Michael´s Year

[michael-ibk]

123.) Spotted Redshank (Tringa erythropus) / Dunkler Wasserläufer

 

[michael-ibk]

And that´s it for Seewinkel. Of course we also saw many of the 84 birds I had already featured (including Hoopoe - twice!!!), all in all by my count we saw 96 different species, and I´m sure with a scope and more patience and knowledge there would have been even more. A few repetitions:

 

Northern Shoveler

 

 

Yellow-legged Gull

 

 

Common Shelduck

 

 

Goldfinch

 

 

 

Western Yellow Wagtail - birders love this one, lots of different subspecies identifiable by very subtle differences especially in the facial mask. Me - no clue!

 

 

 

Song Thrush

 

 

Hooded Crow

 

 

Barn Swallow chicks

 

[michael-ibk]

And a new one from last Sunday in Carinthia:

 

124.) Spotted Flycatcher (Muscicapa striata) / Grauschnäpper

 

 

A few other ones from my morning walk - where I saw a Hoopoe (again!) and maybe or maybe not a Goshawk (can´t even tell by the picture, too far away)

 

 

 

 

 

 

(I thought this was a Wood Warbler but now I´m tending towards Chiffchaff again - any thoughts?)

 

 

 

 

 

[Peter Connan]

Goodness gracious Michael! You're on a roll!

 

The Bee-eaters in post #100 are stunning.

[xelas]

Wow, that is turning into a proper duel ! Great stuff, @@michael-ibk . One question: on a couple of photos the birds are very small and difficult to recognise. Was it the guide who ID them?

[michael-ibk]

Partly, yes, like the Pygmy Cormorant, the Crested Lark or the Lesser Spotted Eagle. Other stuff like the Stonechat or the Black-Necked Grebe I recognized myself - I do have quite good binocs.

[elefromoz]

@@michael-ibk, fantastic,in my ignorance I'd never really considered Austria, and others, as having so many birds migrating through. The Bee-eaters are beautiful of course, always are the world over. Love the Owl and the Avocets. What a great way to spend a few days away.

[michael-ibk]

Since my return from South Africa I haven´t gotten around to doing much birding here in Austria. And when I did - no new birds. Even a deliberate try to get some alpine birds (Alpine Accentor, Mountain Pipit, Snowfinch ...) totally failed - although it was of course a beautiful hike. Only a somewhat better pic of a Spotted Nutcracker was the reward - really not much.

 

 

So the only thing I could do was leave the country.

 

I was in Barcelona last week (for work reasons) and managed to spend one day birding in the Ebro Delta. (I went with Carles Oliver from Birding Point Barcelona, a friendly and knowledgeable guide.) I saw 69 species there in that outing (not too bad for summer I was told), and fortunately a few new ones among them. So, all the following pics were taken in the Delta, on July 9th.

Edited July 13, 2016 by michael-ibk

[michael-ibk]

125) Little Grebe (Tachybaptus ruficollis) / Zwergtaucher

 

[michael-ibk]

126.) Little Bittern (Ixobrychus minutus) / Zwergdommel

 

 

[michael-ibk]

127.) Black-Crowned Night Heron (Nycticorax nycticorax) / Nachtreiher

 

[michael-ibk]

128.) Cattle Egret (Bubulcus ibis) / Kuhreiher

 

A lot more exciting to see them in Europe than in Africa where one just takes them for granted. They are expanding their range, some have even been recorded in Austria this year (at Lake Constance).

 

 

 

I already had Little Egret in the count but only from very far away so here is another one:

 

 

The ricefields of the Delta. Herons just love them.

 

 

A comparison shot of Cattle and Little Egret:

 

[michael-ibk]

129.) Squacco Heron (Ardeola ralloides) / Rallenreiher

 

 

[michael-ibk]

130.) Purple Heron (Ardea purpurea) / Purpurreiher

 

 

 

[michael-ibk]

131.) Glossy Ibis (Plegadis falcinellus) / Sichler

 

 

 

[michael-ibk]

132.) Greater Flamingo (Phoenicopterus roseus) / Rosaflamingo

 

Fantastic seeing them, this was a bit like being in Africa.

 

 

Don´t worry, I did get closer.

 

 

 

 

 

[michael-ibk]

133.) Purple Swamphen (Porphyrio porphyrio) / Purpurhuhn

 

High on my list, and these ones were not that easy - very shy, always flew off the second we spotted them.

 

 

 

 

And a picture of a Moorhen because the pic from Austria was from very far away:

 

[michael-ibk]

I already have Avocet and Black-Winged Stilt in the count, but they are such cool birds, and the Stilts were so omnipresent that I just have to post a few pictures of them:

 

 

 

 

[michael-ibk]

134.) Collared Pratincole (Glareola pratincola) / Rotflügel-Brachschwalbe

 

Sorry, but the Stilts photobombed a lot of shots.

 

 

[michael-ibk]

135.) Kentish Plover (Charadrius alexandrinus) / Seeregenpfeifer

 

 

 

[michael-ibk]

136.) Grey Plover (Pluvialis squatarola) / Kiebitzregenpfeifer

 

We are getting deep into "ebc"-territory here with this one - and a few others yet to come. (Getting even semi-acceptable long distance shots in Spain in July pretty much out of the questoin - heat haze is strong.)

 

[michael-ibk]

137.) Green Sandpiper (Tringa ochropus) / Waldwasserläufer

 

[michael-ibk]

138.) Common Greenshank (Tringa nebularia) / Grünschenkel

 

[michael-ibk]

139.) Slender-Billed Gull ((Chroicocephalus genei or Larus genei) / Dünnschnabelmöwe

 

 

(The two red-legged birds, the others are Gull-Billed and Whiskered Terns.)

 

Edited July 13, 2016 by michael-ibk

[michael-ibk]

140.) Little Gull (Hydrocoloeus or Larus minutus) / Zwergmöwe

 

Sorry about the very bad picture. This is the smallest gull, and it´s apparently quite rare (at least in Spain), Carles was very excited to see it.