Black Storks, Little Bustards and Black Shouldered Kites

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One of the highlights from yesterday's day tour - A flock of twenty-five adult Black Storks resting on farmland near Vejer.
Click on any of the images to enlarge

I had a really lovely day out with Liz and Keith from Bristol yesterday. The weather was a bit overcast with some showers coming in from the South-West, which thankfully we managed to avoid. The afternoon was warm and sunny with the wind swinging around and brought lots of birds across The Strait from the South-East.

A young male Montagu's Harrier

We were extremely successful in spotting some of the rarer birds inland from the coast. We quickly came across Hoopoes probing for grubs,around cattle pasture.

A Hoopoe surveys it's territory

Here we saw flocks of Goldfinches, Linnets and Serins feeding while Wood Pigeon and Collard Doves flew past into the woodland. Common Buzzards, Black Kites (just too many to count!), Marsh Harriers came over our heads and in the distance Griffon Vultures patrolled from on high.


A Carpenter Bee on Wysteria bloom

In the last few days a noticeable difference in wonderful bird-song, fills the Spring air in and around Barbate. The variety of calls comes of course with the presence of so many freshly arrived migrants. Nightingales singing their hearts out in and around our garden. Bee-eaters streaming in overhead with their 'referee's whistle' like call. Turtle Doves 'purring' from the wild Olive groves. Calls from Buzzards and Eagles soaring majestically on thermals above the countryside. Iberian Green and Great-spotted Woodpeckers calling noisily and Tawny Owls also 'hooting'during the day.

Black Shouldered Kite yesterday

Eight Montagu's Harriers were seen fairly quickly as we moved onto the rolling countryside. You can never get tired watching these great raptors. Five Hen Harriers were also seen in the same area and it's always good to compare the two species when you have such a variety of adults and sub-adults going past. The commonest Harrier still around is the Marsh Harrier. There are still hundreds of young birds to be seen quartering the verges with their heads down and showing you that instantly recognisable golden-creamy splodge on their crown that often spills onto the shoulders.

Another Black Shouldered Kite with a Zitting Cisticola

Black shouldered Kites are always terrific birds to watch and we certainly managed to get good views of three out of the four birds from yesterday. Our first adult was very active, hunting along rough grazing land and we has stunning views of the bird hovering, diving and also sitting eating its freshly caught meal - in this case it was a large grasshopper.


Booted Eagle (Dark Form)

Booted Eagles came across as well although most were pretty high as they passed.
Short-toed Eagles were easier to watch with a few obliging by hovering over possible prey, allowing us to watch this long-winged beauty in the telescope.
I think I have seen at least one Osprey every day since the middle of the moth and yesterday was no exection as a lovely adult bird flew close by.

Short-toed Eagle

Little Bustard were more obliging than the last few weeks with two Males having a 'raspberry-blowing and 'see who can jump the highest' competition in a field with longer grass. They too were watched through the scope and after a while decided to fly round and show their beauty to any ladies that would undoubtably have been in the area. It was just a pity that the wind carried their wing noise away from us and we couldn't hear the 'whistling' noise the males make in flight.


Yellow Wagtails flew aroun calling as they went and the sights and sounds of Calandra Larks displaying kept us focused on yet another lovely bird. We also came across Thekla Larks as well as the commoner and sad sounding Crested Lark.

Woodchat Shrikes were seen briefly not like this oliging chappie from a few weeks ago. We also had a fleeting view of a Hawfinch crossing the Land Rover's path.

We also came across a lovely pair of Iberian Wall Lizard sunning themselves.

Collared Pratincoles were coming over our garden the day before and this was one of the flocks.
Bee-eater too were heard throughout most of the day, with birds flying high up in the sky. We did manage to get to a single pair that were obviously in need of a rest and they stayed obligingly side by side on a fence as I set up the scope for Liz and Keith.

Black-eared Wheatears were around and this very striking male (with black throat patch - because there are two forms down this way - with or without this throat patch!) allowed me to take some lovely shots.

I was pretty content at some of today's photos and as usual I will post a few up on Surfbirds website