Lovely male Bluethroat taken this week in La Janda
Cooler weather from the north reduced temperatures here but what about those birds that head south when low temperatures finaly drop near freezing and don't seem like rising in the north of Europe before the coming March. Some of these birds have already headed south and ended up here. Now it's time to have a good look at them and take in all their their beauty.
There are huge flocks of Serins around including this flock of just one...er,
Red Kite was one raptor we saw yesterday
Andy Paterson joined Lucia and I for a morning's birding at La Janda yesterday morning. The weather was fantstic with some early mist that quickly burnt off giving us a beautiful cloudless sky with lots of birds.
Purple Swamphens learning to fly...
We started along the main collector canal coming in from the old Venta de Retin, at the Zahara road turnoff on the N340.
Great Egrets were amongst thousands of White Storks, Northern Lapwings, Common Snipe, Cattle and Little Egrets, Black-headed and Yellow-legged Gulls. The rice-field ploughing had attracted so many birds and the smaller passerines included hundreds of White Wagtails and Meadow Pipits. Spanish Sparrows and House Sparrows also fed on the fringes often rushing off to safety when another Marsh Harrier passed too close. Purple Swamphens kept mainly to the canal banks and reeds but were also seen out in the fields on the far banks.
Common Cranes, estimated to be probably over 1500 birds now in place at La Janda, kept us informed of their presence with continual calls that were coming to our ears from every direction.
Travelling along the track we managed to hear the calls of Reed Bunting and Penduline Tits. Stonechats and Zitting Cisticolas kept us company as we came across five Marsh Harriers circling a small bush on the other bank of the canal. 'I bet you there's an owl in there' I said to Andy and Lucia. Creeping along with the car, then getting out quietly, the harriers moved away. I was half expecting a Short-eared Owl but there sitting at the back of the tree was an Eagle Owl.
I think the bird was holding it's own with the harriers, but when three people came for a look, it was time to fly! Such a great sight and we all managed to get some photos. The next thing was the poor owl was then mobbed by a large female Peregrine Falcon and the five Marsh Harriers also decided to join in the harassment as did a few Common Kestrels
I took this early morning photo of a buck Fallow Deer behind the fence of the country and golf club of Montenmedio near La Janda
Black Redstarts are very common wintering birds and we have at least two females that roost on our property. This lovely adult male was out feeding this week at La Janda and proved to be a great choice of subject
More take-off shots with a wintering Chiffchaff from some dried thistle stalks
After gasping at the sight of the Eagle Owl in the tree, we came across one of the most sought after rarities in western Europe, with this very elegant juvenile Pallid Harrier. More and more Pallids are turning up in western Europe, particularly on the Iberian peninsula and they are such special birds to watch hunting over the open fields
Going about in search of flying insects, often unnoticed with all eyes focused on the ground, Crag Martins are here now in huge numbers with the roost at Zahara de Los Atunes bridge being quite a spectacle just before dusk
Some of the Common Cranes at La Janda this winter
Penduline Tits at La Janda. You can't help but love them...
Clanadra Larks have been more vocal and some birds just love to show off in the lovely weather
Black-winged Kites are now very easy to find...if you know where to look
I saw two Booted Eagles today (7th Dec) both looked fairly cold with their feathers puffed up. The daytime temperatures have been pretty high, but at night we pay the price for clear skies and breezes from the north with very low temperatures and often some frost in the first hours of daylight. The morning birds here in SW Andalucia, are starting to look like Lars Jonsson's 'Birds of Europe' book illustrations, where the illustrations are (mostly) of birds he's painted in Scandinavia, all puffed up and keeping warm. You tend to forget images you have of garden birds in the north like Robins with their tenis ball shape in winter.
Boufon hair do with this Booted Eagle
Loads of Marsh Harriers are around and more adults than normal, probably due to the good weather and less rain than the last few winters. It makes me think we could get lots of rain later...
A Booted Eagle was sunning itself when along came the Marsh Harrier
Most birds of prey will mob one another and this behaviour is typcial of Marsh Harrier who love to drive off any other larger raptor. They frequently go after a Golden or Spanish Imperial Eagle
A few more shots of a nice male Marsh Harrier at dusk
The other birds of note we saw were 1 juv Golden Eagle, 2 juv Spanish Imperial Eagles, 1 juv Bonelli's Eagle, 2 adult Black Stork.
This morning I saw two Short-eared Owls and a Great Bittern as well as some of the others from yesterday. Ideally I wanted to try and track down one of the juv Pallid Harriers or the adult male Pallid that's been reported.
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