An American birder in France - Part 1, birding in a town south of Paris

[@olenskafanboy]

Birding in a new environment, especially a different region or continent, is so invigorating and fun. I've done some birding (like you snuck it in on a trip that primarily entailed other stuff) in Berlin and so have seen some of the birds in your video. Looking forward to seeing part II.

[@RogersBirdingHotspots]

Another cool video. Great timing too I’m off to Paris next year so hopefully see some of the species you saw.

[@JT_Birder]

Thanks! Enjoy your trip - wishing you many lifers.

[@hstein27]

Loved the green woodpecker and crested grebe!

[@JT_Birder]

Thanks, Harris. Those were cool birds, there aren’t many green birds outside the tropics.

[@northerngail0385]

Surprised at how many birds you were able to ID in that park! Can't wait to see what you find in Paris. Definitely taking my field glasses with me and "merlin" next time I travel.

[@francesT5877]

Remember to install the relevant bird pack for the area you’re travelling to on Merlin before you go, it is a great help

[@JT_Birder]

Never travel without your bins!

[@JT_Birder]

@@francesT5877that’s a good tip, you often don’t have good internet when traveling

[@jrosealmendras88]

Watching here .some birds pretty and nice Congratulations enjoy travel❤❤

[@JT_Birder]

Thanks for watching!

[@peterlittle6651]

I am slowly catching up on your back catalogue, all the videos are very good and remind me of how I started last year. I am doing more on the sound front though and I wondered your five hundred lens do you find the fixed focal length restrictive.

[@JT_Birder]

Hi Peter, thanks for the kind words. I have the 100-500 zoom lens which I much prefer to a fixed focal length. Although at least 80% of the time I am racked out to 500 mm when photographing birds.

[@kennethnoble8139]

I enjoyed that even though I live in the UK and see nearly all of those birds frequently - the firecrest is the exception. You did well to capture some of the smaller birds as they can be pretty jumpy, e.g. the wren. I would like to say a word of caution about Merlin. It is good but not perfect. I'm sure it will improve as more sound recordings get added for the AI to work on but I've seen the odd idiosyncrasy. For example, I was listening to a really loud Nightingale and Merlin told me that it was a Blackcap (a small warbler), although it did eventually correct itself. You are right about the bar-headed geese but they are a long way from their native range. I believe that they have the highest migration of any birds as they cross the Himalayas. I think I also noticed a Chinese goose among the Greylags. These introduced birds sometimes interbreed and you can get some odd-looking hybrids. (The Greylags are not really wild but descended from domesticated geese. But most birders count them as they breed in the wild.)

[@JT_Birder]

Thanks for the useful comments, Kenneth. I agree 100% about Merlin, it will occasionally get something wrong and if you walk around with it running the sound of your footsteps will eventually make something silly show up on the screen. The bar headed geese are certainly way out of range and I am still curious how they came to be established in that area.

[@badexperience3178]

@@JT_Birder great video, really enjoyed it, I am based in the UK too. I noticed Swan Goose on that pond as well as the others, @5.30 in the video. We see occasional Bar-headed Geese and Black Swans, they are thought of as 'ornamental' birds, i.e. from collections or visitor attractions, so the average UK birder would count Canada and Greylag as common naturalised breeders [or not, some don't] but the other 2 are much more scarce and thought of as 'exotic'. They have sometimes literally escaped from a captive setting or they are breeding in a random location somewhere. On mainland Europe it might be different, each country has its own position on the status of birds, not sure if eBird references this or not though, but in the UK you can't count Bar-headed if you want to follow the 'official' country list and status

[@JT_Birder]

@ Thanks, that is interesting. Here in the US eBird and the ABA are pretty much aligned on what is countable, especially since eBird revamped their method of treating exotics a few years ago.

[@badexperience3178]

@@JT_Birder eBird hasn't become so dominant in the UK yet, a lot of birders don't use it, mainly older ones I think who are still using notebooks! Birders are a funny lot anyway... Your channel is very good, I should have said that in my first comment, I really enjoy your style and the footage is very good

[@brighteyedbirding]

Great video JT! Got some cool birds on camera in this one!

[@JT_Birder]

Thanks Jordan, always fun to bird in a new location!

[@MorkVonOrk11]

The Bar-headed Goose fits in the same category as the Black Swan : Exotic, not countable. Both breed in Western Europe but we consider them as escapes...

[@JT_Birder]

@@MorkVonOrk11 Thanks for the info. I just go with eBird in terms of what’s countable, and at the moment they consider Bar-headed Goose to have the same naturalized status as Canada Goose.

[@rgdodson]

I enjoyed this video very much. I am interested in what sort of camera you use. Do you only use 1 camera to film when you are out birding? Are you taking both video and still pictures with the same camera? Finally, when you are filming yourself, do you have the camera on a "selfie stick"?

[@JT_Birder]

Thank you! I film bird video and stills with a Canon R7. I film myself with my iPhone and a short selfie stick.

[@peterlittle6651]

Do you record your bird sound direct to mobile or do you use a microphone as well. Thanks

[@JT_Birder]

Bird sounds are recorded by my Canon R7 birding camera, using a Rode Video Micro microphone that attaches to the camera.

[@peterlittle6651]

@@JT_Birder Thanks JT.