The Fantastic Colour of Birds

I am as guilty as other guides who forget that the commoner birds around us in Spain, look so stunning. Their beautiful colours and patterns are often taken for granted simply because we see them every other day. We forget how impressed we were all those years ago when we saw our first White Stork or Greater Flamingo and have to remind ourselves that they really are quite special.

It's not until those long wings are straightened out for powerful flight that the Greater Flamingo shows us what a wonderful sight it is to watch flying

Adult males are considerably larger that the female of this species

What a poser!

Bright colours of breeding birds are not always shown by large plumage moult. This adult Little Ringed Plover has the most wonderful bright yellow eye-ring during the breeding season

Eurasian Spoonbill - This is a non-breeding or sub-adult bird that lacks a yellow neck-ring that is present during the breeding season

Sometimes you see something else other than wildlife. This old windmill near our home, set against the green foreground and blue sky caught my eye

....and always flitting in and out of the wild olive trees (Acebuche) are Sardinian Warblers like this fine male with his tell-tale bright red eye

The subtle colouration of Turtle Doves are quite exquisite. Those patterned feathers on the neck, back and wing make it a stunning looking migrant that comes to Europe each spring

A flock of Little Terns is put up by a Peregrine Falcon

I photographed this adult Golden Eagle in the mountains near Cortes de la Frontera, on the edge of the Parque National de Grazelema. The large snake it had firmly in it's talons was a rather unfortunate Montpellier's Snake - our largest on the Iberian peninsula. The bird went on to fly ove it's nest site calling for it's mate to join it in flight over the sierras. Great birding!

Pied Avocets always make lovely photos.

This juvenile Marsh Harrier shows a characteristic 'splodge' of cream-white on the head that often spills downa long the wing. At a distance juvenile birds are easy to identify with this colouration and the light flapping flight is more pronounced with a shallow V shape. The body of this raptor is fairly bulky compared to other harriers and in fact weighs about four times more than the Montagu's Harrier.

Colours are often quite subtle in their shading and location. This male Black-eared Wheatear has
a lovely peach tinge to the neck and breast on this side of southern Europe. The Eastern birds are much paler and lack the black throat patch seen in this bird

Corn buntings become just a little bit brighter on the brast feathers during their breeding season with the underchin and breast streaking looking slightly more pronounced than with winter plumaged birds. It seems that this lovely bird is another that is sadly in decline in much of central and N Europe

Black Wheaters are a true Southern European and North African bird. Their distribution in Europe is confined to the Iberian peninsula. Some of the field guides show the bird with a medium sized bill but our 'local' birds have a fairly longish bill. They are the only non-migrant wheatears we have and can be seen the whole year in the mountain areas.