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Teddy Walliker, Bangalore (2026)

23/02/2025

In my opinion, pintails are such elegant ducks. They are large and almost carry an air of superiority with them. 🦆

What I didn’t realise about pintails until a few years back is quite how migratory they are, and furthermore just how vast their wintering range is. I was next to a lake in central Bangalore (India), surrounded by built up urban habitats. As I scanned I saw species such as red-knobbed coot, pink-backed pelican and painted stork, when something caught my eye, something oddly familiar... in the same sightline as a pelican, a group of northern pintail floated into view!? A bird that I usually see in Aldenham country park around the corner from my house! 🪺🪶

Moments like these really serve as a reminder of just how impressive the migratory journeys of many birds are. Indeed the birds I was looking at were unlikely to be the same I had seen in the park near my house, but they are far more likely to have undergone a journey of a similar distance. Pintails ringed in Japan have been recorded in the USA, and a bird ringed in Canada was recovered in the UK just 9 days later! 🇮🇳🦚

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10/01/2025

Black-necked grebe was, and to an extent still is a bogey bird for me. By which I mean that I struggled to find this, the most common grebe species globally, for many years despite many efforts. To give myself some credit, black-necked grebes are certainly not common in the UK. However, to further discredit myself, I did manage to see the much rarer slavonian and red-necked grebes without much effort well before I managed black-necked. Such is life with wildlife watching that things can just show up, whether it be your intention or not, and sometimes all at once! That’s exactly what happened on this occasion. I happened upon a wintering individual in a sheltered lagoon during a fairly hungover walk in Cornwall. Then a few months later I saw ~4 individuals in breeding plumage in the north of France! What beautiful creatures they are when in breeding plumage too! 🦆 🇫🇷

Aaanyway, I guess the takeaway message from this anecdote is: even if you are struggling to find something, keep at it, because after long enough, it becomes inevitable? 😤⚒️😮‍💨

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26/12/2024

When I think of winter birds or even just winter wildlife in the UK, one of the first things that spring to mind are ducks and other birds associated with water. Especially in my home county of Hertfordshire, ducks are arguably our main desirable avian commodity for birdwatchers. I couldn’t wait for storm Darragh to subside so I could get out and about again. 🌨️

I thought I would start this row with a duck you won’t find in Hertfordshire, or any inland areas of the UK for that matter: Common Eider. 🦌

They are the largest duck species in Europe and they need this bulk because they inhabit frigid and rough seas at high latitudes. They are further equipped to survive these harsh environments by their famously insulated feathers. ‘Eider down’ feathers are used to insulate their nests. However, these are also much sought after by humans for bedding (nowadays sustainably after the chicks have fledged the nest). ☃️🛌

So where to see Eider? They can be found all along the British coastline, particularly in winter. In some places they aren’t hard to find at all because they are sociable and can form large rafts of many ducks. Common Eider is the county bird of Northumberland, and the coastline there is a great place to find them! ⚓️

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24/10/2024

The last in this Uganda row is a bird that I am very fond of, but admittedly it isn’t the most flashy bird I saw on the trip. 🇺🇬

The Hirundines are one of my favourite bird families. Its members are small, charming, impressive aerial acrobats which hunt for small insects on the wing, and therefore are quite obliging in terms of views. Barn swallows hold a particular sentimental place in my heart because their arrival in the UK is a herald of spring. 🪰

White-headed saw-wings have a particularly smart and fairly unique plumage pattern. You don’t always need fluorescent colours to stand out! On top of this, they remind me a bit of Wan Shi Tong from Avatar: the last airbender (one of my favourite shows), which certainly only added to their appeal for me! 🌴🪶🪺

No pictures of the Saw-wings but swipe for a vid of cool termite defensive behaviour and others bits and bobs. 🍃 🐜 💨

22/10/2024

After the action packed portion of our trip in which we travelled through pristine forests looking for snakes and chimps, returning to the city of Entebbe felt a bit less exciting by comparison. 🦎

After sadly parting ways with our fantastic tour operator Alphar, we had a bird walk around the Entebbe Botanical Gardens. We were shown around by the charismatic Brite, the only bird guide I’ve met who didn’t bother with binoculars. Sure enough, there was method in the madness as he helped us find a bounty of charismatic species. In fact, despite looking like nothing more than a Kew Gardens equivalent slapped into the middle of Africa, it turned out to be one of the finest birdwatching locations of the trip. Furthermore, the gardens provide one’s best chance to see some rare species, in particular, the endangered African Grey Parrot! 🦜

Not long into the walk we came across a big target of mine. The world’s only ‘vegetation bird of prey’! The striking Palm-nut Vulture! Calling them vegetarian isn’t strictly true but the vast majority of their diet is made up of the Raffia palm nuts which they are named after.

Another thing about the botanical gardens is that they are swarming with spiders (or were when we were there at least). Whilst admiring a Kite spider I looked down to see a slither of neon green darting into the bushes. Instinct kicked in and after a couple nips, I had it in hand. The stunning and aptly named Emerald Snake! 🐍

After we left the gardens, Simi and I kicked back and had a couple of sundowners as we watched Spotted-necked otters hunting in the shallows of Lake Victoria. This day had everything!? This was my third species of Otter for my life. Some of you are aware of my thoughts on mustelids, which is quite simply that they are the best mammals. Some cities are a haven for wildlife just as much as they are for people. Thank you Entebbe. 🦦🇺🇬🦅

**ping **petology **p **pingtheglobe

18/10/2024

When you become an obsessive nerd to the extent that I am, you will likely commit vast amounts of time to pouring over Field Guides and trip reports. I find it very exciting, however I can just as happily admit that some people would consider it to be an incredibly dull way to spend one’s time.

Anyways, the point I am getting at is this... Sometimes you notice a disconnect between field guides and trip reports. Some species present in field guides seem to hardly, if ever, get found during trips. I found this to be the case with a tiny but charming collection of birds native to Africa called ‘Flufftails’ (genus ).

Flufftails, in shape, are like if you crossed a Moorhen with a Quail... and then made the Quail even smaller. This is one thing that makes them so hard to find, their size. Secondly, they tend to stay on the ground and inhabit habitats which are very easy to hide in (e.g. dense reedbeds or gloomy rainforest thickets). Thirdly, if the previous stipulations didn’t make finding them hard enough, they are incredibly shy.

Uganda is home to not one, but four species of Flufftail. ‘Challenge accepted’ I thought when preparing for the trip. My best bet was in the famous Bigodi swamp (1st 📸), however despite our efforts and the guide even using playback... no sign of a Flufftail. I didn’t feel too disappointed because I knew how unrealistic the task was...

However, multiple days later when relaxing at Nkima forest lodge just outside of Entebbe, I hear a distinct series of one-note calls! I pegged it down the hill to the swampiest part of the forest and waited, and searched, and just as I was about to give up a tiny polka dotted bird with an orange head walked into a clearing. I don’t often use this term with wildlife, but I was adorable. He stuck around for all of 3 seconds, but made my day! 🐦🪶🪺🥺

27/07/2024

Third and finally, if the horned frog isn’t Southeast Asia’s most iconic frog, this one surely is: Wallace’s Flying frog. One of the most fascinating examples of convergent evolution is how many typically ‘non-flying’ animals (e.g. squirrels, snakes, lizards and frogs) have evolved to glide in the rainforests of southeast Asia. This adaptation allows these creatures to more easily evade predators, catch prey amongst other benefits by allowing them to save time by removing the need to descend to the forest floor (in most cases). Whenever I am in the area, these amazing gliding animals are always high on the list of desirable sightings.

On my trip to southern Thailand with **petology and , we did remarkably well in this task. In fact the only big blank for me was Colugo (David saw one but I missed it). On our final night in Narathiwat, David shone his torch up and excitedly whispered ‘Waaaaallaace!’ and a dream came true.

Named by and after the legendary naturalist Alfred Russell Wallace, these frogs are brilliant in every way. Large, charismatic and fluorescent green with flecks of white, they are undeniably stunning. What’s more, they are fairly unfazed by being grabbed and can be endearingly clumsy. This is because whilst their feet are excellently adapted to climbing, their most notable adaptation is the huge vibrant webbing which spans between their toes! These frogs leap from trees and and the air current spread this webbing allowing them to glide great distances! They have been recorded gliding 50 feet between trees! A truly superb frog. 🐸🌿💚

**ping **petology **p **pingtheglobe

**petology

23/07/2024

The second frog is an iconic Southeast Asian species: Long-nosed horned frog (Megophrys nasuta).

The most immediately impressive thing about these frogs is their camouflage. I say ‘immediately’, but in actual fact, for this exact reason, finding one can be a bit of a mission. In fact, my first attempts at finding this species on a visit to Borneo all resulted in failure. The thing that compounded these frustrations is that despite being visibly cryptic, they don’t exactly hide their presence audibly... Indeed at times it can feel like they are taunting you with their distinctive mono-syllabic ‘CLANG!’ calls erupting from every direction whilst you see no sign of them. Interestingly horned frogs are very sensitive to changes in barometric pressure, and so their calls often intensify immediately before the onset of heavy rains!

If all that didn’t make finding one hard enough, horned frogs are so confident in their camouflage that they often don’t flee even if you walk right up to them (especially the larger individuals). This also helps them because (unsurprisingly) they are ambush predators. They feed on whatever walks in front of them and can fit in their very large mouths!

So how do you find one? Well you can gradually sneak up to one you hear calling slowly and in the darkness... However this hasn’t worked very well for me. They do produce a low, reddish eye-shine from torches. This is a great way of finding larger specimens! All in all, from my experience where they are found they are usually not uncommon so time spent searching combined with a bit of luck never hurts either! 🍂🫣🍁

**ping **petology **p **pingtheglobe

**petology

30/04/2024

The third snakey post includes the rest of the snakes I saw during my visit to sungai wain in Borneo. These were the first 4 species we found during our stay (again my keelback identification has improved since...). Most notable of these finds was the iconic reticulated python, the world's longest snake species! The one we found was only a small juvenile however, but no less beautiful! What isn't obvious from internet photos is the iridescent coat to their scales which reflects all colours on the spectrum. An unforgettable encounter with an iconic species! 🇮🇩🌏🐍
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**ping **p **petology **pingtheglobe

25/04/2024

Next row will be more snakes. Asian snakes to be more specific. First up is a page from when I went to Borneo during my third year at University in 2017. Rather frighteningly I realise that this was 7 years ago... However, this page is a pleasant reminder of not only how much my painting ability has improved, but also how far my identification skills have come since then. To be honest, upon reflection in the years since I think I misidentified some of the many snakes I was lucky enough to find in Borneo. This 'Red-necked keelback' we briefly saw swimming was probably in actuality a triangle keelback (Xenochrophis trianguligerus) and the slug-eater was probably the more common Pareas carinatus). These incredible snakes were found during a brief stay in Sungai wain forest. In all we found 8 species over a handful of nights, the other four will be shown in an upcoming post... Stay tuned and swipe for pics! 🐌🌴🐍
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Thank you to and for their help navigating the rainforest 🌿
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**ping **p **petology **pingtheglobe

Teddy Walliker

23/02/2025

10/01/2025

26/12/2024

24/10/2024

22/10/2024

18/10/2024

27/07/2024

23/07/2024

30/04/2024

25/04/2024

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