Peter's third attempt

[PeterHG]

260. Serin. June, Spanish Pyrenees. It always stayed pretty far away, but the high-pitched song always alerted us to it's presence.

 

[PeterHG]

When I walked down to a stream with a little bridge from our cottage on the first morning after our arrival, I was pleasantly surprised by the close fly-by of a few Egyptian Vultures (see earlier post for one of them). It was too good a sighting to resist posting another one. This is an adult bird.

 

And this one, with a lot more brown in its plumage, was a subadult.

 

The Ravens obviously did not like their presence

 

 

Ah, that brings me to number 261. Raven, June. Spanish Pyrenees. The wedge-shaped tail shows well in this pose.

 

 

 

[PeterHG]

262. Griffon Vulture. June, Spanish Pyrenees. We saw lots of them every day. At one stage we witnessed a group of over 200 vultures circling above us. I had never seen that many at the same time. This one was taken when standing on our own terrace on the first floor of the cottage, when a steady stream of some 30 vultures sailed by, some less than 10 metres over our heads. I'll probably show you some more vulture pics later on, but this was really special.

 

[Peter Connan]

Sounds special indeed! Would love to see more.

[TonyQ]

Amazing Griffon Vulture, and the Melodious Warbler is a pretty little bird.

[elefromoz]

@PeterHG, fantastic shot of the Griffon, we stayed a bit further north, closer to Ordesa NP, like you, was so wowed by the number of Vultures in the area.

[PeterHG]

1 hour ago, elefromoz said:

@PeterHG, fantastic shot of the Griffon, we stayed a bit further north, closer to Ordesa NP, like you, was so wowed by the number of Vultures in the area.

Ordesa is also a beautiful place,; we went there a few years ago. The scenery is amazing.

[PeterHG]

262. Golden Eagle. June, Spanish Pyrenees. Very high up, but I was happy to even get a glimpse of one.

 

[PeterHG]

263. Corn Bunting. June, Spanish Pyrenees. Abundant, throughout the area. 

 

 

 

[PeterHG]

264. Black Wheatear. June, Spanish Pyrenees. A lifer for me. I only saw it for a few seconds and just managed this shot. An hour afterwards I saw it briefly again.

 

 

Edited July 3, 2018 by PeterHG

[PeterHG]

265. Black-eared Wheatear. June, Spanish Pyrenees. The 'hispanica' subspecies.

 

[Galana]

Great Wheatears. Well done.

[TonyQ]

The Black-eared Wheatear is a very striking bird.

[PeterHG]

266. Rock Dove. June, Spanish Pyrenees. Well, I don't really know how pure the Spanish population is, so it might also be, entirely or partly, a feral pigeon.

[PeterHG]

267. Black Redstart. June, Spanish Pyrenees.

 

[PeterHG]

268. Crag Martin. June, Spanish Pyrenees. Fairly common, but pretty hard to photograph as they often fly in front of cliffs and slopes. You have to wait till it is free of the background for a moment for the AF to lock on.

 

[PeterHG]

269. Rock Sparrow. June, Spanis Pyrenees. Another lifer for me. They are rather inconspicuous, but here the diagnostic yellow throat is clearly visible. Well clearly....

 

[PeterHG]

270. Spotless Starling. June, Spanish Pyrenees. When one gets a good look at these starlings the difference is much greater than just lacking the spots. The elongated feathers of crown, throat and breast are not noticeable when you see them in flight, but this perched starling shows them well.

 

[PeterHG]

It's always hard to tell the difference between a Thekla Lark and a Crested lark, they are both fairly common in Spain. perhaps even more so in a juvenile, but I'll hazard a guess that this is a juvenile Thekla. The bill is noticeably shorter than with the Crested lark and lacks the curve of the crested  lark. So:

271. Thekla Lark. June, Spanish Pyrenees. I'll take it out of the count again if I'm convinced otherwise.

 

Edited July 5, 2018 by PeterHG

[PeterHG]

272. Here is a definite Crested Lark. June. Los Monegros, Spain. We went out to the plains of Los Monegros and Belchite and that is certainly lark country...

 

 

And in flight:

[PeterHG]

273. Calandra Lark. June, Los Monegros, Spain. Heavy bill and dark underwings

 

 

 

[PeterHG]

274. Greater Short-toed Lark. June, Los Monegros, Spain

 

 

 

Hard to spot in this environment....

 

 

 

[PeterHG]

275. Lesser Short-toed Lark. June, Belchite, Spain.

 

 

Apart from the larks birding was not very productive that day, but the scenery was impressive

 

[xelas]

Nice selection of Larks, @PeterHG! Working steadily your way towards The 300!

[PeterHG]

And, like everywhere else there was no shortage of Black Kites !

 

276. Black Kite. June, Belchite, Spain.