Lo Romero Shrike

Lo Romero Golf Urbanisation - 24.9.18

On occasions I like to visit the drive range at Lo Remero Golf when the heat of the day has cooled down to practice my non existent golf swing, I always fancied the idea of playing golf but the expense and time it takes to play has alway put me off.

Like many other golf courses in Spain there's quite a lot of property being build around the coarse so I thought I'd have a drive around the resort and take a look. From my perspective it always seems odd that the entire resort can have new roads with markings, paths and signage but still have large areas of undeveloped land.....but it dose make for very good access for car birding !!

I'm half way round the resort always on the look out for a photo op when I spot the back end of a shrike diving for cover, it's a Iberian Grey Shrike. I'm not set up with the camera gear but I do make a return trip the next day to try and get some images.

Now the next day I'm near the same location when I spot the shrike sat in a low bush, I'm all set up bean bag on the door and camera on the seat. Slowing the car to a stop I slowly get the "big white" through the window, the shrike just sits, looking around for it's next unsuspecting meal, I shoot a couple of hundred images and move the car backwards to different location, more images follow, then I chance my luck and move as close as I dare, even better images. I'm happy with the encounter.

Out of interest, a couple of days later I visited the same location after a beach visit !!....again the shrike was easily found sat in a small tree with even a better photo opportunities, unfortunately no gear.

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Southern Grey or Iberian Grey Shrike