Friday 29th April
Interesting day in more ways than one?
A day I thought would eventually occur at some point. I / We would bump into each other.
You'd think the person in question would have a real go at me, for calling the person out ( A Stringer ) But No sheepishy asked where my Camera was?
I was a little bit abrupt and shrill ( I shouldn't of, I wasn't brought up that way ) The Camera in the car? "I said" then the silence, we just looked at each other for 30 seconds or so and nothing was said,
It was like something out of an old late 60s Western movie like The Good the Bad and the Ugly, Both eyeing each other up and down, Lee van Cleef vs Clint Eastwood. I can hear the whistles of the Theme music from the film. Anyway, the standoff continue and both eventually went our separate ways down the Dusty town.
You've got to laugh.
There was a similar issue with Scotty Mc boatyface who fabricated sightings of birds and although an exceptionally good birder and had all the skills under the belt just couldn't help himself.
In the end, lost everything including his job as (Tour leader) and any credibility they had.
Back to Birding
Nice weather blue skies and fluffy white clouds. it only took
5 minutes and we were on 35+ Great Bustard,
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| A Crap photo I only took one shot and too far away Thinking I'll get a better chance later in the day which didn't happen. |
15+ Marsh Harriers, 30+ Gull-billed Terns, 10 Whiskered Terns,
Mediterranean Gulls, Golden Orioles,
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| Gull-billed Tern |
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| Gull-billed Tern |
Short-toed Eagle, Booted Eagle, 2 Black Kites, Lesser Kestrel's, Buzzard, Bonelli's Warbler's there's plenty.
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| Black Kite Note the notch in the Tail |
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| Note no notch in the tail and missing feather in the left-wing just record shot for ID |
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| Calandra Lark |
| Curlew Sandpiper's, 30 Glossy Ibis, Common Sandpipers, loads of Calandra larks, Tree Sparrows, 20+Rock Sparrow, Great reed Warbler's, quite a few pairs of Yellow Wagtails. |
And not forgetting the abundant unmentionables. If you name this bird you pay a forfeit and so the game goes on.
I've not mentioned every bird seen or heard
More fun tomorrow have fun.
Sunday 30th April
Today at Montnegra
An amazing twenty minutes of payback, Blue Rock Thrush, Black Wheatear, no sigh again of Trumpeters Finch at the favoured locations. Or any of the other claimed sightings.
But at the moment. Fantastic view of 2 Bonelli's Eagles.
One of the Adult Bonelli's flew off chasing / mobbing a Sub-adult Golden Eagle,
We debated the ID of the 3rd bird which swang from Honey Buzzard.... to Common Buzzard and back again, towing and throwing which we debated time and time again? checking the camera screens and Collin's guide but I think we ended up with the right ID. It was a third Bonelli's Eagle unusual plumage some juvenile secondary still there, but anyway we sorted it in one way or another.
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| Bonelli's Eagle |
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| Bonelli's Eagle |
Trevor and Mark were delighted with the views we had. Mark managed some fantastic photos.
Some Nightingale's around and Red-rumped Swallows no sigh of any Sub-alpine Warbler's today.
Benejúzar 2 May
Karma
what goes around comes around.
We're out a lot of the time Birding and put plenty of time in, and now and again it's payday.
And so it was, one of those days.
Today we toss the coin and Benejúzar won, Nightingale's every 50 meters, or so Turtle Doves, Cetti's Warbler, Common Cuckoo's Purple Heron, and Melodious Warbler are going ballistic.
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| Melodious Warbler |
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| Melodious Warbler |
Stand out moment of the day, Golden Orioles and plenty of them along the side of the river, together we must have seen more than 10 males and heard even more but only one female.
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| Golden Oriole |
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| Golden Oriole |
We spent 30 minutes watching one adult male singing his Flutie head off completely oblivious to us in the car close by, absolutely a Mega moment.
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| Golden Oriole |
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| Golden Oriole |
I must have taken at least a couple of hundred photos most of the first 70 + or so were wasted as Mark having multiple orgasms in the back seat and gyrating trying to find the extension for his new toy.
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| Golden Oriole |
It's the biggest smile I've ever seen on Marks's face, you'd think just scored for Aberdeen.
No big deal plenty of photos to choose from
Unbelievable.
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| Turtle Dove |
And not a weather'S original insight, so Liquorice All Sorts had to do.
A quick dash to La Mata for Montague's Harrier and a no show, to be honest, we hardly saw anything of note.
Plan B
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| Hoopoe |
Let's go get the Rollers a the back of La Marina "good idea" and yet another Blank. With a few Turtle Dove and Bee-eaters, things perked up a bit, Trevor spotted a Male Pied Fly. And so we call it a day and headed off across Santa Pola Salinas along the N332 Trev said we're leaving it late for Montague's Harrier? 30 seconds later you've guessed it? A Male Montague's Harrier drifted across the N332 right in front of us and over the top of the car (very Close).
Unbelievable and true
30 seconds earlier or later we would have missed it
karma
Mega Day
Trevor's total 115 species in just 4 short mornings out and one long day at Petrola.
Not bad for a bunch of old cranky amateur Birders.
Combined birding knowledge of well over a 130 years
Gotta make more news
have a great day
Cheers Bryan
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