Gear Review: Pulsar XQ50 Thermal Imaging Scope
Several mammalwatchers have recently expressed an interest in buying a thermal imaging scope and I had promised to post a review of the scope I bought in March. This is below. But – if you know as little as I did about this a few months ago – I think...
New (old) Trip Report: Kazakhstan
Here’s a last report from Vladimir Dinets on his travels through central Asia in the late 1980s. Kazakhstan, 1987-92: Vladimir Dinets, several trips & many species mentioned include Steppe Polecat, Corsac Fox, Asian Badger and Piebald Shrew. Jon
Seeing Colugo in peninsular Malaysia
Dear all I’m planning a trip to peninsular Malaysia next year. I’m keen to see colugo, a species that I’ve never seen despite having spent about ten months in south-east Asia. A dig around the internet suggests that Langwaki is the best place to see them. Does anyone know...
New Trip Report: Madagascar
Samuel Marlin is back from 3 weeks in Madagascar and saw a lot of cool mammals. Madagascar, 2017: Samuel Marlin, 3 weeks & 38 species including Fosa, Fanaloka, Ring-tailed & Narrow-striped Mongooses and (semi-wild) Aye-ayes. Jon
Trip Reports: Uzbekistan & Kyrgyzstan
Here are two more reports from Vladimir Dinets of his travels around the former USSR 30 or so years ago. Kyrgyzstan, 1989-90: Vladimir Dinets’s notes of various trips with species including Snow Leopard and Lynx. Uzbekistan, 1988-92: Vladimir Dinets’s notes of various trips with species including various rodents and...
2 questions
Dear All, I’ll be in Auckland, NZ for a week in late October. Any tips on wildlife spots within 2 hrs drive from the city? Birds, bats, herps, inverts – everything. Also, any local contacts will be appreciated. In late June-early July 2018 I’ll be guiding a 2-week trip...
New Trip Report: Slovenia & Croatia
Here’s a report from Ralf Bürglin who combined a vacation in Slovenia with a Discover Dinarics bear study tour. Slovenia and Risnjak NP, 2017: Ralf Bürglin, 10 days & 15 species including Brown Bears, Beech Marten and Mediterranean Horseshoe Bat. Jon
New World deer phylogeny down
Everything you thought you knew about New World deer was wrong, according to a new paper. It’s mtDNA-based, but some conclusions are unlikely to be changed by future nDNA studies. One of those is that there are at least 4 species in Odocoileus.
Country Report: Tajikistan
Here’s another report from Vladimir Dinets, about a country I would love to visit. Tajikistan, 88-91: Vladimir Dinets, several trips & species include Marco Polo Sheep, Markhor and some nice bats and rodents. Jon
Amur leopard new dates and prices
Hi again, I have now sold the previously advertised Amur leopard photography tour to Kedorova Pad National Park in Russia for Feb (12th – 20th) 2018. We now have news dates available , we have one booking currently on the following dates 24th February – 4th March 2018. For...
Thermal camera
Hi To make wildlife watching a bit easier at night I am thinking about getting myself a thermal camera. Any ideas of a good model? Cheers Tobi
what is this?
What is this?
New (old) Trip Reports: Georgia and Turkmenistan
Here are two more notes from Vladimir Dinets on his experience in the 1980s looking for mammals in the former USSR. Georgia, 1980s: Vladimir Dinets’ notes of visits to the coutry with species including various Pine Voles, Shrews and Birch Mice. Turkmenistan, 1980s: Vladimir Dinets’ notes of visits to the...
Borneo Trip – Need Additional People
Hi all. We are planning a return trip to Borneo next April/May. We are organizing the trip through AA Borneo again since they did such a great job last trip. My wife and I are looking for 2 to 3 more people to join us so that we can lower...
New Trip Report: Hungary & Slovakia
Steve Morgan had a successful trip through Hungary and Slovakia last month chasing bats and small mammals. Hungary and Slovakia, 2017: Steve Morgan, 9 days & 30 species including European Hamster, Forest Dormouse, Western Barbastelle and a Parti-coloured Bat. Jon
New Trip Report: Western USA, 2017
Here’s a very impressive list of species from Romain Bocquier’s recent trip through the West. Western USA, 2017: Romain Bocquier, 40 days & 84 species including Hooded Skunk, Fisher and Banner-tailed Kangaroo Rat. Jon
New (old) reports: Azerbaijan & Armenia
Vladimir Dinets is feeling nostaglic for the late 1980s it seems .. and has sent through several notes on countries from his travels through the disintegrating USSR back then. Here are the first two Armenia, 1988-1990: Vladimir Dinets’ notes of sites there with species including Lesser Rock Shrew and Syrian...
Drills in Cameroon and beyond?
Does anyone know whether there are reliable spots in Cameron for Drills? Or elsewhere (other than Bioko Island)? thanks Jon
New Trip Report: Alaska, Spring 2016
Thank you to Ben Schwienhart for sending this detailed trip report through from Cloud Birders: although it was a birding trip, Ian Merrill saw plenty of mammals. Alaska, 2016: Ian Merrill, 17 days & 29 species including Polar Bear, Tundra Vole, Spotted & Northern Fur Seals and Muskox. Jon
RFI: Taylor Creek (Tahoe) bears
I was interested in heading up to look for black bears at Taylor Creek for the fall kokanee salmon run this October. Has anyone here gone? What time of the month is best? Should I be looking around the visitor center or are there other spots where I’m more...
Javan Rhino Expedition 2018 – Now Available
Royle Safaris is proud to annouce our new expedition style tour for 2018, we have negogiated the permits needed to bring a small group of mammal watchers (maximum 4 people) on a specialist Javan rhino focused trip. The trip has some provisional dates in place and if you are...
RFI: Pumas and Torres del Paine NP
Greetings, I am on sabbatical this semester (woohoo!!) and I have decided that I really really want to search for pumas. It looks like Torres del Paine is the most well-known location. I poked around on the forum already and am interested in any additional information anyone can tell...
New Trip Report: Northern Spain, 2017
Here’s a new report from Matt and Maureen Steer just back from the beautiful north of Spain. Northern Spain, 2017: Matt and Maureen Steer, 4 days & 9 species including Wild Cat, Wolf and Pyrenean Chamois. Jon
New Trip Report: Bolivia, 2017
Here’s another report from Bolivia: good to see more people visiting this emerging and exciting destination. Bolivia, 2017: Félix Serrano López, 2 weeks & 26 species including Three-banded Armadillo, White-eared Titi, Tapir, Ocelot and Tayra. Jon
Trip Report: France and Spain
I went to a conference in Barcelona in July, so I planned a week of mammal-watching in France and Spain. I spent an additional week traveling with my girlfriend in France, and I was able to fit in one day of mammal-watching in the Vercors Massif in the Alps....
New Trip Report: Zambia Batwatch Trip, 2016
Here’s a report from Fiona Reid’s trip to Zambia last year. Some useful info on some bat sites plus a few non-chiropteran mammals too. Zambia, 2016: Fiona Reid, 11 days with species including Myotis welwitschii, Lord Derby’s Anomalure and a Water Mongoose. Jon
Best Mammal Watching Experience
First post so here goes – Best mammal watching experience recently with my 10 yr old grand-daughter who was staying for a week on the Gold Coast. Picked her up from Brisbane airport and drove to Toondah Harbour where we met up with local volunteers who are tracking Koala. We...
range map of the 3 flying squirrels in North America
Arbogast et alia have published an excellent article titled “Genetic Data Reveal a Cryptic Species of New World Flying Squirrel.” (Journal of Mammology, Aug 2017 issue, pp 1027 to 1041.) As already was previewed on this site, the two North American flying squirrels are now three — or as...
New Trip Report: Sri Lanka
Here’s another spectacularly successful Sri Lankan trip, this time from Tobi Lundqvist or who did really well in 2 weeks despite pursuing a “balanced” itinerary! Sri Lanka, 2017: Tobi Lundqvist, 12 days & 63 species including Fishing and Rusty-spotted Cats, Leopard, Brown and Golden Palm Civets, Sloth Bear and...
Best Mammal Watching Experience
A couple of months ago I was chatting with Mac Hunter (of the legendary Borneo 2016 trip which scored Clouded Leopard, Marbled Cat and Pangolin) and Charles Foley (the original Big Mammal Day-er). We were comparing our favourite mammal watching experiences and they encourage me to collect other stories from...
New Trip Report: Bolivian Chaco
I would love to get to Bolivia, all the more so after reading Jean Dille’s report. Bolivian Chaco, 2017: Jean Dille, 5 days & 10 species including Puma, Jaguarundi, Ocelot and Jaguars. Not bad for 5 days!
Trip Report: Wet Tropics, July 2017
This is the trip report of my 2 mammal watching days in the Wet Tropics, Queensland. Trip report PDF: Mammal watching Atherton 2017 SPECIES LIST: Platypus (Ornithorhynchus anatinus) Northern Brown Bandicoot (Isoodon macrourus) Long-nosed Bandicoot (Permeles nasuta) *Musky Rat-kangaroo (Hypsiprymnodon moschatus) Agile Wallaby (Notamacropus agilis) *Mareeba Rock-wallaby (Petrogale Mareeba) Red-legged...
Three days around Manaus
With Jon Hall, Charles Hood, Marcelo Henrique Marcos, Jose Gabriel Martinez, Amber Melhouse, Judy Parrish, Micah Riegner, Hari & Venkat Sankar, Ian Thompson and Phil Telfer. In late June 2017 I stepped off the wonderful M.V Dorinha in Manaus after our 2 week Amazon mega cruise with another four days left before...
New Trip Report: Azores, 2017
An interesting report from Michael Kessler’s trip to the Azores: despite bad weather he saw some great cetaceans. Azores, 2017: Michael Kessler, 2 weeks (and 5 boat trips) with 12 species including Sei, Bryde’s and Sperm Whales, Sowerby’s Beaked Whale and Atlantic Spotted Dolphins. Jon
Time in Peru
Hello There I have a question regarding where to best look for mammals in Peru. I have about 5 days Puerto Maldonado in October and was wondering whether I should try to stay there and try to look for wildlife from torus in that town or whether I should...
New Trip Report: Manaus area
Here’s a short report from Venkat Sankar about the couple of days he spent around Manaus before we got on the boat for our mega cruise. Manaus, 2017: Venkat Sankar, 2 days & 13 species including Golden-faced Saki, Tayra and Southern Tamandua. Jon
New Trip Report: Namibia, Botswana & Zambia, 2016
Namibia, Botswana and Zambia, 2016: Wise Birding, 18 days & 55 species including Brown Hyena, Caracal, Wild Dog and Bushveld Sengi. Jon
New Trip Report: Northern California, 2016
Northern California, 2016: Wise Birding, 10 days & 30 species including Northern Fur Seal and Baird’s Beaked Whale. Jon
New Trip Report: Gabon, 2017
Here’s a really nice report from a country I want to visit …e ven more so after reading this, and seeing some of Mogens’s spectacular Mandrill pictures. Gabon in 2018 anyone? Gabon, 2017: Mogens Trolle, 2 weeks & 21 species including Mandrill, Lowland Gorilla, Chimpanzee, Grey-cheeked Mangabey, Congo Clawless Otter...
Taiwan, 2017
Until the middle of 2016 Taiwan was mysteriously absent from trip reports. Here was an island, with a bunch of endemics, that no one seemed to visit for the mammals. I assumed – quite wrongly it turns out – that the mammals must be very hard to see. And then...
