Marian’s 2008 Year List

[madamcoolpix]

I start my Year List every year but I always fail to finish it. I’ll see if posting it in a thread helps me to keep it updated!

I spent most of my Christmas holidays in Madrid, included New Year’s Eve. But due to familiar duties that had me “locked in”, I’ve not seen my first bird until today!!! :eek!: (How could I stand it??? o:D)

Today I travelled from Madrid to my town (Oviedo) by car and here it starts my Year List.

6 January 2008, motorway Madrid-Oviedo:

1 – House Sparrow (Passer domesticus)
2 – Magpie (Pica pica)
3 – Spotless Starling (Sturnus unicolor)
4 – Carrion Crow (Corvus corone)
5 – Great Cormorant (Phalacrocorax carbo)
6 – Common Buzzard (Buteo buteo)
7 – Red Kite (Milvus milvus)
8 – Common Kestrel (Falco tinnunculus)
9 – Wood Pigeon (Columba palumbus)
10 – Western Jackdaw (Corvus monedula)
11 – White Stork (Ciconia ciconia)
12 – Collared Dove (Streptopelia decaocto)
13 – Rook (Corvus frugilegus)

I saw several more (particularly small birds) but I didn’t added as I wasn’t 100% sure of the ID.

[madamcoolpix]

Today I took a break after my lectures at the University Campus of Viesques, near Gijón (the area where I'm taking my pictures lately). Having a walk among the trees and fields is a delightful way to relax, and here some of the common birds seen during the winter in the area showed up. New for the Year List are:

8 January 2008, Viesques University Campus

14 - Common Blackbird (Turdus merula)
15 - White Wagtail (Motacilla alba alba)
16 - Meadow Pipit (Anthus pratensis)
17 - Mallard (Anas platyrhynchos)
18 - European Robin (Erithacus rubecula)
19 - Song Thrush (Turdus philomelos)
20 - Black-headed Gull (Larus ridibundus)
21 - Lesser Black-backed Gull (Larus fuscus)
22 - Great Tit (Parus major)
23 - Blackcap (Sylvia atricapilla)
24 - Wren (Troglodytes troglodytes)
25 - Grey Wagtail (Motacilla cinerea)

It was a very short walk, had no time for more, but it was quite good. I only regret I couldn't find the Redwings. Where are they??? :-C It was plenty of them before Christmas holiday!

[madamcoolpix]

The weather spoilt a nice walk around the trees after my lectures. I tried to go out with the camera but the gale made me go back home. Frustrating. :storm: Still, I saw a very small bunch of new birds for the Year List:

11 January 2008, Viesques University Campus:

26 - Common Starling (Sturnus vulgaris)
27 - Mediterranean Gull (Larus melanocephalus)
28 - Black Redstart (Phoenicurus ochruros)
29 - European Goldfinch (Carduelis carduelis)
30 - Yellow-legged Gull (Larus cachinnans)

The weather forecast for the weekend and next week is depressing! I wonder when I'll be able to take pictures and do some birdwatching again... :h?:

[madamcoolpix]

Happily, the weather forecast was wrong and we had a sunny (but windy) Sunday morning. I went out early for a walk in the outskirts of Oviedo and had a very pleasant birding time, with almost 30 different birds and some more new for the Year List:

13 January 2008, Oviedo outskirts:

31 - Blue Tit (Parus caeruleus)
32 - Eurasian Jay (Garrulus glandarius)
33 - Firecrest (Regulus ignicapillus)
34 - Long-tailed Tit (Aegithalos caudatus)
35 - Short-toed Treecreeper (Certhia brachydactyla)
36 - Common Stonechat (Saxicola rubicola)
37 - Eurasian Bullfinch (Pyrrhula pyrrhula)
38 - Crag Martin (Ptyonoprogne rupestris)
39 - Chiffchaff (Phylloscopus collybita)
40 - Common Chaffinch (Fringilla coelebs)
41 - Eurasian Siskin (Carduelis spinus)

[madamcoolpix]

After having taken a look at my pictures of last weekend, I've decided to upload some record shots to this thread... to see some images of lovely birds will be more interesting than just names and more names! o:D

Here you have:

1. A convention of Carrion Crows among the twigs.
2. A female Stonechat
3. A Bullfinch... quite shameful but it is my first shot of a Bullfinch, and in the first encounter of the year.
4. A House Sparrow.

From now I'll try to post pictures of the year birds, so I will see how many different I reach at the end!

[madamcoolpix]

On Monday I managed to do some proper birdwatching after my lectures. I had a walk from the University Campus along the canal leading to the beach where the local River ends. It is a different habitat and there I added a few more new birds for the Year List:

14 January 2008: River Piles Canal

42 - Linnet (Acanthis cannabina)
43 - Common Moorhen (Gallinula chloropus)
44 - Ruddy Turnstone (Arenaria interpres)
45 - Common Kingfisher (Alcedo atthis)
46 - Little Egret (Egretta garzetta)
47 - Ringed Plover (Charadrius hiaticula)

Later I’ll add a few pics taken during this walk.

[madamcoolpix]

Here are the pics taken during the walk:

1 - Spotless and Common Starlings foraging together (crappy, but shows the differences!)
2 - Meadow Pipit
3 - Common Kestrel

In a moment more new birds seen that same day.

[madamcoolpix]

After the walk along the Canal, I visited the local Park to look for some wintering birds to add to the list, but only got:

14 January 2008: Parque de Isabel la Católica

48 - Eurasian Coot (Fulica atra)
49 - Tufted Duck (Aythya fuligula)
50 - European Pochard (Aythya ferina)
51 - Grey Heron (Ardea cinerea)

But took quite a number of pics, that I'm posting in a moment.

[madamcoolpix]

Some of the birds wintering in the local Park:

1 - Mediterranean Gull (giving a bow, ;))
2 - Yellow-legged Gull
3 - Eurasian Pochard
4 - Great Cormorant (very relaxed resting by the lake)
5 - Grey Wagatil (not relaxed at all, giving the photographer a tough time!)

[madamcoolpix]

Next day (15 January) I only had time to bird during an hour after my duties. I didn't see any new bird for the list in the University Campus, but took a few pics. Here there are a couple of new birds photographed this year:

1 - White Wagtail
2 - Common Buzzard

[madamcoolpix]

On Sunday, I had a nice walk through the Botanical Gardens of Gijón and added a few new birds to the Year List. There I found the first Woodpeckers of the year… and found out what had happened to the missing Redwings! They are there, probably because it is plenty of berries and they feel safer too, as there are hunters in the fields.

These are the new birds:

16 January 2008: Gijón Botanical Gardens

52 – Redwing (Turdus iliacus)
53 - Green Woodpecker (Picus viridis)
54 - Coal Tit (Parus ater)
55 - Great Spotted Woodpecker (Dendrocopos major)

And here they go a few birds snapped at the Botanical Gardens. I’m particularly happy on getting my first decent Coal Tit and Firecrest, and in a nice setting, as the spruce!

1. Redwing
2. Song Thrush
3. Robin
4. Coal Tit
5. Firecrest

[madamcoolpix]

A few more birds snapped on January the 16th at the Botanical Gardens of Gijón:

1 - Blue Tit
2 - Eurasian Jay
3 - Short-toed Treecreeper

[madamcoolpix]

And a couple of pics taken on January the 22nd at Viesques University Campus: a Blackbird and a pair of Mallards.

[madamcoolpix]

Well, Folks, I’ve been doing proper birding last weekend… finally the results sound a bit exotic! |=)|

On Saturday I visited one of my favourite area for birding around Madrid because of the varied habitats present and the variety of birds found there. It is usually great in spring-summer. But this time, it was excellent even in winter. We saw 40 different species in 3 hours. These are the new birds for the year list:

26 January 2008: Rivas-Vaciamadrid (Madrid outskirts)

56 – Northern Lapwing (Vanellus vanellus)
57 – European Serin (Serinus serinus)
58 – European Greenfinch (Carduelis chloris)
59 – Zitting Cisticola (Cisticola juncidis)
60 – Sardinian Warbler (Sylvia melanocephala)
61 – Blue Rock Thrush (Monticola solitarius)
62 – Northern Shoveler (Anas clypeata)
63 – Dartford Warbler (Sylvia undata)
64 – Purple Swamp-hen (Porphyrio porphyrio)
65 – Little Grebe (Tachybaptus ruficollis)
66 – Cetti’s Warbler (Cettia cetti)
67 – Eurasian Penduline Tit (Remiz pendulinus)
68 – Common Teal (Anas crecca)
69 – Monk Parakeet (Myiopsitta monachus)

As soon as I process my shots I’ll add some pics…

[madamcoolpix]

Well, here they go a few birds from Rivas-Vaciamadrid. Not all pics are as good as I'd like but I doubt I'll have better opportunities for a shot. Still, the birds are perfectly recognizable. Here you have:

1 - White Stork
2 - Spotless Starling
3 - Sardinian Warbler
4 - Blue Rock Thrush

Tomorrow I'll post more... now i'ts late for me and I'm falling asleep on the keyboard! ;)

[madamcoolpix]

And here it goes another set of birds from Rivas-Vaciamadrid:

1 - Penduline Tit
2 - Northern Shoveler
3 - Little Grebe
4 - Eurasian Coot

I have a few more pics, for later...

[madamcoolpix]

And my last set of pictures taken in Rivas-Vaciamadrid:

1 - Long-tailed Tit
2 - Black Redstart
3 - Serin (a lady)

Now I'm going to prepare the stuff of my last birding Sunday!

[madamcoolpix]

On Sunday (January the 27th) we visited another favourite place of ours in the outskirts of Madrid: El Pardo. This is a quite good place for Spanish Imperial Eagle… but it failed this day! Well, next time… (|=)|) Still, the day was quite good and provided for the list:

27 January 2008: El Pardo (Madrid)

70 – Corn Bunting (Miliaria calandra)
71 – Eurasian Tree Sparrow (Passer montanus)
72 – Eurasian Griffon Vulture (Gyps fulvus)
73 – Dunnock (Prunella modularis)
74 – Eurasian Black Vulture (Aegypius monachus)

And here they go a few birds photographed for the first time this year in El Pardo:

1 – Jackdaw (early in the morning)
2 – Monk Parakeet
3 – Eurasian Griffon Vulture
4 – Eurasian Black Vulture

[madamcoolpix]

Today, as it was sunny and quite warm at lunch time, I took a brief break with my camera to see if I could find some Butterflies. I did find the Butterflies (if anybody is interested, please click this link (http://www.birdforum.net/showthread.php?t=106333) for details) and surprisingly I added two birds to the Year List:

5 February 2008: Oviedo outskirts (N Spain)

75 – European Sparrowhawk (Accipiter nisus)
76 – Cirl Bunting (Emberiza cirlus)

And I took a few pictures, with two birds snapped for the first time this year, Magpie and Cirl Bunting (a lady in the shade).

[madamcoolpix]

Last Friday I took a break for lunch and went out with my camera to the coast. There I had an excellent birding and snapping afternoon, I saw about 30 different birds, added two more to the Year List and took pictures of both!

8 February 2008: San Lorenzo Beach, Gijón (N Spain)

77 – Purple Sandpiper (Calidris maritima)
78 – Ring-billed Gull (Larus delawarensis)

Purple Sandpiper is a scarce winter visitor to the area and Ring-billed Gull is a rarity, but this adult seemed to like the area this winter. He comes and disappears and comes back again. I only managed to spot him twice, first time last Christmas (but I couldn’t take pictures) but now I got it! :-O Exceptionally, I’m adding two pictures of this bird, in the second one in flight and in the company of Turnstone, Black-headed Gull and second-winter Mediterranean Gull.

Later I’ll post more pictures taken this day.

[madamcoolpix]

Here they are, a few more new birds snapped during my walk to the coast last Friday: a Moorhen in the canal leading to the beach, a Little Egret foraging in the rocky area of the beach and one of the pedestrian Ruddy Turnstones that use to enjoy the local promenade.

[madamcoolpix]

In the way back last Friday, I visited the local Park to try some other photographs of new birds for the Year List. This is what I got:

1 - A Lessser Black-backed Gull
2 - A Chaffinch stuffing himself
3 - A Black-headed Gull already in breeding plumage.
4 - A couple of Tufted Ducks. I'm happy I've got them before they leave!

[madamcoolpix]

Yesterday, during my lunch break, I visited the Botanical Gardens of Gijón and surroundings. There I got another new bird for the list:

15 February 2008: surroundings of Gijón Botanical Gardens

79 - Peregrine Falcon (Falco peregrinus)

And I took some pictures of other birds. New ones this year are: a female Blackcap, a Goldfinch and a Linnet.

[madamcoolpix]

At last a bit more of proper birdwatching! We were going to spend the weekend in Burgos area (NC Spain) but the weather conditions made us change the plan. On Saturday it was so misty in the planes of Central Spain that decided to visit an area of mudflats in the Northern coast, Santoña (Cantabria Province). In the way to the coast we did some stops that provided some more birds. This is the final account of new birds for the Year List:

23 February 2008: San Felices del Rudrón (Burgos Province)

80 – White-throated Dipper (Cinclus cinclus)

23 February 2008: Pantano del Ebro (Cantabria Province)

81 – Great Crested Grebe (Podiceps cristatus)

23 February 2008: Santoña (Cantabria Province)

82 – Cattle Egret (Bubulcus ibis)
83 – Eurasian Curlew (Numenius arquata)
84 – Black-necked Grebe (Podiceps nigricollis)
85 – Whimbrel (Numenius phaeopus)
86 – Common Greenshank (Tringa nebularia)
87 – Common Sandpiper (Actitis hypoleucos)
88 – Black-tailed Godwit (Limosa limosa)
89 – Bar-tailed Godwit (Limosa lapponica)
90 – Great Egret (Casmerodius albus)
91 – Common Scoter (Melanitta nigra)
92 – Common Eider (Somateria mollissima)
93 – Common Redshank (Tringa totanus)
94 – Greylag Goose (Anser anser)
95 – Common Snipe (Gallinago gallinago)
96 – Sandwitch Tern (Sterna sandvicensis)
97 – Eurasian Spoonbill (Platalea leucorodia)

In this birding day the birds were too far away for my camera to take decent pictures. I’m including the Eider because here it is a rarity and I know I will not have another chance to find one this year to photograph. So, the pictures are:

a. A Black-necked Grebe almost in breeding plumage (a sight I’ve rarely seen)
b. A Common Sandpiper
c. Two of the three Eiders present in the place, far away and in backlight, to make the thing complete (:C)
d. A bunch of Black-tailed Godwit in flight showing why they are called so (;))

[madamcoolpix]

Sunday was a dull, cloudy and miserable day. I don’t know why we decided to pay a visit to Urrez, in the mountainous area of Sierra de la Demanda, but we are very happy we did: we found several interesting birds, for example, we only saw Pheasant once in Spain and Fieldfare three times… and of course I’d never before had a chance to take pictures of them.

24 February 2008: Burgos City

98 – Crested Lark (Gallerida cristata)

24 February 2008: Urrez, area of Sierra de la Demanda (Burgos Province)

99 – Common Pheasant (Phasianus colchicus)
100 – Red-legged Partridge (Alectoris rufa)
101 – Eurasian Nuthatch (Sitta europaea)
102 – Mistle Thrush (Turdus viscivorus)
103 – Rock Sparrow (Petronia petronia)
104 – Yellowhammer (Emberiza citrinella)
105 – Fieldfare (Turdus pilaris)
106 – Common Skylark (Alauda arvensis)
107 – Woodlark (Lullula arborea)

Even if the light was dreadful for taking pictures, here you have:

a. Our shy lady-Pheasant, getting away as soon as possible.
b. A Mistle Thrush
c. A male Yellowhammer
d. A twiggy Fieldfare (;)), the closest I could get to him with the camera.

[madamcoolpix]

I've not done birdwatching in more than 2 weeks, and when I come back to this thread, what do I find? Magically, it has now some lovely stars!!! o:) Thank you for that to whoever added them, it is very encouraging and I promise to do my best to make this thread worth of them!

Today I've started my Easter holidays. I'm spending the weekend in Madrid area and I've travelled by coach. From the window I've seen good numbers of raptors (Griffon Vultures, Red and Black Kites, Buzzards, Kestrels, Harriers,...) and the first Swallows of the season. So I have a few new things to add:

14 March 2008: Oviedo-Madrid

108 – Black Kite (Milvus migrans)
109 – Hen Harrier (Circus cyaneus)
110 – Barn Swallow (Hirundo rustica)

Sorry, no pics taken from the coach! ;)

[madamcoolpix]

On Saturday (15/03) we visited Aranjuez, in the Southern extreme of Madrid Province, as the weather forecast was nicer for that part. We were very happy to see that several of the early migrants were already there: all kinds of Swallows and Martins, Hoopoe and Black Kite. The birding was very good, with almost 50 different species seen. This is the update:

15 March 2008: Aranjuez (Madrid Province)

111 – Eurasian Hoopoe (Upupa epops)
112 – Green Sandpiper (Tringa ochropus)
113 – Stock Dove (Columba oenas)
114 – Red-rumped Swallow (Hirundo daurica)
115 – Marsh Harrier (Circus aeruginosus)
116 – Sand Martin (Riparia riparia)
117 – Common House Martin (Delichon urbica)

And here you have a few pictures of birds from Aranjuez:

a. Stock Dove
b. Great Crested Grebe
c. Marsh Harrier

[madamcoolpix]

On Sunday (16/03) we went back to El Pardo, as in the previous visit we had missed the Spanish Sparrow and the Spanish Imperial Eagle, two of the specialties from there. Again we saw almost 50 different species there but the highlights were both target birds. I took pictures of the wary Spanish Sparrow for the first time and the Eagle was faithful to the meeting and it was there, at the spot and the time we expected it to appear! The views with the binos were great, but it was too far away for my camera. Still, I’m posting a collage with some of the pictures taken, as this is the first time I’ve snapped the adult and the features are well shown.

16 March 2008: El Pardo (outskirts of Madrid)

118 – Spanish Sparrow (Passer hispaniolensis)
119 – Spanish Imperial Eagle (Aquila adalberti)

If I take better pictures of these two birds during the year, I’ll post them here… they are worth of a second showing (;)).

[madamcoolpix]

Last Saturday we visited Valdelateja area, North of Burgos City, a great place both for birds and butterflies. The area is quite mountainous, with cliffs and slopes and with same patches of forest and tall trees by the river. So it holds a good variety of species. These are the new birds for the Year List found in this area:

29 March 2008: Valdelateja area (Burgos Province)

120 – Eurasian Wryneck (Jynx torquilla)
121 – Short-toed Eagle (Circaetus gallicus)
122 – Egyptian Vulture (Neophron percnopterus)
123 – Marsh Tit (Parus palustris)

Other raptors in the area: Peregrine Falcon, Buzzard, Common Kestrel, Black and Red Kites (in the moorland of the vicinity) and plenty of Griffon Vultures.

And a few pictures taken there:

a. A Dipper
b. A Great Tit singing his little heart out.
c. One of the two Egyptian Vultures soaring over the village at noon.
d. A very bad-mannered Marsh Tit, which kept turning his back on me. This is a local and not common species, and this is my first time at taking pictures of him… I hope next time it shows me his lovely face, ;).

[madamcoolpix]

Last Sunday we headed south of Burgos City running away from a very dark cloudy front coming from the North. So we reached Sepúlveda area and the Natural Park Hoces del Duratón, a fantastic place for raptors and larks. As the dreadful weather caught up with us too soon, we almost had no time to do birdwatching but we did the most of it as we got a lifer! Dupont’s Lark, an endangered species and a specialty in the area. The Year List follows like this then:

30 March 2008: Hoces del Duratón area (Segovia Province)

124 – Azure-winged Magpie (Cyanopica cyanus)
125 – Common Raven (Corvus corax)
126 – Dupont’s Lark (Chersophilus duponti)

From now, lifers will appear marked bold… if there is any (;)).

I consider myself lucky to have snapped this Crested Lark bearing in mind the unfriendly conditions we faced for photography:

[madamcoolpix]

On Saturday I had a great long walk in the outskirts of my city. I was expecting to find many new migrants but no, they seem to be still in their way. I’m not surprised because this looks Autumn instead of Spring!

Still, I found some traces of Spring making progress in the shape of:

5 April 2008: Outskirsts of Oviedo (Asturias)

127 – Tree Pipit (Anthus trivialis)
128 – Garden Warbler (Sylvia borin)

I couldn’t manage to snap these two properly, but got two tiny things for the first time this year:

a. This is a collage I made to show how “urban” Fan-tailed Warbler can be in my area (backgrounds are first a car, second a wall, ;))
b. A Wren in the undergrowth (I’m glad I managed to take this in spite of the mist and dim light).

[madamcoolpix]

Last Sunday, we had a dim and miserable day but it wasn’t raining, so I had a try at finding more migrants. I went to Gijón, visited the Botanical Gardens (nothing new was moving there) and then took a nice walk to the coast in the hope of finding some waders in the beach. And this worked! I ticked for the Year List:

6 April 2008: Beach of Gijón (Asturias)

129 – Sanderling (Calidris alba)
130 – Dunlin (Calidris alpina)

In spite of the poor light I had a great time taking pictures of Terns and Waders, as they were quite cooperative. Here you have some of them:

a. A Sandwich Tern… the beach is just by the city, you know (;)).
b. A Ringed Plover, already in breeding plumage.
c. A Dunlin in breeding plumage too.
d. A couple of Sanderlings foraging in the wet sand.

[madamcoolpix]

On Saturday, I paid another visit to the beach of Gijón hoping to find more new waders for the Year List, but there were not much new around, only Grey Plover along with the same seen last weekend. But I was surprised to find 6-7 Purple Sandpipers at this time of the year!

Then I visited the local park just for taking pictures and I saw a Pied Flycatcher competing with Chiffchaffs at catching flies. I think I saw a Willow Warbler too, but as I’m not sure I’m not counting it.

In summary, the update of the Year List is this:

12 April 2008: Gijón (Asturias)

131 – Grey Plover (Pluvialis squatarola)
132 – Pied Flycatcher (Ficedula hypoleuca)

And the pictures are:

a. The Grey Plover of the beach, quite relaxed… until I got a bit too close (I preferred to leave him in peace than getting better pictures, I was happy with this one).
b. I hope you don’t mind I repeat posting a Purple Sandpiper! I quite like this stretching… |=)|
c. A Collared Dove in the local park.

[madamcoolpix]

Yesterday, we had sunshine at lunch time so I paid a very quick visit to my patch by the University Campus. It was full of Butterflies flying around (surely, taking advantage of this temporary warm ambiance) and spotted my first Whitethroat of the season! It was delightful to experience a bit of Spring atmosphere after so many dismal days! o:)

16 April 2008: Outskirts of Oviedo (Asturias)

133 – Common Whitethroat (Sylvia communis)

Sorry, no pictures this time! |8(|

[madamcoolpix]

A rather quick visit to one of my patches in the outskirts of Oviedo on Saturday morning provided me with another new bird for the Year List and some pictures:

19 April 2008: Outskirts of Oviedo

134 – Willow Warbler (Phylloscopus trochilus)

And some birds snapped during this morning are:

a. A male Bullfinch. I had already posted my first Bullfinch picture in this thread but it was a very poor shot. Now, please let me share my first decent Bullfinch picture (|=)|)!
b. A Peregrine Falcon. It can’t be seen in the picture because it was in backlight, but it has just caught something that I think was a Song Thrush. What a show, to see it hunting!!!
c. A male Blackcap. With this, I’ve posted the pair! o:)
d. A male Greenfinch.

[madamcoolpix]

Another quick birdwatching session last Saturday: in the afternoon, before the threatening dark fronts coming from the sea got to my place, I visited a very popular estuary of my region, Ría de Villaviciosa, excellent for migrants in Autumn. It is not as good in Spring as in Autumn but still a good place. I ticked another couple of species for my list there:

19 April 2008: Ría de Villaviciosa (Asturias)

135 – Black Tern (Chlidonias niger)
136 – Black-winged Stilt (Himantopus himantopus)

I'm very happy with these two sightings: the Black Tern was in breeding plumage (and I usually don't see it so beautiful) and the Black-winged Stilts were my first ones in my Province, Asturias! I took pictures but they were too far away, I prefer to wait for a better chance to post them here.

Instead, I snapped these other two for this thread:

a. A couple of Crag Martins. A little colony seems to be trying to nest in the roof of an old building in the estuary. I hope they are lucky!
b. A Raven soaring… it is easier to take a flight shot when they do this! |=)|

[madamcoolpix]

The weather forecast for Sunday was dreadful, but fortunately the morning started bright and sunny, so I paid another very quick visit to Villaviciosa again. Only could get one more new bird:

20 April 2008: Ría de Villaviciosa (Asturias)

137 – Yellow Wagtail (Motacilla flava… iberiae, of course, ;))

But I took pictures of quite a number of birds. New for this thread are:

a. Barn Swallow. In fact, this is the first picture I take of a Swallow this season.
b. The Black Tern in breeding plumage was still there. In spite of the distance, I did my best to get a shot where it could be recognizable, and I succeeded.
c. Greenshank.

[madamcoolpix]

Yesterday, I had a very exciting walk from work to home: I saw a male Hen Harrier flying over the buildings by the University Campus (I had never before seen one in the outskirts of Oviedo!) and finally I found:

24 April 2008: Outskirts of Oviedo

138 – Northern Wheatear (Oenanthe oenanthe)

I wasn’t expecting to find anything so I didn’t take my binos neither my camera with me (:C#%|=@|@&|!|!!!). So, today I did take them just in case. Of course, I didn’t see the Harrier but the Wheatear was still there and I took some pictures in a rush. And at the same time I could welcome another old friend I’ve missed during the winter:

25 April 2008: Outskirts of Oviedo

139 – Common Swift (Apus apus)

I’m glad I didn’t update this thread yesterday, so I can add another bird and a picture to the post and so it looks nicer! |=)|

[madamcoolpix]

Yesterday we spent the day in Villafáfila, and we had a FANTASTIC birding day, with 60 different species. This must be the best place for Great Bustard in Spain… and possibly in Europe! It is guaranteed there. The variety of habitat (steppes, lagoons, farmlands, etc) makes this place a paradise for birdwatchers (|=)|). Even the way to Villafáfila from Burgos (where we spent the night) was a birding-party…

26 April 2008: way from Burgos to Villafáfila

140 – Calandra Lark (Melanocorypha calandra)
141 – Whinchat (Saxicola rubetra)
142 – Little Owl (Athene noctua)
143 – Lesser Kestrel (Falco naumanni)
144 – Montagu’s Harrier (Circus pygargus)
145 – European Bee-eater (Merops apiaster)

26 April 2008: Villafáfila area (Zamora Province)

146 – Great Bustard (Otis tarda)
147 – Gadwall (Anas strepera)
148 – Gull-billed Tern (Sterna nilotica)
149 – Common Shelduck (Tadorna tadorna)
150 – Pied Avocet (Recurvirostra avosetta)
151 – Barn Owl (Tyto alba)

I took many pictures, and here you have a few easy to process. As soon as I can process the others I will post them:

a. A Corn Bunting singing his little lungs out.
b. A male Lesser Kestrel (there were loads of these beautiful Kestrels in the area)
c. Spoonbill
d. I managed to take this single picture of the Barn Owl as it passed by. It was one of the hits of this trip, as it is only my second view of one, my first view with binos and my first picture of one.

[madamcoolpix]

Finally I had some time to process a few more pictures taken in Villafáfila. Here you have:

a. A Gull-billed Tern in flight.
b. A Red-legged Partridge, caught during a run.
c. A male Mantagu’s Harrier, having a rest on the road.
d. A Black-winged Stilt. The lagoons were plenty of these elegant guys. There were many Avocets too but the pictures didn’t turn out good enough… I prefer to wait for a better chance to post it in this thread.
e. The star of Villafáfila: the magnificent Great Bustard. In cases like this, I really regret lacking a proper camera to shoot birds!

[madamcoolpix]

Last update from the weekend.

After the exhausting day spent in Villafáfila on Saturday, we decided to take it easy next day and just stayed in Burgos City birding in La Quinta, a sort of “wild park” in the outskirts. This is a place we love to visit, even if there are many people during the weekends birds never disappoint us there: 40 species spotted during that morning. This place is very reliable for Wryneck and Bonelli’s Warbler, for example, and other species that are hard to spot, like Nightingale or Cetti’s Warbler, are quite easy to see because the place is full of them. The visit was quite productive for my Year List:

27 April 2008: La Quinta – Burgos City

152 – Common Cuckoo (Cuculus canorus)
153 – Common Nightingale (Luscinia megarhynchos)
154 – Booted Eagle (Hiaraaetus pennatus)
155 – Bonelli’s Warbler (Phylloscopus bonelli)
156 – Crested Tit (Parus cristatus)
157 – Melodious Warbler (Hippolais poliglotta)

And for the first time in my life, I got pictures of the 3 widespread Picidae of Spain during a single day:

a. The Green Woodpecker. Note the pale face of the Iberian subspecies, sharpei.
b. The little demon: the Wryneck. I managed to get quite close to it and to capture it in the open... but in the shade (we can’t have it all! |=)|)
c. The Great Spotted Woodpecker, for once not as wary as it uses to be. This was a “she”.

[madamcoolpix]

I’m back from a long weekend in the steppes of Zaragoza Province, in Eastern Spain. And this is the first update from this 4 days birding trip.

Last Wednesday I spent the night in Burgos and there I joined the others for this weekend in the Steppes. On Thursday (May the 1st) we travelled doing many stops for birdwatching. I got two new birds for the Year List and took some pictures.

1 May 2008: Western Zaragoza Province

158 – Great Grey Shrike (Lanius excubitor)
159 – Woodchat Shrike (Lanius senator)

Fancy this, getting two Shrikes in a row! |8.| And these are the birds I’ve selected to show you:

a. Bonelli’s Warbler. Their characteristic trill can be heard at every habitat with trees now in May.
b. Hoopoe. I caught this one unawares in the shade during the hottest time of the day. This is my closest shot to a Hoopoe to date. By the way… aren’t they beautiful??!! |=)|

[madamcoolpix]

New update from the Steppes trip:

We spent last Friday (May the 2nd) in the Steppes of Belchite area looking for the specialties of this place. We saw almost all the main birds to find there, only failed Dupont’s Lark (as usual, it was heard but never spotted) and Little Bustard. Several of these birds were new for my Year List:

2 May 2008: area of Belchite (Zaragoza Province)

160 – Stone-curlew (Burhinus oedicnemus)
161 – Lesser Short-toed Lark (Carandrella rufescens)
162 – Black-eared Wheatear (Oenanthe hispanica)
163 – Thekla’s Lark (Galerida theklae)
164 – Red-billed Chough (Pyrrhocorax pyrrhocorax)
165 – Greater Short-toed Lark (Calandrella brachydactyla)
166 – Black-bellied Sandgrouse (Pterocles orientalis)
167 – Pin-tailed Snadgrouse (Pterocles alchata)

Steppe birds are terribly wary and it is almost impossible to get close enough for my camera, so I failed photographing properly this bunch of interesting species. Still, I got a few birds:

a. and b. Black-eared Wheatear. Both morphs (black and white-throated) were present in the area. Picture b. was digiscoped.
c. A group of Black-bellied Sandgrouses caught as they passed by.
d. A pair of Bee-eaters.

[madamcoolpix]

On last Saturday (May the 3rd) we still stayed in the steppes trying to find the remaining specialties but we had no luck. At least, I found a few more birds for the List:

3 May 2008: area of Belchite (Zaragoza Province)

168 – Water Rail (Rallus aquaticus)
169 – Great Spotted Cuckoo (Clamator glandarius)
170 – Spotted Flycatcher (Muscicapa striata)

And took a few pictures:

a. The Water Rail, not precisely something we were expecting to see in these dry Steppes… but appeared in a micro-oasis (|=)|).
b. Thekla’s Lark. The one on the right was too distant to be posted here. The one on left was much closer, but I’m not 100% sure it was a Thekla’s (local experts said it was though). Finally I’ve decided to post a collage with both pics.
c. A Greater Short-toed Lark trotting down a slope.

On Sunday (May the 4th) we had a very long drive back home. We didn't see anything new but we heard our first Golden Oriol of the season when we arrived to Burgos! o:)

[madamcoolpix]

Since I heard my first Golden Oriole in Burgos I’ve been obsessed with finding it! The weather has been quite unfriendly to do birdwatching during the last week, but I took advantage of the few hours without rain to try to find it. Finally, yesterday morning, I got it! It was in one of my favourite spots in the outskirts of Oviedo for birding. Some other birds of the area felt like letting me to take pictures, so I had a great morning. In summary:

13 May 2008: Las Caldas (outskirts of Oviedo), Asturias

171 – Golden Oriole (Oriolus oriolus)

And the pictures are:

a. Male Stonechat. I had already posted a female, but to have a look at the male is always nice… |=)|
b. A singing Chiffchaff… or Iberian Chiffchaff, if you prefer. I can’t get used to consider this a separated species!
c. This ball of fluff is a Long-tailed Tit.
d. The Golden Oriole, leaving his perch in a hurry. My first pic of Golden Oriole showing more than a yellow dot in the distance!
e. A Crag Martin keeping watch by the den where he has his nest. As soon as I found out why he was there I prefered leaving the place for not disturbing him: I hope to report lots of new little Crag Martins soon! o:)

[madamcoolpix]

The weather keeps being awful and my chances of birding almost inexistent! :-C And yesterday, in an act of desperation, I went birding under the rain, in the hopes the sky cleared up some time. Of course, it didn’t. But at least I didn’t get a cold and saw a few birds, and among them, a new one for the Year List:

18 May 2008: Gijón Botanical Garden (Asturias)

172 – Common Redstart (Phoenicurus phoenicurus)

When I left the place, I had a little walk in the surroundings of the Botanical Gardens and shy sunshine brightened a bit the place. Then I had the opportunity to take some pictures:

a. What a lucky lady I was to get this Wood Pigeon as it passed by, low over the lawn! |=)| I've decided to illustrate this common bird with a flight-shot showing its pattern, it is more interesting than the classic view perched (I think).
b. A Melodious Warbler singing away his happiness for seeing a beam of sunshine and some blue sky... like me! :-O These guys are not as melodious as the name says, in my opinion, but the funny chattering helps to locate them when they sing among the foliage.

[madamcoolpix]

I’ve spent last weekend in Madrid. It was a family trip but I took advantage of my stay there to pay a couple of visits to my favourite places in the outskirts of the city. On Saturday (May the 24th) I went to El Pardo, in spite of the awful looking weather forecast. It was right, it rained cats and dogs in the afternoon but we had a few nice hours during the morning. The birding was quite good, with 2 more birds for the list:

24 May 2008: El Pardo (outskirts of Madrid)

173 – Black-crowned Night-Heron (Nycticorax nycticorax)
174 – Hawfinch (Coccothraustes coccothraustes)

It is getting hard to find images of new birds to add to this thread. The only new bird I managed was this Common Swift (My God, they are fast!!!) but I’m posting too a male Serin (although I’ve already snapped the female) because they are beautiful. I think this singing one turned out quite cute…

[madamcoolpix]

I’m a bit late with the last update from the weekend because I’ve been busy and had not much time to process and select images. But here it is finally!

Last Sunday (May the 25th) we paid a new visit to Rivas-Vaciamadrid in the hopes of finding some migrant specialties that were not there yet the last time I went to Madrid: Great Reed Warbler, Little Bittern and Purple Heron, mainly. But it was much better than the expectations, we even found a lifer: a Red-necked Nightjar that flew away at noon when we almost stepped on it! A marvellous encounter! o:)

So, my Year List continues as follows:

25 May 2008: Rivas-Vaciamadrid (outskirts of Madrid)

175 – Great Reed Warbler (Acrocephalus arundinaceus)
176 – Reed Warbler (Acrocephalus scirpaceus)
177 – Turtle Dove (Streptopelia turtur)
178 – Little Bittern (Ixobrychus minutus)
179 – Red-necked Nightjar (Caprimulgus ruficollis) :t:
180 – Purple Heron (Ardea purpurea)
181 – Spectacled Warbler (Sylvia conspicillata)

And these are the selected pictures for this post (all new bird images for this thread)
a. Black Kite
b. A pair of Tree Sparrows, wet and shaggy after the impressive shower we all had to stand (|=)|)
c. A view of the Purple Heron when it flew from the reedbed over the lagoon (I think it did this for me to take a picture! ;))
d. I doubted if uploading or not the distant shot I took of the Spectacled Warbler. Finally, I’ve decided to add it because I don’t think I’ll have another chance to take a picture of this Southern specialty.

[madamcoolpix]

At last, I had new opportunities to do some birdwatching! BF members Sandpiper and Damselfly came to my area to look for Birds and Butterflies and I joined them. We had a great weekend together and saw many birds! If only the weather had been better…

Last Friday, we headed for the Southern side of the Cantabrian Mountains, getting away from the rain that spoiled our initial plans. It was a very good day for Butterflies (we found about 22 species) and the birds were not bad either. I even could add some more to my list of this year:

6 June 2007: Somiedo Mountain Pass area in Leon Province

182 – Rufous-tailed Rock-Thrush (Monticola saxatilis)
183 – Red-backed Shrike (Lanius collurio)

Although I snapped many Butterflies, I only could photograph a new bird, the Rock-Thrush, and here it is. I’ll add what happened the following days as soon as I have time to process the images.

[madamcoolpix]

Second episode in the “Adventures in the Mountains” series! |=)|

On Saturday (May the 7th) the weather was somehow better and we risked going up to the lakes area of the mountains in the Covadonga National Park, at 1100 m high. We didn’t try climbing up higher as it was too cloudy and misty in the surroundings… and it was interesting already there! Had a great time snapping the Alpine Chough, Water Pipit, Black Redstart, etc. I got 3 new birds to add to this thread there:

7 June 2008: Covadonga National Park (Asturias)

184 – Rock Bunting (Emberiza cia)
185 – Alpine Chough (Pyrrhocorax graculus)
186 – Water Pipit (Anthus spinoletta)

And here there are some of the birds I managed to capture during this visit to the mountains, all new to this thread:

a. Water Pipit. It gave as a show displaying in flight and singing. Great moments…
b. The Alpine Choughs were very cooperative. I like how this one turned out, marching in a very military way! :'D
c. A Dunnock singing away. I think you all have noticed by now I have a soft spot for snapping singing birds! ;)
d. A Short-toed Eagle, captured manoeuvring while hovering. This encounter was another hit during the weekend!

I have more pictures taken later when we went back to the valley, but I’ll share them later because there is no place for them in this post.

[madamcoolpix]

And here you have a couple of new species snapped in the valley of Covadonga after leaving the mountains: the lovely Spotted Flycatcher and a female Common Redstart. I failed to capture the stunning male… well, next time! (|=)|)

[madamcoolpix]

Sunday, June the 8th: a dreadful morning of rain and darkness threatened our birding day in the mountains (:storm:). Once more, we had to change the plans to save the day and crossed the Cantabrian Mountains to the plains looking for some friendly sunshine. We got some finally, and a couple of showers too… and a good bunch of great birds! o:) I even got a new bird of the year:

8 June 2008: Valencia de Don Juan (León Province)

187 – Little Ringed Plover (Charadrius dubius)

and got a picture of it, along with this male Red-backed Shrike nicely set among the flowers.

[madamcoolpix]

June the 14th, saturday, I was engaged in a family trip for lunch to Proaza, a beautiful and dreamy area not far from Oviedo. I took my binos and camera, just in case I had an opportunity of birdwatching... and I had it! ;) I convinced the driver for a short stop in a very reliable spot for Alpine Swift, and they were there, as every year, loyal to this place! These birds and all the Butterflies flying around made this sunny Spring day complete for me! o:)

14 June 2008: Proaza (Asturias)

188 – Alpine Swift (Apus melba)

[madamcoolpix]

What a fantastic birding day we had last Saturday! We visited one of our favourite spots, the Canyon of Río Lobos. This is a wide area with varied habitats (the canyon, pine forest, river vegetation, cliffs, meadows, shrubs, etc) and in spite of a quite dull day with some rain we found 52 different birds, 21 Butterflies, 9 Dragonflies, 3 reptiles,… not bad! o:) This is what I love the best doing: enjoying wildlife relaxed, with no rush from one place to another and snapping away… this makes life look like beautiful! ;)

Two specialties showed up new for my list:

21 June 2008: Cañón de Río Lobos (Soria Province)

189 – Common Crossbill (Loxia curvirostra)
190 – Eurasian Honey Buzzard (Pernis apivorus)

Both were too distant for a shot but the poor wretched Honey Buzzard is still recognizable, so here is the pic (1st one). I'll wait for a better chance to post the Crossbill… I'm adding this Yellow Wagtail of the iberiae subspecies (of course! ;)) because they are not approachable at all, this is the closest I've ever been to it with my camera. The 3rd pic is one of the emblematic birds of the area, the Azure-winged Magpie. And the last one, a Woodchat Shrike posing glamorously for the camera. ;)

[madamcoolpix]

Another update from last weekend, sorry for my delay but I've been busy and selecting pictures takes time! ;)

Last Sunday we went to this amazing place in Central Spain, a sort of canyon with breathtaking views and fantastic birding, where Vultures and other raptors soar right over your head. It is a good place for Larks too (I saw here my only Dupont's Lark a few moths ago)... and for Butterflies, we found about 20 different species. The new birds found for the year list were somehow unexpected, as it is the first time I see them here… the habitat was suitable though.

22 June 2008: Hoces del Río Duratón, near Sepúlveda (Segovia Province)

191 – Tawny Pipit (Anthus campestris)
192 – Orphean Warbler (Sylvia hortensis)
193 – Subalpine Warbler (Sylvia cantillans)

Good day to photograph small birds, particularly Larks and Warblers. New for this thread are:
a. The Tawny Pipit, too wary but the features show well in spite of being a distant shot.
b. The place was full of Calandra Larks, many of them singing, like this one in the picture.
c. This Orphean Warbler was the hit of the visit. My best view of one so far, and my very first picture of it! o:)
d. Another Sylvia Warbler: Dartford Warbler, giving me a lovely photographic session. Other pictures of it will appear in my gallery.

[madamcoolpix]

An unexpected update. Last Saturday, I went to Miraflores de la Sierra, aka Butterflyland (;))… it is fantastic place for Butterflies in the mountains surrounding Madrid. We go there every summer to snap and watch the great variety you can find... we identified 30 different ones this time! :t: So, I only paid relative attention to the birds around, but still managed a shot of a Nuthatch showing its lovely undies (it is already July and still had not snapped one! :eek!:) and saw a Hobby too, to add to the list!

5 July 2008: Miraflores de la Sierra (Madrid)

194 – Eurasian Hobby (Falco subbuteo)

[madamcoolpix]

And another unexpected update. On Saturday, during a family trip to the coast of my area, I finally spotted an inexcusable absence in my year list (and I’m not going to try to excuse it, of course, ;)):

26 July 2008: Gijón (Asturias)

195 – European Shag (Phalacrocorax aristotelis)

I confess I'm not doing much birdwatching lately, birding is too slow under the Spanish summer heat but on the contrary there are Butterflies and Dragonflies everywhere, so I'm paying much more attention to these other flying beauties. But on Friday I'll start my holidays, I'm visiting Eastern Andalucía (Jaén, Granada and Almería Provinces); I've never been there before, so it will mean an interesting change even if the birding is slow in August. I'm looking forward to know what can be seen there at this time of the year! o:)

[madamcoolpix]

I'm back from my holiday in Eastern Andalucía. Great birding there! We saw 130 different birds in 12 days, plus 50 Butterflies and 10 Dragonflies. The birding was not as slow as it would have been expected in middle August, many migrants were on its way to the south, making the variety of species more interesting.

To start with, here you have the new birds for my year list found during the two days we spent driving towards Guadix (in Granada Province), our “headquarters” to visit other places around.

1 August 2008: Alcazar de San Juan (Ciudad Real Province)

196 – Whiskered Tern (Chlidonias hybrida)

2 August 2008: Baeza (Jaén Province)

197 – Pallid Swift (Apus pallidus)

2 August 2008: along the roads towards Guadix in Granada Province.

198 – Black Weathear (Oenanthe leucura)
199 – Rock Pigeon (Columba livia)
200 – European Roller (Coracias garrulus)

And the pictures are (all birds snapped for the first time this year):

a. Cattle Egret in breeding plumage, in Alcazar de San Juan.
b. Pallid Swift in Baeza. There was a very big collony in the town, flying very low in the morning, making relatively easy to take pictures… with some patience (;)).
c. Booted Eagle in Sierra de Cazorla (Jaén Province).

[madamcoolpix]

Even if August is not the best time of the year to do birdwatching in Almería Province, we paid a visit to the acclaimed Cañada de las Norias, with no major expectations, but it turned out to be quite nice, good level of water and great variety of birds. There, I picked up a few more birds for the list, and for once, I managed to get a picture of all them! ;)

3 August 2008: Cañada de las Norias, by El Ejido (Almería Province)

201 – White-headed Duck (Oxyura leucocephala)
202 – Red-crested Pochard (Netta rufina)
203 – Squacco Heron (Ardeola ralloides)
204 – Sacred Ibis (Threskiornis aethiopicus)

Some remarks to say:

a. A male White-headed Duck, there were several pairs, a great sighting.
b. Sadly, the Red-crested Pochards were in eclipse plumage. This is a digiscoped pic of a ruffled one.
c. There were several Squacco Herons, adults and juveniles. The adults were too far even for digiscoping, but I could take this pic of a closer juvie with the regular camera.
d. This adult and juvenile Sacred Ibis were utterly unexpected. I have no idea where they came from. They had no rings, so I'm counting the bird for my year list, but not as the lifer it should be, as I'm not sure they were really wild.

[madamcoolpix]

More stuff from my holidays in Andalucía. A first visit to Cabo de Gata was superb, loads of birds in the salinas, and did a lot of snapping too, although the birds were quite far away for my camera. I did some new attempts of digiscoping, but with quite deceiving results in general.

This is the update of the Year List:

5 August 2008: Cabo de Gata (Almería Province)

205 – Greater Flamingo (Phoenicopterus ruber)
206 – Curlew Sandpiper (Calidris ferruginea)
207 – Ruff (Philomachus pugnax)
208 – Kentish Plover (Charadrius alexandrinus)
209 – Little Stint (Calidris minutus)
210 – Audouin’s Gull (Larus audouinii)
211 – Little Tern (Sterna albifrons)

And these are the selected pictures to illustrate the birds of this place:

a. A digiscoped Audouin’s Gull, the only decent attempt on distant birds. We spotted up to eleven in a corner of the salinas.
b. One of the birds we were expecting to see, the Greater Flamingo… actually the place was pouring with them! ;)
c. I'm glad I didn't post the Avocet before, as these chances were a bit better than in April in Villafáfila. Plenty of them too here.
d. Just had to post this: a real, proper and closer Thekla's Lark. I was really happy with this encounter, a bird I'm quite unlucky with.

[madamcoolpix]

More from the holidays!

One of the birds we were looking for, the Olivaceous Warbler, finally appeared in Hoya de Baza, but found it again in N Almería Province days later. It was good to see this lifer twice! Sadly, it was impossible for me to get a pic…

6 August 2008: Hoya de Baza (Granada Province)

212 – Olivaceous Warbler (Hippolais pallida) :cool:

Next day we visited the Puerto de la Ragua, in Sierra Nevada mountains, to look for the famous Apollo Butterfly. No Apollos, but instead I got another new bird of the year (pic 1):

7 August 2008: Puerto de la Ragua (Granada Province)

213 – Citril Finch (Serinus citrinella)

And the following day, we went to the highest peaks in Iberia, in Sierra Nevada, to continue looking for the Apollos and… to see the guy in the second picture! |=)| What an experience to have these cuties so close! They are extremely tame in the Veleta Peak (almost 3400 m) and look for crumbles left by the trippers. During the winter, they go down to the skie station, at lower altitude… to do exactly the same! ;)

8 August 2008: Veleta Peak, Sierra Nevada (Granada Province)

214 – Alpine Accentor (Prunella collaris)

[madamcoolpix]

Sorry for taking my time to update this, I'm quite busy in my "real life", so my "cyber life" has to wait! ;)

Yesterday I had a look at the pictures taken on August the 10th in Sierra Nevada. This second visit to the high mountains was more a Butterfly session, so I didn't see new birds for my list. But checking the pictures, there are a few new snapped birds (fancy this: all against the bright blue sky, ;)) so I though I'd add a post with them. They are:

a. A Rock Sparrow. It was quite close, but I regret it didn't let me take but this shot and the angle is not the best to see all the features, only the head stripes.

b. A Hen Harrier, at almost 3000 m! :eek!: Not something I was expecting to see in this place!

c. A huge flock of Red-billed Choughs took-off from who-knows-where and filled the sky with their characteristic shape and their unmistakable sound. A very nice view! Here is a detail of one of the shots taken to the sky.

[madamcoolpix]

Still posting stuff from my holiday… a bit of patience, folks, not much left now! ;)

On August the 11th, we paid a second visit to Cabo de Gata and in the way there we stopped in Tabernas Desert, a good spot for larks and other typical birds of very arid ground… but not so good in August! ;) Only Black Wheatears and Thekla’s Larks seemed to feel at easy there. The first picture is one of the Black Wheatears that dared to move around in such unfriendly plot of land!

Once in Cabo de Gata, we had another great day in the Salinas, with new opportunities to take pictures and more new birds:

11 August 2008: Cabo de Gata (Almería Province)

215 – Slender-billed Gull (Larus genei)
216 – Common Tern (Sterna hirundo)

Again I had a go at digiscoping and got the Kentish Plover of the second pic.

Third image shows an assortment of Curlew Sandpiper poses… and a bum! ;)

And the last picture shows two Little Terns enjoying life at the salinas shore. I had forgotten about snapping these in the first visit to Cabo de Gata, so I've "rescued" the image for this post. I had not seen Little Terns for several years, and had forgotten how little they are (well named bird! ;)). They are lovely Terns!

[madamcoolpix]

Sorry once again for the delay updating! Next week I'm leaving for working reasons and I'd like to finish with the stuff from the holidoys before I "fly away"!

On August the 12th, we started the long way back home. We did a couple of strategic stops for birding and this post belongs with the first one: Sierra Mágina, where we enjoyed some views of migrating raptors over the tops of the mountains. But we saw too a couple of additions to the list that I really wanted to find:

12 August 2008: Sierra Mágina (Jaén Province)

217 – Golden Eagle (Aquila chrysaetus)
218 – Bonelli's Eagle (Hieraetus fasciatus)

Sadly, too far away for my camera! :-C Instead Sierra Mágina had a good population of Red-rumped Swallows, so I spent quite a long time trying to get one in flight. I'm posting the best of these results.

Very soon, the last of the updates from the holidays! It is a promise! ;)

[madamcoolpix]

And (finally, ;)) here is the last update from the Southern holidays. In the afternoon of August the 12th, we stopped in the famous Tablas de Daimiel, even if in August the level of these lakes should be minimum. But it wasn't!!! Still, there were not many ducks and other water birds but there were many of all other. I could find a couple of extra birds new for me this year and take pictures of many others:

12 August 2008: Tablas de Daimiel (Ciudad Real Province)

219 – Collared Pratincole (Glareola pratincola)
220 – Common Reed Bunting (Emberiza schoeniclus)

And these are the birds selected to illustrate this visit:

a. A Roller. There were two on the wires but the beautiful adult was much warier than this other less-experienced-in-life specimen. ;)
b. The view of nearly 200 Collared Pratincoles flying together over the marshes was a fantastic sight to see! o:) I've cropped the image trying to show as many as possible but having the species perfectly recognizable. I've even got an intruder. Where is Wally? ;)
c. A Sand Martin in flight. Really, this has been my holiday for experimenting on flight shots!
d. A couple of juvenile Reed Buntings. They looked really nice so well exposed on the tree-top, but I regret the beautiful male refused to show up (:-C).
e. A Willow Warbler, a bird we have mostly in Spain during migration and failed to capture it when I saw it in Spring. I had better chances now in late Summer, because they are now more numerous than in Spring.

[madamcoolpix]

I'm back home after attending a Chemical Meeting for a few days (no birding at all! :-C) so I can now keep updating this thread with my last findings during the Autumn migration.

I've been visiting some strategic spots to find Waders and Seabirds. Although I've already found most of the Waders suitable to be seen in my area, I've not taken pictures of most of them. And the Seabirds are seen mainly at this time of the year in my area, during migration.

Villaviciosa (as I've mentioned earlier this year) is great in Autumn migration. My first visit during this season yielded many different Waders but only a new one for the Year List, the Oystercatcher. This visit was very short (my duties only let me spend there a couple of hours) and the tide was too low to have close views for the camera, so I only got the Whimbrel attached.

23 August 2008: Villaviciosa (Asturias)

221 – Eurasian Oystercatcher (Haematopus ostralegus)

[madamcoolpix]

My first attempt this year at finding seabirds during Autumn migration was partially successful, specially because for the first time since I have the camera I had the opportunity to take pictures to the Gannets! :bounce: It was a misty afternoon, and under the mist the birds migrate closer to my coast. The Shearwaters were still too far away for the camera but had nice views with the telescope. The update of the list is as follows:

28 August 2008: Luanco (Asturias)

222 – Northern Gannet (Morus bassanus)
223 – Sooty Shearwater (Puffinus griseus)
224 – Cory's Shearwater (Calonectris diomedea)

No traces of Skuas though (:-C).

I'm attaching a picture of the misty-Gannet (;)) and a Yellow Wagtail taken a bit later under the sunshine. I noticed it doesn't look like an iberiae (it has yellow throat instead of white and the auriculars are pale instead of dark) only when I looked at the pictures at home. I wonder if this is the C Europe flava... it is the closest I've found but I'm not 100% convinced. When I have the time, I'll post it in the Q & A Forum with other views... If somebody wants to help... ;)

[madamcoolpix]

Yesterday I had a look to the pictures taken during an inspection looking for waders and found that I got a few pictures of new ones for this thread! :bounce: This day I even found a new bird for the year List!

29 August 2008: Zeluán, by Avilés (Asturias)

225 – Red Knot (Calidris canutus)

And the pictures are:

a. Oystercatcher.
b. A couple of Redshanks.
c. The Red Knot, the poor thing looked a bit scruffy!

[madamcoolpix]

My first day of birding in September was quite disappointing from a photographic point of view, almost all the pics are cringe-worthy with the birds hardly recognizable. But the birding was great, got several new ticks for the list!

I spend the morning in Villaviciosa again, and the visit yielded:

8 September 2008: Villaviciosa (Asturias)

226 – Osprey (Pandion haliaetus)
227 – Sedge Warbler (Acrocephalus schoenobaenus)

And in the afternoon, I had another try at sea-migration to find Skuas. Once again no luck, but saw more Shearwaters: along with the Cory's there were:

8 September 2008: Luanco (Asturias)

228 – Mediterranean Shearwater (Puffinus yelkouan)
229 – Manx Shearwater (Puffinus puffinus)

At least, I got a bird to illustrate this post, and it is the most important one for me from the day, the Sedge Warbler. We only get them around here during migration. They are not uncommon but harsh to find. I'm over the Moon with this pic, as it is only my fourth Sedge Warbler and the first time I find one since I have the camera! :bounce:

[madamcoolpix]

I couldn't spend better an unexpected chance to visit the coast! I had to go to Gijón for working reasons but took my binos and camera with me “just in case”. And here it is what I found:

17 September 2008: Beach of Gijón (Asturias)

230 – Bluethroat (Luscinia svecica)

Only my second Bluethroat in nearly 30 years birding!!! :bounce: The other one was a female too (about 15 years ago), but I don't complain it wasn't a male, particularly for having the camera with me to immortalize the event.

Later, along the river that ends in this beach, I had my first good opportunity with a Grey Heron this year. This picture is not precisely the best quality in the series I took, but probably it is my favourite, looks like having a good laugh! :-O

[madamcoolpix]

I hate to post views of my birds as poor as these but I hate even more to add a post without pictures at all! :-O

This update comes from a busy day when I visited a couple of places. In the morning, I went back to Villaviciosa hoping to get pictures of the waders I had still not photographed. I found these two, Green Sandpiper (picture a) and Ruff (picture b) but sadly both were very far away. I decided to add them here as I'm sure I won't have new chances for them this year, and at least they are perfectly recognizable…

And in the afternoon, I paid another visit to my favourite spot for migrant seabirds to find Skuas… and finally I succeeded!!! :bounce: I had the best views so far of a Great Skua! Oh My God! How I enjoyed the moment!!! o:)

20 September 2008: Luanco (Asturias)

231 – Great Skua (Catharacta skua)

[madamcoolpix]

A visit to Gijón Botanical Gardens in very late September yielded an unexpected tick for my Year List, the Rose-ringed Parakeet. I suspected there was a small population well established in the area, as I saw them flying in the surroundings before, but I had no binos with me then to confirm the ID. It was great to see them properly and to take a few pictures! :bounce: And as the migration was still going on, I captured a few summer migrants too, here you have a Pied Flycatcher (picture b) and a Whinchat (picture c):

28 September 2008: Gijón Botanical Gardens (Asturias)

232 – Rose-ringed Parakeet (Psittacula krameri)

[madamcoolpix]

Another bird ticked off for the Year List! o:)

Last Sunday visited Rivas-Vaciamadrid, in Madrid outskirts, in a family trip but took the binos and camera just in case. It turned out to be a good idea because the place was full of Storks and spent a while snapping them in flight. Surprisingly, in the far fields at the other side of the motorway, where a white carpet of Storks was covering the land (there must were about 1000 Storks!) a single and solitaire Black Stork had been set aside by the others. The poor thing was finally frightened away (picture a, sorry about the quality but it was really far away). This sighting was quite unexpected, I assumed all Black Storks should be in their way to Africa by now! There were a couple of Red-rumped Swallows too, another out-of-season bird.

Later I managed to capture a Sparrowhawk soaring around (picture b, manoeuvring).

12 October 2008: Rivas-Vaciamadrid (Madrid)

233 – Black Stork (Ciconia nigra)

[madamcoolpix]

While waiting for the new wintering birds to arrive, I've been checking my archives and found several pictures of summer migrant birds that had not shown up here for a reason or another. I thought on adding a post with them, as it is sure I won't take new pictures of them this year (all are gone by now).

a. A Nightingale in a misty morning.
b. Odd this, but I really had no opportunities to take pictures to a very common bird as the House Martin is. The only ones I took were to a couple of cute babies popping their lovely heads out of the nest. A very familiar sight all over Europe really...
c. It is obvious why I didn't post this picture from the Andalucian holiday before! ;) But it is the first time I have some part of a Common Tern in a frame! :-O
d. A rear view of a Whitethroat.
e. A Reed Warbler giving me grief among the leaves. I expected to get something a bit better later in the year but it wasn't possible.

[madamcoolpix]

On Saturday, I took some friends of mine (who are starting to be very interested in birdwatching) to see the hordes of Gannets in migration by the Asturian coast. They really enjoyed the show, and so I did, with the ice on the cake of a couple of new additions to the year List! |=)|

25 October 2008: Luanco (Asturias)

234 – Grey Phalarope (Phalaropus fulicarius)
235 – Common Guillemot (Uria aalge)

Sadly, no pictures at all! :-C I hope to get a chance to take pictures of these two later in the year, if there are storms in the sea and they come to take refuge in the local estuaries.

[madamcoolpix]

And next Sunday my friends and I joined again in another birding outing along the coast, looking for late migrants. I found a couple of new ticks for the list.

26 October 2008: Zeluán, by Avilés (Asturias)

236 – Golden Plover (Pluvialis apricaria)

It provided me with an amazing photographic session! :bounce: I'll post a few of those shots in my gallery sometime, when I have a little time.

And later, in a visit to the most Northern point in my region, I saw:

26 October 2008: Cabo Peñas (Asturias)

237 – Parasitic Skua (Stercorarius parasiticus)

At last, the migration of Skuas is being better now, in middle Autumn.

[madamcoolpix]

Again late with my updates… |^| Sorry about that...

This is from two Sundays ago, dreadful weather then, but this bunch of brave girls decided to face stoically the unfriendly conditions and spent a great day trying to find unusual birds swept away by the storms of the week. To find Spoonbill, Scoter, Shearwaters, Wheatears,… was very exciting for beginners like my friends are... and I enjoyed them all too. But for me, it was more thrilling to see 3 Kittiwakes passing in migration relatively close to the coast, I had not seen one in many years! o:)

2 Noviembre 2008: Luanco (Asturias)

238 – Black-legged Kittiwake (Rissa tridactyla)

Only one picture from this Seaside visit: Shags are now seen in small numbers but widespread along the coast. Here you have a juvie and an adult enjoying a good old scratch.

[madamcoolpix]

I paid a new visit to Villaviciosa, as most of the wintering birds should be there by now and I have no pictures yet of most of them. I spotted the first Wigeons of the winter and that's a new tick for my Year List! o:)

9 November 2008: Villaviciosa (Asturias)

239 – Eurasian Wigeon (Anas penelope)

But the snapping was terribly disappointing. Lapwings, Snipes, Common Teals, Osprey, Wigeons… all them were too far for my camera and I couldn't take pictures showing them at least recognizable! :-C The only new bird to illustrate this thread that I got was this Curlew, still in the distance but shows the huge bill beautifully. I love these guys! o:)

[madamcoolpix]

At last I catch up with the updates! :smoke: The bad weather of last weekend didn't allow me to go out, so I had time to check the pictures from the previous weekend, and this is the new stuff to add to this thread.

An early morning walk in Oviedo outskirts provided me with the only recognizable Cetti's Warbler pic I've taken so far. A miracle, as the light was extremely poor and the restless little thing only showed up for a couple of seconds (picture a). Later, I went to Gijón for another walk and to check if any new winter birds had arrived at the local park. I was delighted to see Pintails there again after a few years! o:) And double delighted as it was a new bird for the year list (picture b)! |=)|

16 November 2008: Gijón (Asturias)

240 – Northern Pintail (Anas acuta)

[madamcoolpix]

Due to awful weather and a flood of familiar duties I couldn't go out birding for a whole month!!! :-C That has spoilt the great mark I had reached in my year list, I don't think I've ever found 240 species within Spain in a year, let alone to snap about 180.

There are only about 12 days left to do something more, but I don't give up!!! Let's see if things improve. Meanwhile, I'm adding some more birds snapped during the year but that I didn't post for different reasons:

a) A distant Kingfisher… obviously, I was waiting for a better opportunity (which didn't arrive! :-C)
b) European Starling, taken in March, and getting its summer plumage. I must confess I just had forgotten about this pic! :eek!:
c) Shelducks digiscoped in Cabo de Gata (Almeria) during the August holidays. Another picture I didn't remember about taking it!
d) Little Stint in Gijón, during the Autumn migration.
e) A desperate attempt to take a picture to a Red Kite: from the car window at 100 Km/h, in the motorway, and in a dim and rainy day… I tried this because in Autumn/Winter there many in the plains of C Spain, and fly close to the cars in the roads. I'm relatively happy with this result, given the circumstances! ;)

[madamcoolpix]

Halleluja!!! o:)

Finally I had a chance to go birding and it couldn't be better! A family trip to Covadonga (in Picos de Europa Nacional Park) in Christmas Day provided me with a spectacular Christmas gift that came down the mountains in the shape of a Wallcreeper!!! :bounce: The bird showed up first on the walls of the Basilica of this Holy place (Picture 1) and later foraging by the sides of a path, at very short distance (Picture 2). A pity the light was very poor, I ruined the chance of my life to get a good Wallcreeper picture… but I don't complain! ;)

25 December 2008: Covadonga, Picos de Europa NP (Asturias)

241 – Wallcreeper (Tichodroma muraria)

[madamcoolpix]

A super birding day in the River Eo Estuary!!! :bounce: The aim of the trip was to find a Diver of any kind (and I succeeded) but at the same time I saw loads of wintering ducks, and two other birds that I had not seen for several years and new for the Year List:

28 December 2008: River Eo Estuary, Ribadeo (Lugo Province)

242 – Great Black-backed Gull (Larus marinus)
243 – Red-breasted Merganser (Mergus serrator)
244 – Great Northern Diver (Gavia immer)

It was fantastic to have the Great Black-backed Gull so close (pictura a), no doubt my best sighting of one ever!!! o:) Sadly, the Merganser was too far away for pictures, and so was the Diver (:-C). But managed a couple of distant shots of the Wigeons (picture b) and the Gadwalls (picture c) of the place mixed up with Pintails, Mallards and Teals.

[madamcoolpix]

As I still have a few more birds no-posted before, I thought on adding them in a last post and to thank here all the people who have looked this thread during these months, and to wish everybody a VERY HAPPY 2009!!! :loveme:

The pictures are:
a) A Siskin photographed at the begining of the year... very close, but waited for a better view that didn't arrive.
b) A Lapwing, in spring in Villafáfila.
c) A Common Snipe, during this Christmas holiday in Villaviciosa.
d) Two couples of Teals, same day, same place.

The number of 244 birds seen and almost 200 snapped (197, if I'm not wrong) is much better than I thought when I started this "illustrated" Year List! If you've enjoyed following this as much as I enjoyed doing it, I'm more than happy!!! o:)

Cheers!