stewartwillsher
Well-Known Member
- Joined
- May 15, 2017
- Messages
- 1,111
- Reaction score
- 97
- Points
- 48
- Location
- Western Spain and Costa de la Luz
The spring is sprung, the grass is riz.
I wonder where the boidie is.
They say the boidie’s on the wing.
But that’s absoid. The wing is on the boid.
This time off year, my old hobby of birding, reawakens.
From childhood, I was encouraged to embrace nature, and no doubt in my teens, this embracing extended beyond conventional nature.
But during the late seventies, I had, working for me for a couple of years, a registered ringer, who was a member of the BTO (British Trust for Ornithology), so absorbed a huge variety and depth of knowledge on our feathered friends.
This encouraged me to do a bit of mild "twitching" and taking a break or few to visit migration spots in the UK at the appropriate times of the year.
Now, in my seventies, living in an area renowned by the experts as bird rich, I don't have to go far, if at all, to see an interesting selection.
As our house is located on the side of a terraced hillside, the Western aspect looks down across a broad glacial valley.
That side of the house has a full width balcony, with seating, and a table large enough for a beer or scotch, and to rest binoculars.
There are large open fields below, of several hectares each, and our modest terraced hectare is populated with many trees, olive and fig, and several others, and hundreds of ground based (not supported) vines.
Such varying environments support and encourage a wide variety of birds.
Large and impressive are storks which pass silently like prehistoric pterodactyls.
When the fields are harrowed or ploughed, they probe the fresh soil for grub and stand like judges in robes.
Birds of prey, like kites, come close enough to look you in the eye, whilst at higher altitude are vultures and eagles riding the currents.
Buzzards and kestrels hunt the open fields.
Whizzing around, now the weather has warmed up a bit, are swallows (including red-rumped), swifts, and martins.
At altitude, where there must be swarms of insects, they are joined by lesser kestrels, hunting dragon flies or similar.
Using a wire crossing our land as lookout, the brightly coloured bee-eaters flash back and forth.
Hoopoes, hoop and prod the ground, and an occasional golden oriole, like a flying banana dashes in and out of the trees.
The crow family and associates are well represented by magpies and jays, with the overflying ravens from the mountains; but sometimes landing and strutting around.
Azure winged magpies are a fairly common sight, but a rarity elsewhere.
The house roof ends are popular nesting places for the ubiquitous sparrows and starlings, the latter being spotless, so not iridescent like those in the UK.
Black redstarts nest in awkward places and nip in and out.
Thrushes, blackbirds, robins, and most other familiar garden birds in the UK are here also.
Then, of course, there are the penguins - just checking to see if you are still reading, or have given up, bored stiff!
But a few birds with an affinity for water either overfly, like the odd gull or cormorant, whilst egrets and herons visit the small farm reservoirs.
Some mallard have claimed one pond and splash about.
And even the dense woodland to the East of us gives up a few observations when they break cover, most being as you would find in the UK.
Happy birding in Spring, to all.
I wonder where the boidie is.
They say the boidie’s on the wing.
But that’s absoid. The wing is on the boid.
This time off year, my old hobby of birding, reawakens.
From childhood, I was encouraged to embrace nature, and no doubt in my teens, this embracing extended beyond conventional nature.
But during the late seventies, I had, working for me for a couple of years, a registered ringer, who was a member of the BTO (British Trust for Ornithology), so absorbed a huge variety and depth of knowledge on our feathered friends.
This encouraged me to do a bit of mild "twitching" and taking a break or few to visit migration spots in the UK at the appropriate times of the year.
Now, in my seventies, living in an area renowned by the experts as bird rich, I don't have to go far, if at all, to see an interesting selection.
As our house is located on the side of a terraced hillside, the Western aspect looks down across a broad glacial valley.
That side of the house has a full width balcony, with seating, and a table large enough for a beer or scotch, and to rest binoculars.
There are large open fields below, of several hectares each, and our modest terraced hectare is populated with many trees, olive and fig, and several others, and hundreds of ground based (not supported) vines.
Such varying environments support and encourage a wide variety of birds.
Large and impressive are storks which pass silently like prehistoric pterodactyls.
When the fields are harrowed or ploughed, they probe the fresh soil for grub and stand like judges in robes.
Birds of prey, like kites, come close enough to look you in the eye, whilst at higher altitude are vultures and eagles riding the currents.
Buzzards and kestrels hunt the open fields.
Whizzing around, now the weather has warmed up a bit, are swallows (including red-rumped), swifts, and martins.
At altitude, where there must be swarms of insects, they are joined by lesser kestrels, hunting dragon flies or similar.
Using a wire crossing our land as lookout, the brightly coloured bee-eaters flash back and forth.
Hoopoes, hoop and prod the ground, and an occasional golden oriole, like a flying banana dashes in and out of the trees.
The crow family and associates are well represented by magpies and jays, with the overflying ravens from the mountains; but sometimes landing and strutting around.
Azure winged magpies are a fairly common sight, but a rarity elsewhere.
The house roof ends are popular nesting places for the ubiquitous sparrows and starlings, the latter being spotless, so not iridescent like those in the UK.
Black redstarts nest in awkward places and nip in and out.
Thrushes, blackbirds, robins, and most other familiar garden birds in the UK are here also.
Then, of course, there are the penguins - just checking to see if you are still reading, or have given up, bored stiff!
But a few birds with an affinity for water either overfly, like the odd gull or cormorant, whilst egrets and herons visit the small farm reservoirs.
Some mallard have claimed one pond and splash about.
And even the dense woodland to the East of us gives up a few observations when they break cover, most being as you would find in the UK.
Happy birding in Spring, to all.
