A Her-man BY with Kit 2021

[lmSA84]

@Kitsafari- congratulations on a brilliant BY and thank you again for sharing. My belated condolences for your loss

[Kitsafari]

Thanks @TonyQ @Galana

 

Thank you too @lmSA84 I still have a few to go. I've been rather busy at work but i'll need to crack on whenever I get the time otherwise I'll never finish by end-Jan which is the deadline I've set myself. 

 

 

[Kitsafari]

360/SP100 Great Bustard, Aragon steppes

 

we had read that it was really difficult to see the Great Bustards and they were really shy skittish birds and even if you were very lucky, you would see them from a far distance. That was making me rather discouraged and thought we would unlikely see them. So I guess we were very very lucky to find a flock of them but it is true - they were very far. and they took off very quickly when we saw them. Such stunning birds. 

 

 

 

 

[Kitsafari]

361/SP101 Western Jackdaw, Aragon steppes

 

 

[Kitsafari]

362/SP102 Song Thrush, Monasterio de Rueda Hotel Zaragoza

 

This beautiful thrush just sat and sat in the golden morning light, enjoying the surrounds of the monastery-turned-hotel. I love this place. so peaceful, so beautiful, so enchanting in the morning when the bird songs fill the courtyard. 

 

 

[Kitsafari]

363/SP103 Spotless Starling, Ebro Delta/Aragon Steppes

 

We never could find these starlings in good enough light.

 

 

[Kitsafari]

364/SP 104 Little Owl, Aragon steppes

 

We spent close to two hours searching all the rocks and stone walls and abandoned houses in Zaragoza for a look of the LIttle Owl but the light faded and we knew we had failed. I thought that was it. The next morning we succeeded in having a peep before the little fellow ducked into his burrow. A good sign? 

 

 

 

Then an hour before we get into Gallocanta Lagoon proper, Carles stopped along the road and we spied a little silhouette. Finally, a little owl standing on a rock wall further in from the road. Ahh such a treat. 

 

spot it!

 

 

[shazdwn]

Gorgeous.  As much as I am also impressed by the wallcreeper - it is the first blue tit shot and the second coal tit shot that are my favourites.  

[elefromoz]

Wow The Great Bustard is pretty special, you did well in Spain

[Kitsafari]

A few checks with our guide turned out an error on my part, but also a handful of new species from some EBCs!

 

First the error. A photo I had included in #298/SP34 Mediterranean gull is now ID-ed to be the black-headed gull, according to Carles.  I'll delete that photo and use Herman's here instead. 

 

365/SP105 Black-headed Gull,  Platja del Cavet Beach

 

 

and there's the great cormorant, Mediterranean gull and a black-headed gull

 

 

Edited January 14, 2022 by Kitsafari

[Kitsafari]

Thank you @shazdwn @elefromoz 

 

That flyiing blue tit was one of my favourites too

[Kitsafari]

366/SP106 Cirl Bunting, Llogregat vicinity

 

 

[Kitsafari]

367/SP107 Sardinian Warbler, Platja del Cavet Beach

 

We thought we had missed this at Embut but didn't realised Herman got a shot of it, albeit, a bit of an EBC.

 

 

 

[Kitsafari]

368/SP108 Eurasian Teal, Llogregat Delta

 

this bird stumped us until Carles said it was a first winter individual. Ahhhhhh

 

 

[Kitsafari]

Back in Aragorn...

 

369/SP109 Pin-tailed Sandgrouses, Aragorn steppes

 

these are real skittish birds. they were so far, and yet when the vehicle stopped, they all took flight across the road to another distant field, and then flew back again in the far distance, landed and blended into the ground. so the only chance to shoot was when they were in flight!

 

this is what you get with a bridge camera

 

and this is what you get with a mirrorless and a steady hand

 

[Kitsafari]

370/SP110 Calandra Lark, Aragorn Steppes

 

A true EBC - i'm just adding this in to show we saw it - a blob in the sky. 

 

 

[Kitsafari]

371/SP111 Dupont's Lark, Aragorn steppes

 

a rare and incredibly shy bird, we only had a glance of it in the thick grasses with its head straight up listening to our vehicle. and then it made a run for it - it must be a roadrunner in its alternate universe, because, wow, can that bird run!! after that few seconds, we could not locate another dupont's again. this species has become extinct in Catalonia, and small populations are scattered in other parts of Spain, including Aragorn. sad to hear the species is slowly dying out in areas of Spain. 

 

 

 

[Kitsafari]

372/SP112 Goldfinch, Aragorn steppes/Llobregat vicinity

 

We only saw this species twice - a single one in Llobregat giving us a quick glimpse and then a small flock of them near an abandoned building. I've seen this species in so many of the BY threads, that i was surprised at how small this bird is. But we were very happy to finally see it in person. 

 

Llobregat

 

 

[Kitsafari]

the goldfinches were one of a handful of species we saw at this particular munipality in the province of Zaragoza. The abandoned ruins in Belchite seemed to be a favourite place for these birds to roost. 

 

 

373/SP113 Fieldfare, Belchite

 

 

 

 

 

 

[Kitsafari]

374/SP114 Blue Rock Thrush, Belchite

 

Also roosting and ruling over an abandoned building was this Blue Rock Thrush. we didn't realise there are a few sub-species of this thrush. This European thrush is the monticola s solitarius - a full blue body, while the one we see in Singapore is the m. s. Philippensis - a very orangey belly. 

 

 

 

 

[Kitsafari]

Am I the only laggard still filling BY 2021 while everyone else has raced forward with 2022???

 

 

I'm edging to a close   - promise!

 

375/SP115 Spanish Sparrow, Gallocanta Lagoon

 

 

[Kitsafari]

376/SP117 Common Crane, Gallocanta Lagoon

 

We arrived in the Lagoon on the 6th day of the trip, hoping to see the thousands of cranes that had been described and very much written about in this famous lagoon. while we saw flocks of them, they were more like in the tens, rather than the hundreds or thousands. Still, we did get very close-up shots of pairs of cranes. Such beautiful birds. 

On the 7th day, as we were driving out of the lagoon for Barcelona, the grey skies covered with very dark clouds suddenly came alive with cranes honking. the thousands were flying in, and we realised,

darn it, we were one day too early.  

 

 

 

 

 

[Kitsafari]

377/SP117 Reed Bunting, Gallocanta vicinity

 

 

 

[Kitsafari]

378/SP118 Thekla Lark, Gallocanta vicinity

379/SP119 Linnet, Gallocanta Vicinity

 

Thekla lark

 

 

 

Linnet

 

 

 

[Kitsafari]

Before the last stretch of birds of prey and plunderers, a couple of Singapore birds in December to wrap up the SG count for the year. 

 

380/SG273 Chinese Sparrowhawk, Henderson Waves

An EBC

 

 

 

Edited January 16, 2022 by Kitsafari