Elefromoz and her first year

[elefromoz]

I have been enjoying all the amazing photos posted here over the last several weeks whilst holidaying in Spain. Im now trying to identify my Spanish birds so I can post the photos, they won't be "amazing" in quality, but that is something I hope to improve on in the coming years. I may have to wait til @@PeterHG posts his spectacular Spanish collection, then I can cheat on some IDs .

Meanwhile, here are some very common ones in my riverside area, all taken in May, June.

 

43. Musk Ducks just paddling in, they are usually in fairly large numbers.

 

 

44. Yellow Rumped Thornbill

 

45. White Ibis

 

46. Pink and Grey Galah in my garden

 

47. Darter

 

48. White faced Heron

 

49. Weebill

 

50. (Yea!) Willy Wagtail, smallest, commonest little bird in my area, also the most fearless and tenacious.

 

51. Australian Shelduck pair

 

52.Black Fronted Dotterel

 

53. Magpie Lark

 

54. Buff Banded Rail (not so commonly sighted here, shy and tends to bolt for cover when disturbed)

 

I've posted the Osprey before but I had fun watching this one eating fish yesterday, I know Safaritalkers love a bit of "blood and guts" (used appropriately ).

 

 

 

Oops, lucky no-one was standing under the tree!

 

Lucky also theres more goodies to be had, going...

 

Going...

 

Gone

[elefromoz]

Yesterday was a lovely sunny winters day so we took a stroll around Herdsman Lake, it is a freshwater lake with about an 8km circumference, a remnant of the chain of wetlands that once flowed through our metropolitan area. It sits just a couple of kilometres north of the CBD. Over 100 species have been recorded here, so , I'll be back.

 

55. Whistling Kite

 

56. Dusky Moorhen

 

57. Straw Necked Ibis

 

58. Swamp Harrier

 

 

59. Eurasian Coot

 

60. Purple Moorhen

 

61. Glossy Ibis

 

62. Laughing Dove

 

63. Hardhead

 

64. Pink Eared Duck

 

65. Freckled Duck

[TonyQ]

@@elefromoz

You really do have some beautiful birds in your area. What an amazing bird the Pink and Grey Galah is to get in your garden!

[Atdahl]

@@elefromoz, great shots! Love the Black Duck and Osprey sequences.

[michael-ibk]

Super Osprey sequence! And agree with the others about the Galah, what a cool bird to have in one´s garden.

[elefromoz]

In June we spent 4plus weeks in Spain, self-driving, 3 weeks in Andalucia and the remainder of days split between Aragon in the Pyrenees and the Costa Brava. Only a few of the days were in cities and large towns, rather we focussed on National/Natural Parks. There were Birds everywhere at every turn! Many species have been posted by others here, so a lot will be repeats to you. As Im new to this game they are all new sights to me, all "lifers", lucky me. For every bird I managed to catch a quick snap of, I missed three or four. We spent one day out with Peter Jones in the Serrania de Ronda, every three seconds driving along he'd be pointing saying "theres a ....", most I missed, couldn't keep up with his expert eye. I should add, Spain is a very beautiful country indeed.

 

66. Starting off badly, just going to call this "Barcelona Seagull", given up trying to identify Hopefully no punishment for that

 

and Juvenile

 

67. Goldfinch

 

68. Red-Rumped Swallow

 

69. Short Toed Eagle

 

70. Rock Bunting

 

71. White Wagtail

 

72. Grey Wagtail

 

 

73. Rock Dove

 

74. House Sparrow

 

75. Corn Bunting

 

76. Thekla Lark

 

77. Crested Lark ( or maybe the same as above?)

 

78. Woodchat Shrike

 

79. Black Wheatear

 

89. Black Eared Wheatear

 

81. Honey Buzzard. Stood on the rooftop deck of our little Hotel in Cartajima watching dozens of these fly past on their migration north from Africa, very exciting.

 

 

To be cont....

[TonyQ]

@@elefromoz

It lools like a very productive trip to Spain - beautiful shots of the Honey Buzzard (I've never seen one)

Gulls and Larks are very difficult to identify . Your 2 larks look different to my non-expert eyes!

[PeterHG]

@@elefromoz

Great to see your Spain collection and looking forward to more. Excellent sighting and photos of the Honey Buzzard! I think your "Barcelona Gull" would be a Yellow-legged Gull. Conclusions on Thekla Lark and Crested Lark are always very hard, but I tend to go with your ID's. It is much more usual for a Thekla Lark than a Crested Lark to choose a high perch, so that would support it, too.

[elefromoz]

@@TonyQ, @@PeterHG, thanks for being kind enough to concur with my Lark ID Glad you both enjoyed the Honey Buzzard, it was apparently quite late for them to be migrating, what luck for us seeing such big flocks coming through with such a determined look on their faces.

 

82. A European thread wouldn't be complete without the European Bee-Eater, we saw a lot of them. A bit disturbing though, was the fact that they were often in meadows that were home to cows and goats. I found it a bit distressing seeing cows grazing and walking over and around their nesting hollows.

 

 

A poor attempt at a lightning fast BEIF

 

83. Spotless Starling, on a particularly unattractive piece of rooftop

 

84. Mistle Thrush

 

85. Common Pochard and 86. Little Grebe. We had a night at El-Rocio in Donana NP, heres a few from there, more later

 

 

87. White Stork

 

 

88. Azure Winged Magpie

 

89. Eurasian Spoonbill, I like the Spanish name "Espatula"

 

90. Grey Heron

 

91. Mallard pair

 

 

92. Reed Warbler

 

93. Griffon Vulture, the ever-present star of our trip, over Grazalema NP

 

 

 

 

To be cont...

[elefromoz]

A few more from Donana NP.

 

93. Magpie

 

94. Purple Heron

 

95. Cattle Egret

 

96. Common Kestrel, I think, tricky to differentiate Common and Lesser

 

A closer look showed he was carrying something

 

I took this one several days later, the colours were quite different, adding to the confusion

 

97. Black Kite, again not completely sure, tail shape, and ID brochure from the VC states "Milano Negro", Black Kite common here, so Im going with it. First look..

 

Then overhead, sun-lit

 

98. Greater Flamingo, what really bought us down this way

 

 

 

 

To be continued...

[elefromoz]

99. Chaffinch

 

100. Yea! I had to pick one of my favourites for this milestone. Little Owl, Andujar

 

101. Back to a couple of "dodgy" IDs. Green Parrot, Seville. I tried really hard to ID next two, but Google couldn't come up with much.

 

 

102. Same lame excuse...Duck, Seville

 

103. Red Legged Partridge

 

104. Kingfisher (yes it takes a bit of imagination)

 

105. Sardinian Warbler and Juv.

 

 

 

106. Great Spotted Woodpecker

 

107. Hoopoe

 

108. Imperial Eagle

 

109. Stonechat

 

110. Nuthatch

 

111. Robin

 

To be cont...

[xelas]

# 102. Mother Mallard with ducklings??

[TonyQ]

@@elefromoz

Congratulations on reaching 100! I have really enjoyed the journey.

Lovely pictures - I really like the Sardinian Warbler with juvenile.

I would agree that 102 is probably a mallard (non-expert view)

I wonder if your Green Parrot is a Ring-necked Parakeet (International name "Rose-ringed Parakeet)

I don't really know about birds in Spain (that sounds as if I know about them anywhere else ) but quite a few of these now live in the UK - originally escaped or released from pet trade but they now live and breed in many parts of England (including Birmingham, though I haven't seen them yet) - so they certainly could survive in Seville (and a quick google search says that they are found there).

[elefromoz]

@@xelas, when I google "Mallard, Seville", I get 3 variations of Roasted Mallard with a Seville Orange Sauce! Yes, you are right, a Mallard, -1. Thanks

@@TonyQ, I had thought that, just thrown by the absent "rose ring", but yes, you are right too. Thanks

[Peter Connan]

Well done on the 100!

[PeterHG]

@@elefromoz,

Great collection of Spanish birds! With even an Imperial Eagle, I'm not jealous at all...

I agree with the verdict of Rose-ringed Parakeet. It would be a juvenile, since the head markings are still absent

[elefromoz]

We spent our last day in the Pyrenees focussing on Raptors and Birds of Prey. It really was one of the best days of the trip. We travelled between Escalon and Revilla and the numbers of Vultures, Hawks and Eagles was staggering. Driving along large shadows would go over the car and it would be a flock of Griffin Vultures and the accompanying other birds. Other times we parked roadside and they were so close overhead it was impossible to take a photo. We had lunch at a restaurant en-route where we sat and watched them all circling overhead. At some point they all gathered on the ground, obviously a carcass of some point "arrived, don't know from where/whom, and it was a feeding frenzy behind the hill.My limited photography skills can only give a glimpse of the Photographic opportunities here.

 

111. Egyptian Vulture

 

112. Red Tailed Kite

 

113. Booted Eagle

 

14. Bearded Vulture

 

off with a bone, which looks small until you remember how big this bird is

 

 

 

A little bit of mid-air "argy-bargy"

 

 

If you look closely you can see the Adult on the very lowest branch and the two Juveniles on the upper branches. They look like two little Hobbits, hard to believe they will be a beautiful as their parent one day. Great to see.

 

and of course the Griffins were in abundance

 

 

The next day we drove out, stopping at the medieval Fort at Ainsa, and were entertained for half an hour by this. I was fascinated by how simply tilting the tail one way or another completely controlled the flight pattern

 

 

 

 

sometimes sooo close

 

[michael-ibk]

Congratulations on reaching #100! You obviously had a great trip in Spain, really impressed with the number of species you managed to get. Just wow to all those Vultures, what a great place.

[TonyQ]

@@elefromoz

Fabulous picturesof the vultures and Kites. That looks like an amazing place!

[PeterHG]

@@elefromoz,

That was definitely vulture country ( well, raptor country, really)! With even Bearded Vulture and Egyptian Vulture at close range. Great set of pictures of them all!

[Atdahl]

@@elefromoz, way to hit 100 in style, with an owl no less. Awesome! Love all the photos from Spain especially the Bee Eater and tremendous raptors. Have you thought about indulging us with a full trip report? I never really though of Spain as a wildlife destination but I bet you saw some cool mammals and reptiles to go with these birds.

 

Alan

[Peter Connan]

Wow! Wish I could see that!

[elefromoz]

@@michael-ibk, yep, Spain was a great country to travel, although I did have to compromise (side-tracked a bit by history, culture, beaches...other half has a certain tolerance level of furry and feathered things and at times that level was reached)

@@TonyQ, @@PeterHG, thanks, Spain is just a short hop-away for you both. I was very envious of the Europeans (and English..) who had boarded their flights just a few hours earlier and were now sitting down to dinner in Spain.

@@Atdahl, Spain has a bit of everything and yes we did see "some" Mammals, although I am still grieving missing the Lynx.Have to think about that for the future, of course there are also Bears and Wolf ( didn't go to that area), again maybe another trip. If birds are your thing, can't go wrong. We just touched the sides.

@@Peter Connan, thanks, just wish I could see a quarter of whats in your backyard

 

Anyway, a few last stragglers from Spain

115. Blackcap, Pyrenees

 

116. Jay, Costa Brava

 

117. Crested Tit, Costa Brava

 

118. Black Redstart ( I think all but not sure, but happy to be corrected) Andalusia, El Torcal

 

Sierra Nevada

 

 

And just a couple of "haven't got a clues", Andujar

 

Sierra Nevada, looks a lot like the Reed Warbler I posted earlier, but in the mountains so I guess not

 

Guess this doesn't count Pollo

[michael-ibk]

Hm, maybe a Nightingale? Not sure, though - have never seen one. No clue about the second one.

[PeterHG]

I think @@michael-ibk is right about the Nightingale. Don't know the other one either, I'm afraid.