I Finally Make It - 2

Day 2, AM - Hoya de Linares

Our second day of the trip and this morning we are spending some time with a Lesser kestrels breeding colony. Lesser Kestrels visually not unlike the Kestrels seen in the UK the main difference being that are migratory and summer visitors to Europe and breed in colonies rather than solitary.

El Taray Map

Our location this morning is a raised tower overlook a traditional Spanish farm building roof with red and orange terracotta roll tiles which the Kestrels breed under, to the side there are are a few branched that Roller and Hoopoe breeding in the far end of the building land on from time to time.

Also present are quite a few jackdaws that hang around waiting for the kestrels to bring back food for the young which they promptly mug, bit like gulls mugging the Puffins on the Farn's.

Unfortunately we've only been present for about 30 minuets with the session brought to a close pretty quickly as about ten cars park up below the tower, it's a local bird ringing meeting ! 

We manage a few image shots before all the Kestrels depart off into the countryside...hey ho !

Lesser kestrel

Spotless Starling

The most common Starling on the visit in the region with literally thousands sat on wires or flocks in fields

Day 2, PM - Hide de Mochuelo

After a few hours rest up we are back out this this with Little Owls !...Little owls I can do these back home . The location is a farm ruin building which a pair of Little Owls have taken up residence, although it's passed 5.0pm the light is still harsh so quite challenging, still you have tho make the best of the situation.

Little Owl

Occasionally other visitors turn up, a Hoopoe and a couple of Rollers neither making for good images so I won't post any other than this portrait of the Roller.

European Roller

Best Of The Rest

A round up of a few other images that didn't make a post in it's own right, like the mating Black-winged Stilt were no more than grab shots before it was all over, or, just that it was too few photo ops on the day....hey ho !

Red-knobbed Coot

Image of a Red-knobbed Coot was about the only images I managed at San Felipe being surprisingly quite, also as the water levels were so high lacking the usual mud edges all the waders were occupying the nearby flooded fields, some day's are just like that !

Black-winged Stilt

Three images of mating Black-winged Stilts, unfortunately it was around midday by which time the sun was out big style and the light was way to harsh.

Ruff

Image of a very confiding Ruff taken at 3-4 meters distance, at one point it got to close. I've managed to get the sun somewhere behind me with this shot hence the colour looks pretty good.

Crested Lark

Taken early morning around 8.0 am as you can probably tell on a drive around Lo Romero Golf, at the time I was trying to get images of a Southern Grey Shrike I had seen the day before, then I found a Woodchat Shrike never managing to get images of either. This Lark just popped up on a stump...lucky to get an image of something !

Little Owl

On my drive I usually come across this chap at the less developed far end of the coarse but getting near can sometimes be difficult, other times will just site on a rock or wall as in this case...get out of the car and he's or she is off

Lucky Find

Lo Romero Golf - 4.5.19

The nearby Lo Romero Golf has several areas still under construct and sometimes there can be some good photo opportunities on offer particularly early mornings when the light is a little softer, but today I thought I'd have a slow afternoon driver around my usual circuit in the hope of catching up with a Southern Grey Shrike I had seen earlier.

It's quiet as I drive around part from the occasional clink of a golfer teeing off, the sun's high in the sky probably the worse conditions possible for photography but at least I'm out and about in some great weather. A Little Owl appears in the same location as I seen one last January which I guess is the same bird, it see's me and it's off into some trees on the far side....I continue on.

After a couple of circuits I head out of the golf coarse when I come across another Little Owl sat on a rock, I'm not sure it's the same bird seen earlier as this is some distance away, slowly I edge the car forward amazed it hasn't departed as earlier bird was quite skittish. I shoot some images but the light is so harsh in the midday sun, a shame really as this is one of the best encounters of a Little Owl to date. I decide to chance my luck and edge the car forward another few more meters the bird is happy to just sit, it's now full frame in the camera viewer.

After some ten minuets a passing maintenance van spooks the owl and it's gone. What a lucky encounter that happens very occasionally, time to press on.

Little Owl

Return To Murcia

Lo Romero Golf Course - 20th January 2019

Its the day after my arrival in Murcia and the weather is cloudy with the occasional drizzle so I don't fancy venturing particularly far hence I'm going Local. First stop is only a kilometre down the road amongst the orange groves where Stone Curlew winter in numbers of up to fifty or so, but they are so aware of your presence you have to remain in the car or enter "commando mode" to get any shots at all. Time to head for Lo Romero Golf Course

Lo Remero Golf Course being still in construction has quite a lot of scrub area anything can turn up such as squirrels, woodpeckers, finches and shrikes all being common. Oddly even thou the majority of housing is still under construction the roads are all complete giving easy access around the golf coarse and ideal when using the car as a mobile hide.

Entering the course it always best to setup before you move around the course, windows down and the camera mounted on a bean bag, hold on to the camera and drive slowly which is easily done as this part of the course is deserted.

My first target is an Iberian Red Squirrel busy collecting pine cones, twenty or thirty shots and its gone. Within fifty meters I next encounter a Grey Shrike sat on a fence it's using as a lookout, then flying to the ground and grabbing some insect and returning to the fence, plenty of photo ops here.

In the scrub area a male and female Stonechats are flitting about, I've always found them to be less approachable than in the UK so remaining in the car is always your best option. As I'm photographing the chats I spot a grey blob thats gone my attention, bins up...its a Little Owl. I grab some shots and it gone....you get the idea ! why its always best to be ready with the camera hanging out of the window.

Giving the grey damp condition this has been one of the best first bird photography days to date giving plenty of photo ops.

Looking forward to the rest of the week.

Little Owl

Female Stonechat

Male Stonechat

Iberian Red Squirrel

Stone Curlew

Southern Grey Shrike

Summer Evening With A Little Owl

27.06.18 - North Wales

This evening I've arranged to photograph a family of Little Owls that have just fledged on the edge of a working farm, the youngsters are still preferring to stay in the adjacent ivy clad tree, on the other hand the parent birds are quite bold and happy to take advantage of the free offerings.

Hidden out of sight with the camera set up I'm ready for some action, and sure enough within a couple of minuets one of the parent birds appears lading straight on its main perch, all too soon its apparent the "cropper" (camera) with the 500mm attached is massively over kill chopping off part of the bird in the image, time to change lens.

In the early evening the low sun angle is in front slightly to the side, not how I usually shoot. With little experience in dealing with these conditions I'm out of my comfort zone, I shoot a few images trying to work out what settings work and what dosen't whilst watching the dof, shallow enough to blur the background but always wanting the bird to be totally in focus, some I manage, some I don't.

In the distance a building with an elevation constructed of part pale coloured concrete block and part dark metal cladding creates a light / dark line in the image, to compensate I have to stand on tip toes and angle the lens down pointing against the dark cladding, it's all work arounds that will benefit a similar future encounter.

Having now process some of the images they lack the strong colour and clarity that you would normally expect shooting with the sun behind, but I think there's other qualities the images have showing the owl back lit in the low evening sun light, it's a different quality you may or may not like but I do like where the feather edging has caught the sun, it almost has a transparent quality.

Little Owl (adult)

The Tower Little Owls

Having seen images posted recently of the Little Owls in residence at a Holcombe I thought as its only a few miles from home I'd have a go getting some images. I'm still suffering from a virus picked up on the long flight from the recent New Zealand Lions Tour so this will be my first trip out in some five weeks

Arriving where I thought the owls are located I quickly pickup a Little Owl sat on a rock, a quick scan reveals a single juvenile along with an adult bird. As I start to unpack the gear the adult decides to departs....that's birding for you!....gear ready I move into position and wait to see if the parent bird returns

It's now over an hour later and I now quite close to where the juvenile bird is sat, with camo netting draped over me and the gear, local walkers must be wondering whats going on. Eventually the parent bird returns with the juvenile content to half sleep in the sometimes sunshine but always keeping a watchful eye on me. Eventually after around twenty minuets the parent bird departs followed shortly after by the juvenile....time to call it a day.