New Trip Report: Australia – New South Wales south coast and Victoria’s East Gippsland
A new report from Dion Hobcroft with some nice mammals including a very rare Long-footed Potoroo. South Coast NSW and Gippsland, 2020: Dion Hobcroft, 1 week & 20 species including White-footed Dunnart, Yellow-bellied Glider and Long-footed Potoroo.
Updated Mammalwatching Checklist @ August 2020
The latest version of my global mammal checklist is available here and also on Scythebill too. This update differs a little from previous ones. I focussed on improving the common names of species, and the taxonomy of the overall list, rather than recent changes to the Redlist. Many thanks to...
New Trip Report: Desmans in the French Pyrenees
A nice – and very detailed – report from Ben Balmford on how to see a Desman in the mountains south of Bordeaux. Desman Hunt, Pyrenees, 2020: Ben Balmford, 4 nights and a Desman. Jon
Vietnam at christmas 2019/20
I and two friends spent 2 weeks in southern and central Vietnam at the beginning of the year chasing mammals and whatever other fauna we were able to find with the aid of Forest Birding. All up we saw at least 27 mammals (bats were a little difficult to...
New Report: Iberian Lynxes
Jan Kelchtermans sent me this good news piece – with some superb photographs – on growing opportunities to enjoy Iberian Lynx watching. Jon The future looks bright for the Iberian Lynx
A good year for Guadalupe Fur Seals in USA waters?
Alvaro Jaramillo is a Chilean bird tour leader based in Half Moon Bay, California. One of his offshore trips had Guadalupe Fur Seal last weekend, and I went out of Moss Landing on a “Fast Raft Ocean Safari” a few days before that, and I had a Guadalupe Fur...
New species described
A couple new species descriptions: 1. A new Sorex shrew described from Honduras. The description is based on principal component analysis of just two available specimens; my understanding is that it’s very bad methodology. Personally I think descriptions of new species done without comparing nuclear DNA shouldn’t be accepted...
New Trip Report: Poland
Janco van Gelderen was in Poland last month. Poland, July 2020: Janco van Gelderen, 1 week & 12 species including Pine Marten and Wolf.
Iceland, June 2020
Executive Summary: Great country, few mammals. In late June, Iceland was one of the first countries to reopen after COVID19. Desperate for tourism to start up again, and with essentially no COVID cases, the country welcomed all EU passport holders (including UK citizens), no matter where they lived or...
New Trip Report: Southern Calilfornia
Here is more of Venkat Sankar’s latest success with watching California’s mammals. Southern California, 2020: Venkat Sankar, 5 nights and 40 species including Western Mastiff and Pocket Free-tailed Bats, Round-tailed Ground Squirrel and a plethora of rats and mice. Jon
India mammal and bird trip 2018-2019
I and my partner visited India for the first time over five weeks from December 2018 to January 2019. We organised our trip through WildWorldIndia and visited Kaziranga in the north-east, Chambal River, central India (Satpura, Pench and Tadoba) and spent the last week or so in the south...
New Trip Report: Qinghai, China
This is an interesting report of a self-guided trip from Zhou Fangyi. Qinghai, 2020: Zhou Fangyi, 8 days & 15 species including Lynx and Blue (Brown) Bear within 10 minutes of each other! Jon
Small mammal study opportunity, Oregon
Got this through Mammal-L listserve, perhaps some people here will be interested. Date: Thu, 16 Jul 2020 15:04:57 -0400 From: Todd Wilson Subject: Small mammal trapping project western OR We are looking for technicians to help sample small mammals (shrews to tree squirrels) in old-growth forest in western Oregon...
Australian Sugar Gliders Spli
Looks like Australian sugar gliders have been split into three species. https://theconversation.com/a-rare-discovery-we-found-the-sugar-glider-is-actually-three-species-but-one-is-disappearing-fast-142807?utm_source=twitter&utm_medium=bylinetwitterbutton https://academic.oup.com/zoolinnean/article-abstract/doi/10.1093/zoolinnean/zlaa060/5870721?redirectedFrom=fulltext&fbclid=IwAR2SjXSgZ5PGAx1-m855Ud4XGjjBD3N5iwhe6gd3XkwBAqsQ1lXpkeZ62-g
pictures for a mammals booklet
I am putting together a booklet on Botswana mammals that will be given away to teenage school-goers in Botswana under the Junior Ranger programme of the Knyphausen Foundation https://www.facebook.com/pg/juniorrangerbotswana/posts/ . They have already done a booklet on trees and plants, and one on birds https://www.facebook.com/KnyphausenStiftung/photos/gm.2360508197524262/336118730418216/?type=3, that will give you...
Australia Report: Victoria and Tasmania
In February and March of this year we took our first trip to Australia and it was fantastic. We got back just as the pandemic was starting to rage so it’s good that we ended our international travels (For the foreseeable future) on such a high note. Australia 2020...
Humboldt’s Flying Squirrel in the San Bernardino Mountains (Southern California)
In June 2020 I took three one-night trips to the Big Bear Lake area in the San Bernardino Mountains east of Los Angeles; spending about 3 hours each night looking for Humboldt’s Flying Squirrel (Glaucomys oregonensis). I spent most of my first trip (June 10) on the northern side...
New Trip Report: Kauai (Hawaii) – Hawaiian Monk Seals
A useful report – with some lovely pictures – for anyone interested in seeing Hawaiian Monk Seals. Kauai, 2019: Cheryl Antonucci’s report of multiple Monk Seals and some Spinner Dolphins. Jon
SE’n AZ Update (black bear, bobcat, coati, ringtail and report of puma)
Southeastern Arizona update, June 2020 I had a short trip to Arizona to photograph moths and lizards for a book project and thought I would give a quick mammal update. Sites are described first; mammal list follows. I did not do much night driving this trip, other than briefly...
Mammal Watching Tours – Rwanda, Dominican Republic, Tanzania & Spain Available Summer 2020
Following up from our post on our Spanish tours running this summer we are happy to announce a further 3 countries which you can visit for mammal watching with Royle Safaris: 1) Dominican Republic 2) Rwanda 3) Tanzania Dominican Republic In the last few years we have run trips...
Taxonomy news
A couple taxonomy papers: 1. A proposed overhaul of squirrel taxonomy, breaking Sciurus squirrels of the New World into a large number of genera and leaving only three Old World species in genus Sciurus. When it was published as preprint I recommended to the authors to at least discuss...
Iberian Lynx Tours Available for EU citizens and people from 15 other countries
We at Royle Safaris hope that everyone is ok and dealing with these exceptional circumstances as best as possible. I imagine (like myself) everyone is itching to get out and see some mammals. The problem being that many places are still locked down or there are restrictions on travel...
New Trip Report: West Papua
Another exciting report from Carlos Bocos, again for West Papua. West Papua, October 2019: Carlos Bocos, 3 weeks and 35 species including Ground Cuscus, Reclusive Ringtail Possum, Brown Pademelon, two Marsupial Shrew species and more. Jon
Chinko Nature Reserve, Central African Republic
Hi all, Having spent much of my life travelling to remote corners of Africa in search of of the continent’s wildlife, I’ve recently begun the exciting process of setting up my own tour operator, Pictus Safaris, focussed on offering itineraries to the most isolated areas of Africa, and particularly...
New Trip Report: West Papua
Yet another mouth watering report from Carlos Bocos. Carlos and I are hoping to organise an expedition here in early 2022 West Papua, 2019: Carlos Bocos, 3 weeks & 28 species including Waigeo and Black-spotted Cuscus, Feathertailed Possum, Speckled Dasyure and a ton of cool bats. Jon
New Trip Report: Sri Lanka
A first report from Daniel Heintz. Sri Lanka, 2020: Daniel Heintz, 10 days & 50 species including Fishing Cat, some nice bats and an Indian Pangolin. Jon
Short minnesota road trip.
The plan was to go to The Vince Shute Wildlife Sanctuary near Orr Minnesota for black bears, drive around looking for Moose and then stop near Calm Lake Wisconsin to try to spot Elk. The Vince Shute Wildlife Sanctuary is a place that feeds bears which many photographers and...
Two Mammal Posters for Spain from José R. Castelló
Some of you may already have José Castelló’s books on Bovids and Canids of the World. If so you will be glad to learn has a new book coming out in October on the world’s cats and hyenas (I will share more details on this before too long). Meanwhile he...
Wolves in Belgium (from @natuurenbos)
First wolf family in Belgium since 150 years! Father, mother and 4 pups….
New Trip Report: Sichuan and the Tibetan Plateau
Tibet doesn’t get any better than this. Great photos too. Sichuan and the Tibetan Plateau, 2020: China Mammal Tour, 3 weeks & 29 species including Snow Leopard, two separate Lynx, Brown Bear, Pallas’s Cat and Sillem’s Rosefinch (which I gather is an exciting bird …). Jon
Western Weasels (and a few other things): California and Oregon
I have been living in the US for eight years and my failure to see a Long-tailed Weasel was becoming the stuff of legend. I spent the first five of these years sure that I was bound to bump into one. And the next three increasingly convinced that I...
New Trip Report: Somaliland and the Ogaden
Here’s a fascinating report from Andy Holman. If anyone else has been to this region I would love to get a report! Somaliland and the Ogaden, 2018: Andrew Holman, 2 weeks & some nice species including Beira, Gerenuk, Speke’s Gazelles and Speke’s Pectinator, and a just missed Dibatag. ...
Manas NP, Assam: A Trip Report from a visit in December 2019
A visit to Manas in December last year – one of those scenic national parks that straddle the rich floodplains of a Himalayan River (Manas in this case) and the biodiverse Eastern Himalayas – was productive for commoner mammals of the region, but none of the local specialities that...
Malay weasels at Kinabalu HQ
So what is left to do during these times, other than Facebook-stalk people who live in megadiverse habitats, or Facebook info-sharing groups of places I wish I could visit now… Well, here’s my week’s finding: remember when Jon Hall was at Mt. Kinabalu the first time, he saw a...
Listing website iGoTerra adopts the global mammalwatching.com taxonomy
iGoTerra offers a wide range of tools to manage lists, observations, photos and trips that are particularly interesting for the mammal watching community. To name a few, Observation diary presents the list of the species seen on a particular day with photos when available, a map featuring the observations...
New Trip Report: Remote Sulawesi
Here’s another fascinating report from Carlos Bocos. Remote Sulawesi, 2019: Carlos Bocos, 3 weeks & 34 species including Stripe-faced Fruit Bat, Pallas’s Tube-nosed Fruit Bat, Tarsiers and Talaud, Peleng and Sulawesi Cuscus. Jon
Help with identification of a hare in Kruger NP
Can anyone please help me identify this hare photographed in northern Kruger National Park on 16 Dec 2013? It has a remarkably well-marked face pattern (like Riverine Rabbit?) Thank you Héctor
Eurasian Lynx
I recently had a nice sighting of European Lynx near Basel, Switzerland. It showed itself for about an hour down to 5 meters. For a time, it was hooted at by two Tawny Owls. Unfortunately, next day it was no longer to be found. Videos are linked here: Videos;...
New Trip Report: The Moluccas
Here’s a report I was looking forward to: it is not often a report comes in that includes so many species I haven’t seen. The Moluccas, 2019: Carlos Bocos, 3 weeks & 26 + species including Northern Common Cuscus, Blue-eyed Cuscus, and some nice bats including North Moluccas, Seram,...
Animal Droppings from Spain for ID
Hi all, Jonny Hodgson sent me these poo pics and wondered what species dropped them. I thought maybe a hedgehog, a large lizard or maybe a large amphibian … all of which are in the area. Perhaps even a bird? Anyone know? He wrote “We live in Extremadura in...
[…] the new site. If you don’t remember your password then request a new one when you login at mammalwatching.com and – if the password reset email doesn’t arrive – check your spam […]
[…] so there are many resources to help you plan your trip: visit birding web sites and the Mammal Watching blog for help. You can even book organized birding tours with expert […]
[…] is certainly growing – in no small part due to Jon Hall. He runs a Mammal Watching web site and blog filled with trip reports, new sightings and […]
[…] Where to See: Marbled polecats are widely distributed from eastern Europe to western China, but seem most common in the steppe and aridlands of Central Asia. But they’re not easy to find. Mammal watching master Jon Hall spotted one in Mongolia, and other enthusiasts occasionally report sightings on the Mammal Watching forum. […]
[…] Where to See: Marbled polecats are widely distributed from eastern Europe to western China, but seem most common in the steppe and aridlands of Central Asia. But they’re not easy to find. Mammal watching master Jon Hall spotted one in Mongolia, and other enthusiasts occasionally report sightings on the Mammal Watching forum. […]
Hello blog,
I wish to organize a 10-day stay in Nepal in mid-February 2020 with my family (including two of my boys aged 12 and 14). I would like to visit the Chitwan National Park first and then move towards either the Bardia Park or a trek in the Langtang Valley.
So I have several questions: on Chitwan, do you know a good guide or good lodge to organize a stay of 3/4 days accés mainly on the mammals watching?
On Langtang, I would like to organize a trek to try to see the red panda and the Himalayan Thar. Do you know an agency or specialized guide in Nepal to offer a trek of 3 days in this zone?
Do you know if the Red Panda is visible in the Langtang area?
The trip will be organized around mid-February and I do not know if the valley is passable at this time?
If this is not the case, I will move towards a 3-day stay in Bardia Park. Here again, do you know a guide or a lodge that specializes in mammals?
I’m a little afraid that Chitwan and Bardia are quite similar in wildlife. For that I will first of all go towards the possibility of Langtang.
I am interested in any information.
Thank you in advance.
Best regards.
Philippe Paraire
[…] is certainly growing – in no small part due to Jon Hall. He runs a Mammal Watching web site and blog filled with trip reports, new sightings and […]