the Gambian day: Lesser and Spotted Honeyguides, Red-billed Firefinch and Common Wattle-eye. #birds 🪶

More wonderful things in Gambia with @naturetrek.bsky.social: White-throated Bee-eater, Pied Kingfisher, African Harrier-Hawk and Grey-headed Gull. #birds 🪶

Only one morning in Gambia, and already lots of great birds, including Palm-nut and Hooded Vultures, Fine-spotted Woodpecker and Senegal Thick-knee. #birds 🪶

More wonderful things in Gambia with @naturetrek.bsky.social: White-throated Bee-eater, Pied Kingfisher, African Harrier-Hawk and Grey-headed Gull.

The good stuff keeps coming for @naturetrek.bsky.social clients willing to keep birding through the heat of the Gambian day: Lesser and Spotted Honeyguides, Red-billed Firefinch and Common Wattle-eye.

Only one morning in with @naturetrek.bsky.social in Gambia, and already lots of great birds, including Palm-nut and Hooded Vultures, Fine-spotted Woodpecker and Senegal Thick-knee.

In 2022, Mr. Jim Moon (@hypnogoria.bsky.social) did a great series of podcasts on the history of NOSFERATU--its origins, production, its legacy, why it more than just an adaptation of Dracula. If you've never thought a podcast could be art, this will change your mind: hypnogoria.com/h_nosferatu....

An amazing last full day in Oman with @naturetrek.bsky.social. At least six Grey Hypocolius, Nile Valley Sunbird and Arabian Eagle Owl - plus Sand Partridge.

LIVE! from the field with @naturetrek.bsky.social in Oman. At least six Grey Hypocolius at a desert oasis shortly after dawn! #birds 🪶

Oman pelagic (Jouanin's Petrel, Persian Shearwater, Masked Booby, 3 turtle species) and the Dhofar escarpment (Verreaux's Eagle, Dragon's Blood & Frankinscence trees & Desert Roses). Pix: Bonelli's Eagle, Fan-tailed Raven, Trsitram's Starling, Red-necked Phalarope). @naturetrek.bsky.social #birds

Wonderful things keep coming our way in southern Oman: Bruce's Green Pigeon, African Paradise-flycatcher, Cinnamon-breasted Bunting and Blackstart. @naturetrek.bsky.social #birds 🪶

Spectacular birding with @naturetrek.bsky.social in far southern Oman - Steppe Eagle, Arabian Warbler, Arabian Sunbird and White-spectacled Bulbul, plus Abdim's Stork, Medium Egret, Red-knobbed Coot, Arabian Partridge, Pheasant-tailed Jacana, Abysinnian White-eye, Black-crowned Tchagra and more!

The Oman tour with @naturetrek.bsky.social strikes mega-rarity gold twice within 48 hours, this time with an Asian Brown Flycatcher, about the 5th for Oman!

A great night and day in Oman with @naturetrek.bsky.social - egg-laying Green Turtle, then Greater Hoopoe-lark and thousands of waders at Barr al-Hikman, including 18 Crab-plovers and the elusive and highly-desirable Great Knot.

@naturetrek.bsky.social in Oman strikes gold! A Brahminy Kite, an extreme vagrant from Asia, and possibly only the third Omani record.

One of the major targets seen really well in Oman today with @naturetrek.bsky.social - Crab-plover!

Oman day 3 with @naturetrek.bsky.social Minke Whale, Common Dolphin (one of a mega-pod of 200+), Greater Crested Tern and Masked Booby.

Oman day 2 with @naturetrek.bsky.social Arabian Green Bee-eater, Temminck's and Little Stints, Purple Sunbird and Sooty Gull.

One of our bird photos a day #41 Broad-billed Roller, Madagascar, 2007: one of the rather few Madagascan birds that is *not* endemic to the island, this species is also found across most of sub-Saharan Africa.

One of our bird photos a day #40 Jabiru, Brazil, 2002: the amazing Neotropical giant stork

One of our bird photos a day #38 American White Ibis, Florida, 2022. A widespread Central American and Caribbean species.

One of our bird photos a day #36 Great Crested Grebe, Blashford, UK, 2011. Taken at the gravel pits just a few yards from our home. The largest and probably commonest grebe in the UK.

One of our bird photos a day #35 Golden Grosbeak, Ecuador, 2009. Found only in western South America, from Venezuela to Perú.

One of our bird photos a day #34: Northern Hawk Owl, Finland, 2010: a much sought-after, unusually long-tailed boreal owl species, occurring across the taiga forests of North America and Eurasia.

One of our bird photos a day #33: Greater Crested Tern, South Africa, 2009. Widespread in the Indian Ocean and the southern Pacific, the species' range just sneaks into the Atlantic in extreme south-west Africa.

One of our bird photos a day #32: Purple Gallinule, Florida, 2022. A common North American relative of the Moorhen. With big feet.

One of our bird photos a day #31: Andean Cock-of-the-rock, Perú, 2003. The brightly-coloured males of this bizarre cotinga species gather at traditional social display grounds (or 'leks') in shady forest, where they compete to earn the approval of the much duller-plumaged females.

One of our bird photos a day #30: Rook, Hampshire, 2009: a common and familiar British and Eurasian bird.

One of our bird photos a day #29: Pauraque, Brazil, 2002: a common and widespread Neotropical nightjar species.

One of our bird photos a day #28: Pinnated Bittern, Trinidad 2006. Discontinuously distributed across lowland swamps in Central and South America. A genuinely hard bird to see!

One of our bird photos a day #27: Cape Bunting, Namibia, 2011. A fairly common bird in arid and semi-arid south- west Africa.

One of our bird photos a day #26: Common Yellowthroat, Florida, 2022. A common and widespread North American migrant warbler, commonest near water, as here in some Red Mangroves.

One of our bird photos a day #25: Common Tern, Greece, 2004. Generally, as the name suggests, the most numerous tern species in most parts of Eurasia and North America. Feeds in both fresh and salt water - this bird was fishing in a swamp on the island of Lesbos.