cadiz

Marshes of Bahia de Cadiz Natural Park

Normally, having blue skies in the background and not framing the whole bird, is seen as something negative in bird photography. B&W, might help to stand out the expression and details on the plumage of this griffon, and improve this image. What do you think?

A wee bird from yesterday during the day trip with Jeh and Stefaan: Zitting Cisticola

One of the highlights of the tour we just finished with Greenwings were the Red-necked Nightjars. We had great views and enjoyed the company of Liz and John Cantelo. ...Ah, and two Bonelli's and two Spanish Imperial Eagles were right there as well. Great day!

I was trying to take pictures of a coastal landscape, for a change, but this whimbrel kept fishing crabs so close to me I had to set the tele-lens and give it a try. Barely any light, high ISO.

A great day with Marnix, from Belgium. We had a lot of fun taking pictures of this little missiles (AKA little swifts). This is one of the few that came out OK.

This weekend I was reminded of the similar appearance of the Hummingbird Hawk-Moth (Macroglossum stellatarum) to the actual hummingbirds. They might strike as real hummingbirds! This resemblance is an example of convergent evolution. This Hawk-Moth was photographed in the Strait of Gibraltar...

A close up of a female White Featherleg (Platycnemis latipes) taken in a beautiful river in the heart of the Cork forest, province of Cadiz.

Glorious day ringing Eurasian Griffons with Carlos Torralvo, Fernando Enrique and Martin Caballero at Parque Natural Los Alcornocales. The hardest work was done by Carlos, who had to rappel and climb to the nests. Also, we saw the first...

The White-headed Duck (Oxyura leucocephala) is considered endangered, mainly due to habitat loss and hunting, but they are doing better in Spain than anywhere else in the world. This is how they could be seen yesterday in the Photography Day Trip.

Back home after a great private tour in Extremadura, Castilla y Leon and Madrid, where we saw close to 200 species. The favorite bird of the tour? The Eurasian Griffon - This one was seen feeding on a carcass this morning near Tarifa thanks to Javi Elorriaga.

I had three amazing days with Joan and Peter, from Chester, UK. Really lovely people. One of the favorite birds of the week was the Slender-billed Gulls, that is currently showing its most beautiful breeding plumage.

We had a great day at Parque Natural Baha de Cdiz thanks to OsmundaSur, Huerta Grande and Actiba Dos Mil. We took a long boat ride to look for and photograph birds. There were good numbers of waders and terns, like these Sandwich terns.

This weekend I'll be guiding some birders from Iceland. They are looking for good images of griffon vultures. This one was taken with the last lights of the day. It's one of my favorite photography subjects, and relatively easy to shoot in flight.

It's dragonflies and damselflies' high season and we spent most of the morning watching and photographing them. This one is a male Copper Demoiselle (Calopteryx haemorrhoidalis) in Los Alcornocales, Cadiz, Spain.

Glossy Ibis (Plegadis falcinellus) at La Janda, Spain. We saw more than 300 this afternoon!

The egret colony at La Janda became one of the main attractions this last spring. Just a suggestion to fellow birders and photographers: please, stay in the car and don't linger to avoid disturbing the birds.

... and breeding half an hour from home thanks to a reintroduction program in southern Spain. The only other self-sustainable population remains in Morocco (there's a tiny population in Syria). Cool, weird-looking birds!

Wintering owls of Cadiz. This winter was an exceptional one with the number of Short-eared Owls roosting often with Long-earead Owls. I haven't seen this before or perhaps Long-eared were overlooked..Anyway, Long-eared and Short-eared are always lovely to see, especially in flight. More on my...

Wintering owls Cadiz province, Andalucia, Spain

Display flight by this stunning male

Taken at the salt pans in Bonanza, Cadiz. March 2011

Female White-headed Duck (Oxyura leucocephala) in Laguna de Tarelo (P.N. Entorno de Donana)

Ruddy Turstones resting in a beach of Cadiz (Spain)

Adult Caspian Tern at winter plumage