Saturday, May 16, 2009

Kazakhstan Part 1

I'm just back from a few days in Kazakhstan. I know, it sounds good, doesn't it? And it certainly was. The nice people from Swarovski Optik invited me and a group of others to combine trying out their superb new lightweight magnesium-bodied scopes, their excellent new wide-angle zoom eyepiece and their innovative new digiscoping adapter, with a visit to the breeding grounds of the Sociable Lapwing, the endangered bird for which Swarovski are 'Species Champions' along with the RSPB.
It was an excellent trip to see some awe-inspiring birds in a dream landscape, and I will be posting much more on the trip later.
Meantime, here is one of the birds we found in the mountains of the south, a Lesser Grey Shrike, and a Himalayan Rubythroat, both digiscoped with the Swarovski ATM HD 80mm scope and the new zoom eyepiece.

Lesser Grey Shrike

Himalayan Rubythroat

1 comment:

Dale Forbes said...

Hi Mike, what a pleasure it was to spend some time with you in Kazak.

That Shrike photo is crystal clear and the feather detail is great - nice shot! I hope at least one of mine is that clear.

I never got to see the rubythroat that well. I heard that some had had it in front of their noses, but I only had a few fleeting glimpses (got some videoscoped shots of it though)

Clay and I just left Po Delta (Italy) so I should have some time over the next few days to get blogging again, and to post some pics.


Happy birding,
Dale
http://alpinebirds.blogspot.com