More amazing news from the Aberdeen Mandarin Well folks, here's the latest mind-boggling episode on the life and times of 'Mac' our local celebrity drake Mandarin Duck! Following a...

Shades of ‘Mac the Mandarin’ grampianringing.blogspot.com/2016/04/more...

Definitely of interest! Really great that we have these areas of ‘constant effort’ to help answer questions like this! Thanks. Would be interesting to see a similar dataset for the Scillies.

Hello Alan! Yes - if you signed up to the conference you will receive a link to the recordings next week I believe. If you didn’t sign up then let me know and I will forward it on (just don’t get me into trouble with SOC for doing so!)

And more great stuff to come tonight…

Thanks again for all of the support Steve. Two really great, totally different but totally complementary talks tonight.

Thanks for the feedback Steve and really glad you enjoyed it.

Still time to sign up for this today! But don’t wait, the sign-up form will go down before the end of the week #BirdingScotland

Yeah I agree. I think with the number of gulls that were along the beach earlier there could easily be two around, but it’s not possible to say with these pics.

I think you could make a reasonable case for these being different birds! Not sure you could be sure, but it looked different when I saw it....

A few more photos of this bird today, from about a km up the beach in Aberdeen bay. Not sure they add much that will change the outcome but the primary pattern is clear here.

We're delighted to be celebrating 90 years of the SOC with a talk, Q+A & book signing from wildlife cameraman, author & TV presenter, Hamza Yassin. Don’t miss this inspiring celebration! Book your place to be part of this milestone event in our history. Tickets: £10 - £20. See tinyurl.com/3ab3ujw2

#BirdingScotland

Great news from the SOC that loads of folks are already signed up to join us at the end of February. I don’t think there’s a limit to numbers so it’s not too late to sign up now too!

Come and hear more from the author about the birds behind this book at the free online SOC/SBRC conference in February! www.the-soc.org.uk/pages/event/...

Just like permanently having ear-binoculars. Sounds good to me!

Scottish Birds Records Committee Online Conference The SOC

You can sign up here: www.the-soc.org.uk/pages/event/.... Sign up once for all three nights and dip in and out as you please. For FREE. Did I mention that? You do not need to be an SOC member or based in Scotland to join. All welcome! #BirdingScotland #RareBirdsUK #UKbirding

Alex Lees - Global change and the future of vagrancy

Ross Ahmed - North American landbirds in Scotland and beyond...

Mark Lewis – What's first next?

Ok, so the ending might be a bit of a damp squib…. But there should be plenty there to keep birders from Scotland, the UK and Europe interested in!

Paul Dufour - Why lost birds matter: What the study of vagrancy can reveal about bird migration

Dave Douglas - Finding rare birds on Scotland's underwatched frontiers, illustrated by 15 years on Sanday

Niall Keogh - Birds on a Boat

The line up of speakers and talks looks like this:

Ian Andrews - Fair Isle Bird Observatory: revelations from a million records collected over 75 years

Scott Reid - Madeiran Monsoon: Two years of the Challenger Expedition

Alan Lauder - Trends in migrant birds on the Isle of May

Christmas can be an expensive time of year, so how about something for free?

The @scottishbirding.bsky.social and Scottish Birds Records Committee are hosting a FREE online conference over the evenings of February 24th to the 26th. Three talks per night and some real belters among them.

Sono looks good for OBP. Reaches 8 kHz and less modulation than in tree pip.

For any bird recorders who want to easily convert eBird data into a more recorder friendly format

It was never me processing the data, but I think the intention was that once amalgamated, records would be assessed (where necessary) in the normal way.

It was developed by @d.bradnum@bluesky.social . I reckon he’ll be a much better person to ask about it!

But even if they can’t effect that much change on the recording scene overwhelmingly everything else they do is worthy of support. Glad you decided to stick with it - from someone who had a similar wobble, let my membership lapse and then re-joined!

Completely agree with Steve’s assessment. SOC is a force for good, bringing county recorders together for meetings being a great example. What SOC can achieve in this area is really limited as ultimately recorders can do whatever they want (and not all are affiliated with SOC.

Hi Jared, the conversion tool you talk about does exist - converting eBird data to BirdTrack and recorder friendly things like grid refs, Uk naming conventions etc. I think in Borders the issue is a personal dislike of eBird/loyalty to the BTO and BirdTrack. Not much else to it, unfortunately.

Awful pics, but any thoughts on what these two dark hybrids are? Barnacle crossed with something, obvs…

Ooooof. My only record was in late September too. One I thought might remain a blocker for a while…

You’ll be glad when they’re no longer description spp!