Back home and raptors dominate the skies.
The summer heat kicking in, adding to newly fledged birds of prey's chances to hone those hunting skills amid massive, bubbling thermals, that have been building up for the past week. Large raptors like this juvenile Spainish Imperial Eagle, seen here soaring with a Booted Eagle, search out the landscape below, for rabbits or other prey along the edge of the Alcornocales forest between Facinas and Benalup in Cadiz province
You can clearly see the size comparison between one of the largest and the smallest of the European Eagles.
The summer heat kicking in, adding to newly fledged birds of prey's chances to hone those hunting skills amid massive, bubbling thermals, that have been building up for the past week. Large raptors like this juvenile Spainish Imperial Eagle, seen here soaring with a Booted Eagle, search out the landscape below, for rabbits or other prey along the edge of the Alcornocales forest between Facinas and Benalup in Cadiz province
You can clearly see the size comparison between one of the largest and the smallest of the European Eagles.
This Short-toed Eagle (above) is an adult returning to it's nest with young, with a freshly caught snake
Away it goes, heading for the Alcornocales forest
Off to it's nest...
A close up view of another Short-toed Eagle
Red Kites were pretty common across on the Guadalquivir from Sanlucar to Trebujena
The Northern Bald Ibis have been doing well breeding this year at two main locations on The Strait of Gibraltar. The chicks from three nests and the birds on the cliffs at Barbate will be ready to leave their nests soon
One of the group that are colonising the cliffs inland from Barbate
Montagu's Harriers are under ever increasing pressure from earlier harvests. The Monty's is a ground-nesting bird like all harriers and has been suffering over the years with the phenomenon of consistant breeding arrival on territories against an increasing occurrence of earlier or warmer Spring seasons in the north. This means in effect that the cerial fields where they nest, are planted ealier by famers and subsequently ripen sooner. The mechanised harvest in mid-June can eliminate their chicks still in the nest on the ground. I shudder to think about how many bales of straw contain the remains of Montagu's Harrier nests and chicks...
A male Montagu's Harrier passes over baled-up straw in the second week of June.
There are of course some very good and worthwhile projects running in a lot of areas in Spain like the ongoing action plan as reported around the German-Dutch border organised by CABS (Campaign Against Bird Slaughter).
Male Little Bittern
Cone-headed Mantis crossing our terrace
Little Tern
Little Swift at Bolonia. Some White-rumped Swifts were also seen last week
Male Marsh Harrier
Greater Flamingoes at the Guadalquivir River
Copper Demoiselle in the Alcornocales Parque Natural near Facinas
Cactus bloom
Black Kite
Black-eared Wheatear.
I personally hate taking shots of birds on barbed wire, but this little male of the race that has no black throat patch was just too good an opportunity to pass by. He later flew off and out of range for any 'natural' shot...
Sunflowers in June
Purple Swamphen up close and personal!
A Clouded Yellow butterfly on Purple Viper's Bugloss
