spotted eagles in camargue (1 Viewer)

Can anyone keep me informed about sightings in the camargue this winter as I'm visiting for a weekend in February and would like to catch up with spotted eagle if possible.
Thanks

Hello. I was birding the camargue area earlier this month. No spotted eagles have been reported at the 'stakeout' small woodland just south of salin de badon (south of la capilliere) for over a month!!. I dipped as well. Anyway lots of slavs, zitting cisticolas (near la capilliere). Strangely no penduline tits.

No eagle owl at la destet (les alpilles) though there are probably more reliable stake outs

No little bustard or pintailed sandgrouse at the well known sites

rock bunting at the 'no access' aerodrome.
cirl bunting in a number of places
black redstart abundant
NO wallcreeper at les baux (alpine accentors haven't come down yet - so mabe a bit early.)No rock sparrow - pont du guard. Mt venteux was good - Crossbills etc
Citril finches have come down to the orchards (numerous) and are flocking mainly with chaffinches but also a few woodlark. La caume - crested tit.
Also Sardinian warblers, dartford warblers, blue rock thrush, chiffchaff etc.... probably more info than you want but if you miss the big 'ticks', mt venteaux will probably give you some half decent birds (I was seeing flocks of citril finch up to 20 km away from the mt on the access road south west of the mt) I think it was the D120.
(some spellings may be incorrect).

Good Luck.

cassowary said:

NO wallcreeper at les baux (alpine accentors haven't come down yet - so mabe a bit early.)

Click to expand...

There is a recent photo of an Alpine Acc from Les Baux on Surfbirds so things might be moving?.

Hi all,
I wonder if 'Cassowary' was just plain unlucky, a bit early in the winter or perhaps it's simultaneously a poor season for ALL my own target species in a proposed visit next Feb (Wallcreeper, Alpine Accentor, Greater Spotted Eagle and Little Bustard)?
Does anyone know what the score is with Wallcreepers in the area? Do some winters go by where none are seen at Les Baux?
By the way, concerning Spotted Eagle, I got this information from a French contact a short while back:
'There are 5 GS Eagle at the moment in Camargue, but there is no reliable place so far where they are seen easily. 1 is in the reserve La Tour du Valat and can be seen from the road in a place called Amphise. 1 or 2 are in the area between Le Grenouillet and les Marais de Romieu to the north and Salin de Badon to the south. No exact location for the others.'
Regards,
Harry

Wallcreeper at Les Baux

Hi,
Just posting as Harry had emailed me re: Wallcreeper (I posted the Alp Acc photo on surfbirds!)..
I visited this area in late November and had good views of 1-2 Wallcreepers and about half a dozen Alpine Accentors at Les Baux. Maybe Cassowary was just unlucky!

However I also failed to see Penduline Tit (despite quite a bit of looking at La Capillierre) - lots of commoner stuff and a flyover Black Stork here.

Also failed to see Little Bustard at Egruyeres (spelt incorrectly i'm sure) airfield, despite being there at supposedly the best time of day.

cheers,
Richard

Hi.
Also checked Le Grenouillet out for Spotted Eagle with no luck.

Little Bustards are easy in the summer but somewhere I read that they flock with the less predictable sandgrouse in winter so I guess it is hit or miss.