About DaleForbes

I have always felt at home in nature. She has always been there for me. I started birdwatching as a young kid. Then got in to ornithology. Then more conservation biology. I grew as a birder, loving it more with every day.

I now work for Swarovski Optik making awesome toys for birders (product/marketing manager) and am an obsessed digiscoper. My inability to look at birds as a collection of specific ID features, seems to be a downfall which means I will never be a great birder. But I really do love it.

Dale also writes a regular post at 10,000 Birds every second Tuesday.

What Spiderhunter is this?

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Whilst visiting Khao Sok National Park in southern Thailand last year, we found a Spiderhunter which exceeded my rather humble abilities to identify Asian birds. It was my first trip […]

Spain, the EL50 and me

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My life has recently been dominated by the launch of the new Swarovski EL50 Swarovision binoculars and all the million small details that need to be taken care of. This […]

new virtual Birding Game

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So the basic idea of the Birding Game is that you can go virtual birding, click on the bird silhouettes and be presented with a bird photo which you need […]

Interview with the Digiscoper of the Year 2010

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The results for the Swarovski Digiscoper of the Year 2010 competition have just been announced: https://digiscoperoftheyear.com/ This year’s winner is the biologist Óscar J. González Hernández, of Salamanca in Spain, […]

hornbills and other silly birds

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I heard a story once. It is probably a load of bull, but the story went that when the first naturalists brought toucans back from the new world, the academy […]

Long-legged Buzzard twitching mega rarity

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“Is this really a Long-legged Buzzard?” was the question from Reinhard Hölzl, a friend and local photographer (check out Reinhard’s website here) with two photos attached to the message (top […]

African Christmas Colours

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Africa’s is not all zebras and lions, and steamy hot Christmases, but it also has some stunning colours to show off. Richard’s stunning Christmas Quetzal post got my (and probably […]

The Capercaille

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The Western Capercaille (Tetrao urogallus) is one of the most emblematic birds of the Alps, amongst the people of the Alps, it is probably just behind the Golden Eagle. This […]

Finding Gurney’s Pittas

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Crouched in the undergrowth of a mosquito and leech-filled tropical forest I waited quietly, and patiently, for yet another view of the Gurney’s Pitta. I knew his ritual: every 35-55 […]

Snow Buntings in a suit

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Tirol is a pretty much a winter wonderland – great big pointy Alps, covered in fluffy white snow. Picture book, really. And you would think that with all these great […]

wild Scarlet Macaw personalities

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Scarlet Macaws are really impressive – big, beautiful and raucous. And for three years my life revolved around them. Tough luck, hey? And there was not a moment in which […]

Wallcreepers!!!

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The Wallcreeper has got to be one of the most spectacular and enigmatic of mountain birds. Their appearance, behaviour, feeding, breeding, migration, call… all lend to create an unforgettable and intriguing bird. Rarely seen and very difficult to photograph, there are still massive gaps in our scientific understanding of the Wallcreeper (Tichodroma muraria, Mauerläufer, El treparriscos, Le Tichodrome échelette, Il picchio muraiolo). I have now taken tens of thousands of photos of the Wallcreepers here in this region, and they continue to stun me every time I see them.