Another Week In Spain (1 Viewer)

[Mark Etheridge]

Somewhat unexpectedly I find myself back in the land of sun and sangria, following on from a phone call from my Spanish lawyer who requires my presence to sign something-or-other in person about whatever, which means that whenever something might happen at some unspecified time or other then it will all be legal (or not, as the case may be) :h?:

Anyway, I've got some time to go birding again (in the heat) and I've discovered that birds are up and about long before your average Spaniard, The trick to hot birding is to get up at daft o'clock, bird until it gets too hot, spend the afternoon prostrate beside an ice cold beer, then maybe go out again in the evening. Seems sensible to me....

Anyway, here's the first PajAro del Dia for this trip (I'm not making THAT mistake again!) and it's another (or quite possibly the same) Little Owl, sat in the very same tree as the last one, but I think I got a better shot this time. There aren't very many birds around at the moment, perhaps they're hiding in the shade, but enough to keep my camera busy.

There are a lot of Greater Sunburnt Brits around, but I don't think you'll be wanting to see piccies of those, will you? :-O

 

[Jon Turner]

Somewhat unexpectedly I find myself back in the land of sun and sangria, following on from a phone call from my Spanish lawyer who requires my presence to sign something-or-other in person about whatever, which means that whenever something might happen at some unspecified time or other then it will all be legal (or not, as the case may be) :h?:

Why does this sound so familiar to me?? :C:-C:cat:

 

[Mark Etheridge]

Ah, publication day of my favourite local newspaper The Courier "The Good News Paper".

Today's top story "The Victims", a tale of a Cowboy Solar Heating Company, exploding radiators, incorrectly piped gas, shoddy electrics, distraught Brit pensioners..... all in all, 'good' news to cheer you up. :-C

Today's birds include an Avocet with a Kentish Plover phobia. If he chased the plovers (there were 3 of them) once, he chased them a dozen times - and what's even more strange is that I'm sure the KPs were goading him, they would fly off, go around in a circle and land nearby again waiting for the next charge.

Also as a bonus here's a Squacco Heron, lots of them around at the moment and very visible - strange to think that if one like this appeared in the UK he'd be surrounded by a phalanx of expensive glassware. Why bother with all the fuss and shoving involved in a mass UK twitch when you could be in Spain in two hours and see these birds with not another twitcher in sight?

No Contest! :t:

 

[Mark Etheridge]

To the Solicitor's office this afternoon, where I am amazed to find that in Spain I am officially a Don with regard to legal papers.

If I was a Don in the UK, I suppose I'd be a big cheese in the Open University, or perhaps a footballer with Aberdeen FC. But out here in the Mediterranean area, there's something slightly sinister about it all, I feel I should be stuffing my cheeks with tissue paper and instructing my minions to rub someone out...:eek!:

Much excitement at the local pool this afternoon; all the ducks, Moorhens, Coot and Stilts suddenly went mad - I thought one of the local feral cats had got in again, but no, it was our resident fox again who I managed to see last time. Took 20 shots of him which was no good because I was at 500mm and he was at 75mm range, so mostly they're blurs or shots of tail, bur I managed to get one half decent shot before he ran off at the racket coming from my camera.

After all the excitement, a Black-winged Stilt decided to indulge in a bit of contortionism while settling down again. If I could get my knee that high up while still keeping my balance, I'd join a circus.:hi:

 

[Debra G.]

Great stuff as usual Mark! Your stories and pics always raise a smile

 

[June Atkinson]

What a beauty!

Lovely capture, Mark. Your reward for getting up early!

June

Somewhat unexpectedly I find myself back in the land of sun and sangria, following on from a phone call from my Spanish lawyer who requires my presence to sign something-or-other in person about whatever, which means that whenever something might happen at some unspecified time or other then it will all be legal (or not, as the case may be) :h?:

Anyway, I've got some time to go birding again (in the heat) and I've discovered that birds are up and about long before your average Spaniard, The trick to hot birding is to get up at daft o'clock, bird until it gets too hot, spend the afternoon prostrate beside an ice cold beer, then maybe go out again in the evening. Seems sensible to me....

Anyway, here's the first PajAro del Dia for this trip (I'm not making THAT mistake again!) and it's another (or quite possibly the same) Little Owl, sat in the very same tree as the last one, but I think I got a better shot this time. There aren't very many birds around at the moment, perhaps they're hiding in the shade, but enough to keep my camera busy.

There are a lot of Greater Sunburnt Brits around, but I don't think you'll be wanting to see piccies of those, will you? :-O

 

[Mark Etheridge]

Lovely capture, Mark. Your reward for getting up early!June

Tell me about it... at 6 o'clock this morning (5 your time) I was out and about in the pine plantation near the sea where the Rufous Bushchat lives. During the main part of the day, you can't move for joggers, cyclists, noisy family parties and dubious chinamen trying to sell you DVDs, or (as on one memorable occasion last year) an unexpected local Spaniard asking me if I was alright as I crawled on hands and knees in pursuit of the bird - he thought I'd had a heart attack. :eek!:

So here's 3 examples of failure in an attempt to catch that "mastershot" which still seems to elude me. First off, a good pose but he's in the shade and I'd forgotten to raise the ISO to get it sharper. Next, the sun is beginning to catch his plumage and show off the russet colours, but his head's still in the shade, and finally here he is in bright sunshine, tail up showing off a typical Rufous Bushchat pose, but there are twigs in the way, d'oh! :C

These are the best of about 70 shots I took this morning, once again a Mega bird if seen in the UK but how much more satisfying to see it in its natural habitat.

Bonus piccie - a smart little Spotted Flycatcher just round the corner from the Bushchat.

 

[Sandra (Taylor)]

Oh, you photographers - the better your photos are the more 'picky' you are! Those are delightful. And the twigs add to the interest, IMHO. But what do I know.......... LOL

Sandra

 

[Mark Etheridge]

When the outside air temperature hits 37 degrees, which it did this afternoon, I wonder why it feels so hot? After all, that's a normal human body temperature, so by rights you should feel exactly comfortable - not too cold, but not too warm - but instead you feel like you are slowly being spit-roasted.

So why these Little Grebes should be having at each other in the heat, expending all that energy when they should ideally be setting down to a nice convivial ice cream is beyond me. After all, the breeding season is well advanced, there's not much point in laying claim to territory any more, mummy grebes are tending to the chicks; what's going on?

The answer becomes clear in the last photo - they are kicking water over each other. In fact, it's a good way of keeping cool while maintaining a macho outlook on life.

That's my theory for today, make of it what you will...:brains:

 

[Mark Etheridge]

The Return of the Famous ID Quiz

I used to pose a few ID quizzes in the old OUSA Birdwatchers Forum which seemed to go down well, so would anyone like a go at this which I took this morning?

It's on the British list, this bird is a juvenile and I have much better shots of it which I will post in due course

 

[Mark Etheridge]

A Grand Day Out

Funny how a day which starts out in a very unpromising fashion can become quite memorable...

This morning was dull and overcast, quite unlike the brochure version of the Costa Blanca, but I'd planned to visit El Hondo reserve anyway. By the time I got there, the clouds were beginning to break up a little and there were plenty of birds flying about.

My first good shot is this really unusual view of a Little Egret, you don't realise how dumpy and heavy they are until you see it like this! The second picture shows the more traditional view of this bird.

Next up is a Whiskered Tern, there are hundreds, possibly thousands of them at El Hondo, watching them is like being at the Farnborough air show, if you miss one flypast there'll be another along in a minute.

I was joined in the hide by Alan, a birder from Northumberland who like me has a property in Spain, so with two pairs of eyes now watching for movement, we caught this Little Bittern which had landed in the reeds at some distance away, but which had decided to sit in the open air for a good half-hour, most unusual behaviour for these birds. Not the clearest of shots, but a good record.

The flypast continued with a somewhat bedraggled Purple Heron, looking a bit like a Lancaster bomber which had been shot up by the Luftwaffe, but is gamely making its way back to base.

Alan showed me another hide in the reserve which I didn't know about, and there was a good flock of Black-tailed Godwits there, some quite stunning in their summer plumage, but too far off for decent photography.

On the way back to the car, I had good distant views of Glossy Ibis, and then had one of those irritating little birding moments which makes you feel a bit of a Twit. An unusual little call came from the reedbeds and a nondescript bird perched out in the tops of the reeds well within camera range. I fired off a dozen shots, and posted the results in the BirdForum ID section in this thread:
http://www.birdforum.net/showthread.php?t=204468

It wouldn't have been so bad if I hadn't correctly identified at least another 20 of them elsewhere during the morning! :C

No-one's bitten at my ID quiz from this morning, I'll give you until tomorrow for suggestions, then all will be revealed...:-O

 

[Stephen Fletcher]

Bearded Tit

 

[Mark Etheridge]

... so there we were, sitting in a hide at El Hondo enjoying all the flypasts, when there was a noise in the reeds just to the right of us.

Stephen's ID is spot on - this is what we saw :t::t::t:

There was a mad scramble to the window and we got in each others way, but the birds seemed unfazed by our banging and crashing to get a good view, and I ended up with about 40 shots, 15 of which are quite useable. Life birds for both myself and Alan, they quite made our day.

I woke up this morning with 5 mozzie bites on my arms, but these birds made them completely worth it.

 

[Mark Etheridge]

The big news in Spain today is that the national speed limit, which had been lowered to 110 kph in order to save money, is being put back to 120 kph - obviously the Spanish national debt has been wiped out, and millions of unemployed people are now back in work busily replacing all the road signs. :-O

Actually all it means is that you arrive at the scene of your accident a bit faster. :eek!: Besides that, many Spanish drivers view speed limits in the same way that some twitchers view their competitors bird lists - something to be beaten if at all possible.

Talking of speed, I had to be very quick (and accurate) to get this shot today. I was in a hide at my local nature reserve when I spotted this Stone Curlew coming in to land right in front of me - as soon as I had taken this shot it was off again, the other 6 shots are all blurred as it disappeared at high speed. I'm very pleased with this one, though! :t:

 

[Mark Etheridge]

.....and that's the end of it, Mr Easyjet beckons early tomorrow :flyaway:

The one irritating thing about this trip is that I am being persecuted - by a bird. It lives quite near my house, and occasionally perches in clear view either on my roof or one of the ones over the road. It does this at quite specific times.

Those times are exactly when I'm either dripping wet out of the shower, or my camera is in bits being cleaned, having a long cool drink B (me, not the camera) or when I first open the door in the morning, bleary-eyed and not quite with it. It looks at me, nods briefly, then flies away before I can get the camera out and doesn't return until I'm not ready for it again.

It's a Black Wheatear, and I haven't got a decent shot of one....:C

Anyway, your final shots are of a Glossy Ibis, A Night Heron and an amazing double-headed Collared Dove. This last one would make a good logo for a political party methinks.....:-O

Back here mid-September when the attractions will include lots of migrating birds!

TTFN :king:

 

[steve west]

The big news in Spain today is that the national speed limit, which had been lowered to 110 kph in order to save money, is being put back to 120 kph - obviously the Spanish national debt has been wiped out, and millions of unemployed people are now back in work busily replacing all the road signs. :-O

Actually all it means is that you arrive at the scene of your accident a bit faster. :eek!: Besides that, many Spanish drivers view speed limits in the same way that some twitchers view their competitors bird lists - something to be beaten if at all possible.

Talking of speed, I had to be very quick (and accurate) to get this shot today. I was in a hide at my local nature reserve when I spotted this Stone Curlew coming in to land right in front of me - as soon as I had taken this shot it was off again, the other 6 shots are all blurred as it disappeared at high speed. I'm very pleased with this one, though! :t:

Where's the "like" button on this forum?

Steve