Michael´s Sixth Year

[Peter Connan]

21 hours ago, pedro maia said:

 

Matt is the Ultimate Braai Master?

Indeed he is.

[Dave Williams]

Envious! Portugal looks like a great birding choice with a social aspect added too!

[michael-ibk]

191/E191.) Eurasian Penduline-Tit (Remiz pendulinus) / Beutelmeise

 

Maria Elend/Carinthia, 10/10/21. A rare bird in Austria - but they are resting in this area every autumn, so it´s quite a reliable place for them at this time of the year. Very cold and wet morning but I was happy to find one.

 

 

Portugal additions hopefully upcoming soon.

Edited October 16, 2021 by michael-ibk

[TonyQ]

A great addition!

[PeterHG]

A beautiful bird to find nd photograph!

[xelas]

A lovely bird on a cold and wet morning! But where are the birds from sunny and dry mornings?!

[michael-ibk]

7 minutes ago, xelas said:

A lovely bird on a cold and wet morning! But where are the birds from sunny and dry mornings?!

 

Impatiently waiting on my harddrive to be processed. 

[pedro maia]

1 hour ago, michael-ibk said:

 

Impatiently waiting on my harddrive to be processed. 

 

Looking forward to know what did you see in this (not so) sunny part of Europe, I can hardly imagine .

[pedro maia]

Michael, I think you have a mistake on your count, 

 

189/E189.) Lesser Redpoll

 

and after

 

187/E187.) Alpine Swift, this one should be #190 and the penduline tit #191.

 

[Tdgraves]

9 hours ago, michael-ibk said:

 

Impatiently waiting on my harddrive to be processed. 

what Microsoft program does that for you Michael (and where can I get it)?!?

[michael-ibk]

21 hours ago, pedro maia said:

Michael, I think you have a mistake on your count, 

 

189/E189.) Lesser Redpoll

 

and after

 

187/E187.) Alpine Swift, this one should be #190 and the penduline tit #191.

 

 

 

Thanks so much, Pedro, corrected! Yay, three ticks more!

 

14 hours ago, Tdgraves said:

what Microsoft program does that for you Michael (and where can I get it)?!?

 

I would not recommend it. It´s very slow, if it does work it only takes care of a handful of pictures at a time and it never seems to get finished. Not worth the money!

[Galana]

4 hours ago, michael-ibk said:

It´s very slow, if it does work it only takes care of a handful of pictures at a time and it never seems to get finished.

I find a glass or two of what you fancy helps the process.

[pedro maia]

On 10/16/2021 at 8:43 AM, michael-ibk said:

 

I would not recommend it. It´s very slow, if it does work it only takes care of a handful of pictures at a time and it never seems to get finished. Not worth the money!

Just for curiosity, how does that program works?

[michael-ibk]

@pedro maia

 

I am the program.

[michael-ibk]

Right - Portugal! All photos taken between Sept 10th and 27th.

 

192/E192.) Sardinian Warbler (Curruca melanocephala) / Samtkopf-Grasmücke

 

Quinta do Barranco da Estrada, Farol de Sagres, and Parque Natural da Ria Formosa. Quite a nemesis bird. Incredibly common, they are really everwhere. Actually the very first bird I photographed.

 

 

But they are incredible skulkers, and they never like to stay out. So you normally only get photos like this:

 

 

A female.

 

 

I guess they must be easier in spring when they are trying to attract females. But quite a pain in autumn. A good challenge though.

 

[pedro maia]

43 minutes ago, michael-ibk said:

@pedro maia

 

I am the program.

Hi-tech .

[michael-ibk]

193/E193.) Bonelli´s Eagle (Aquila fasciata) / Habichtsadler

 

Quinta do Barranca do Estrada. A lifer for me, but a very unsatisfying sighting. I did not even realize at the time, it was so far away that I could only tell it was an Eagle. Thought Booted first. Only at home when staring at the 100fold crop of the little speck in the picture and asking a few people I had my much-sought Bonelli´s. Well, I guess I need to return for a better photo. Which should not be too difficult since any photo would be better.

 

The start of my mostly unsuccessful quest for Birds of Prey in Portugal.

 

 

But a good time to talk about the trip itself a bit more. Not that I intend to do a full trip report but I hope nobody won´t mind some extra remarks and photos here.

 

 

For the first week we stayed at the Quinta and took day trip to  different areas from there. A really nice place we enjoyed a lot. Run by Frank and his (Austrian) wife Daniela, it really is a quiet beautiful oasis in the middle of absolutely nowhere. The car navigation had no idea we were still in civilised terrain, for the last 30 minutes most roads were absolutely unknown to the car´s GPS. 

 

This is a very laid-back, "lodge-style" house with only a few rooms, so the atmoshphere is very familiar. Because of COVID they stopped communal dining. But after we joined up with some other guests for a birding day trip we all agreed we could just as well join up for dinner. We did for the rest of our stay, and lots of laughs (and wine) followed. Food is fantastic, Daniela is a splendid cook, and Frank a great host and very good birding guide as well.

 

 

The dam lake is not a wildlife magnet, just too steep. But it was wonderful to have basically your private lake to swim - we did every day and really loved it. Also tried out stand-up paddling. And learnt: Easy to get to one corner of the lake but tough to get back against the current and wind.

 

 

 

 

 

[michael-ibk]

194/E194.) Red-Rumped Swallow (Cecropis daurica) / Rötelschwalbe

 

Quinta do Barranca do Estrada. Most Swallows were already gone, in general we were in Portugal too late for many migrant species (like Rollers, Bee-Eaters, Orioles and many more) but still found a fair number of Red-Rumpeds. A beautiful Swallow species which does not get further North than Southern Europe in general.

 

[michael-ibk]

195/E195.) Cattle Egret (Bubulcus ibis) / Kuhreiher

 

Plains of the Alentejo near Castro Verde. The Steppe-like landscape here is a uniqe habitat with quite a few specialties to get. The most iconic bird is probably the Great Bustard. We did see dozens of them but only very far away. And since we also have them at home we did not try too hard for them anyway.

 

 

Sheep Egret.

 

 

This photo was taken in a very different location, a golf course in the Algarve.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Edited October 23, 2021 by michael-ibk

[michael-ibk]

196/E196.) Lesser Kestrel (Falco naumanni) / Rötelfalke

 

Plains of the Alentejo. Very distant sighting, and the only birds we saw. Obviously already on the move to Africa. We only took notice of them because Common Kestrels would never assemble on a single tree like that.

 

[michael-ibk]

197/E197.) Spotless Starling (Sturnus unicolor) / Einfarb-Star

 

Plains of the Alentejo. A very common bird in Portugal, but only easy to photograph in the villages. They are not very approachable in more natural surroundings. Common Starlings are also in the country, but only in Winter.

 

[michael-ibk]

198/E198.) Iberian Grey Shrike (Lanius meridionalis) / Iberien-Raubwürger

 

Plains of the Alentejo. Quite common in this area. We´d see a few later on during the trip but not many. Very similar to the Great Grey Shrike but darker and a more pronounced, s-shaped supercilium.

 

[michael-ibk]

199/E199.) Red-Legged Partridge (Alectoris rufa) / Rothuhn

 

Plains of the Alentejo. Believe it or not, a lifer for me, so I guess I was a lot more excited about this bird than our UK members would be.

 

[michael-ibk]

200/E200.) Little Owl (Athene noctua) /Steinkauz

 

Cheating a bit here: While we did see several Little Owls in the Alentejo this photo was taken later close to the West Coast. A lovely sighting very early morning, this little chap was resting on a heap of stones close to the road.

 

 

 

[michael-ibk]

201/E201.) Eurasian Stone-Curlew (Burhinus oedicnemus) / Triel

 

Plains of the Alentejo. One of our target species here. Not easy, their camouflage is very effective and they are quite shy here, but we managed to find four birds.