Pajero del Dia (1 Viewer)

[Sancho]

I'm not much of a gaelic speaker and can't vouch for the accuracy of this. I wouldn't worry about it. o

I can vouch for it. At least in Irish Gaelic, "Bod" (pronounced "Budh") means exactly what you think it means. But why one can't be a straw-carrier escapes me..... Great shots, Mark, and superb thread. I envy you, having lived in the north of Spain in the late eighties but unfortunately not, at the time, an active birder (or straw-carrier for that matter). Keep the photos coming!

 

[Mark Etheridge]

Bird of the Day 25 May

Hot, hot, hot - the temperature is up to 34 degrees during the day and that is not good for someone who is more used to Aberdeen and North Sea conditions...

So that means birding is restricted to early morning and evening, even the birds are finding it a bit much and they all disappear during the heat of the day. But conversely it makes them easier to see if you can find a stretch of water where they come for a cooling-off bathe and a drink.

Here's a Spotless Starling doing just that, subtly different from our own familiar UK bird and during the winter in Spain you can compare the two species side-by-side.

As an added bonus, I caught this fox out in the open late this afternoon, he's caught a rabbit - and there are plenty of those about which is why he looks to be in an excellent condition. I had the camera on continuous shooting, which is why he is looking in my direction - wondering what the heck that noise is :eek!:

Won the pub quiz tonight, mostly by knowing that Arthur Mullard and Hylda Baker did a version of "You're the One that I Want"....:smoke:

 

[Mark Etheridge]

Bird of the Day 26 May

Went up into the mountains near Alicante today with Graham as my guide in order to avoid the hot weather - FAIL
Went in search of Bonelli's (both Eagles and Warblers) - FAIL
Tried to get photos of very distant birds - FAIL

Never mind, it was actually a very good morning out, superb scenery, distant views of Black and Black-eared Wheatear, Rock Sparrow, Blue Rock Thrush, Thekla Lark, Dartford and Subalpine Warblers, Bee-eaters and Woodchat Shrike, plus being serenaded by invisible Nightingales.

Two birds for today then, see if you can spot the difference. There was a thread elsewhere in BirdForum detailing the differences between Thekla and Crested Lark which are quite similar birds, but Graham gave me a simpleton's guide to identification. If they're on the ground, they're Crested, if they're perching on a tree or overhead wire, they're Theklas. Simples! :brains:

Thought for the day, when you're driving up a Spanish mountain on a single track road with hairpin bends, blind corners and sheer drops to one side, what's the last thing you want to meet coming the other way?

Answer - a gigantic cement truck driven by a mad Spaniard at well over the posted speed limit! Just as well we'd already pulled over to look at the Bonelli's Eagle nest site, ten minutes later and I've have had to send you this message via Derek Acorah.....o

 

[Mark Etheridge]

Bird of the Day 27 May

Got a real shock today - while walking around the Spanish Town of El Altet (near Alicante Airport) we came across a restaurant advertising a full lunch (starter, main and sweet along with a glass of wine) for 2 Euros 90 Cents (a bit less than £2.50). This sort of price is unheard of in Spain, usually you're looking at at least 8 Euros...

The place was packed but we found a spare table, and when we had our meal we understood just why the place was so busy - superb grub and I'm not going to tell you where it is because then everyone will go there. :eat:

Talking of grub, I wish I'd taken this photo 15 seconds before, because you would have seen a lizard's tale hanging from this Little Owl's beak. A quite common bird out here and very easy to see and he doesn't even ask for 2 Euros 90c for modelling fees.

Cooler day today with hazy clouds, but still need the a/c on in both the house and car, we could really do with one of Spain's famous thunderstorms to clear the air :storm:

 

[john-henry]

Two birds for today then, see if you can spot the difference. There was a thread elsewhere in BirdForum detailing the differences between Thekla and Crested Lark which are quite similar birds, but Graham gave me a simpleton's guide to identification. If they're on the ground, they're Crested, if they're perching on a tree or overhead wire, they're Theklas. Simples!

If only it was that simple Mark, if you took that as the criteria for ID there would be a lot of duff records going around, it's not unusual to see Crested on bushes etc and of course Thekla feed on the ground, a more useful pointer would be Theklas are usually found in more stoney areas than Crested.

Keep the photos coming though, brings back good memories of a couple of trips I've had to your area.

 

[Mark Etheridge]

I should have put an enormous after my comment!

Other top "tips" I have learnt from experts over the years include:

If you can't recognise a bird's call, it's a Great Tit.
Any LBJ that you only caught half a glimpse of is a House Sparrow.
The Hawfinch and the Lesser-spotted Woodpecker are figments of the observer's imagination......

 

[Sancho]

I should have put an enormous after my comment!

Other top "tips" I have learnt from experts over the years include:

If you can't recognise a bird's call, it's a Great Tit.
Any LBJ that you only caught half a glimpse of is a House Sparrow.
The Hawfinch and the Lesser-spotted Woodpecker are figments of the observer's imagination......

:-O Enjoying the thread, and still envying you.

There's another top tip in Ireland that has had to be revised. It used to be:

"If a neighbour tells you there's a great spotted woodpecker in their garden, it's a jay".

Revised version:

"If a neighbour tells you there's a great spotted woodpecker in their garden, it's a great spotted woodpecker".

 

[Mark Etheridge]

Bird of the Day 28 May

A most unusual visitor to the nature reserve this morning, an Audouin's Gull. Usually to be found on the saltpans, this one is on the local freshwater pool, I think he had his eye on the Mallard brood of ducklings, which has gone down over the past week from eleven to just the five survivors - usually a pair of marauding Yellow-legged Gulls have been doing the damage but I fear this Audouin's may have been joining in the "fun".

Still, I bet they weren't as interrupted as we were during our lunch in nearby Santa Pola today by the "looky-looky" boys :C. We had no less than seventeen of them approach us trying to sell gold bracelets which go green, kiddies toy dogs which yap incessantly, knock-off Nigel DVDs and CDs which are unwatchable and unlistenable in any domestic machine, and watches which stop as soon as the seller has disappeared round the corner. Even the Spanish hate these guys.

Not to mention the accordionist who plays the keyboard (badly)with one finger, has no idea of what the right-hand buttons on the accordion do, and who only knows one tune - 'O Sole Mio' which isn't even Spanish....:h?:

Bitten on my left big toe by a mozzie during last night, the wife very unsympathic saying that it will be good exercise for me to be bending down and scratching it. :-@

 

[Mark Etheridge]

Bird of the Day 29 May

Mr EasyJet beckons tomorrow :flyaway:

So it's back to Aberdeen and then on Wednesday back to the wild Atlantic Ocean for another 3 weeks :C

It's been a good holiday, I have now learnt the correct Spanish word for "bird" which I promise I will not forget. I also know how to refuse a plate of Octopus or "Pulpo" in Spanish too.... pulpo is exactly the correct word for this disgusting mess of a meal.

So to finish off with (and at the cost of the scar on my leg which has only partially healed) I present that most Mediterranean of birds - the Sardinian Warbler. They seem to be everywhere, and their rasping little call and song is a good one to learn so that you can differentiate with the other birds.

We've decided (well SWMBO has decided) that we will be back out here at the end of JUly - how the devil will I be able to bird in that sort of heat?

I know B B B

TTFN
Mark

 

[Sancho]

Congrats on a superb trip and thread, Mark. Safe home. I just can't believe you didn't like "pulpo"!

 

[Mark Etheridge]

I like most fish - and it has to be said that the fish cuisine in Spain is generally excellent - but I tried it once and vowed "never again". It wasn't so much the flavour as the texture, the thought of all those tentacles |:x|

Well my bird of the day today is a Blackbird, singing away on a tree behind my house in Aberdeen this evening, nice but I'm missing Spain already!