New Bird!

It's been tough to spot new birds in the neighbourhood but we found a Merlin hanging out at a nest box on a farm in Markington today.  Not sure if it's actually nesting or not as we didn't have time to hang out and wait but it was a nice spot nonetheless.

Shawnna

Birding in Portugal

Finally after many months of busy schedules we've got two relaxing weeks in Portugal's Algarve and several days spent bird watching.

We added a new bird almost daily and found several good spots for some great bird spotting.  Even without a scope we racked up 73 total birds with 20 brand new birds for us.

Avocet, Spoonbill, Black-winged Stilt, Crag Martin, Stonechat, Sardinian Warbler, Zitting Cisticola, Winchat, Black-tailed Godwit, Black-eared Wheatear, Common Waxbill, Blue Rock Thrush, Sanderling, Thekla Lark, Fire Crest, Little Owl, Rock Bunting, Grey Plover and Ring Plover.


Shawnna

Sedge Warbler

Sedge Warbler

We've been seeing a lot of these lately now that we know what they are!  We spent a beautiful morning at Staveley today and although it seemed quite quiet on the wildlife front we had several close looks at the Sedge Warbler.

There were quite a few Grey wagtails on the far pond as well as 2 Snipe, another bird for our list!  There were 6 juvenile Shelducks, about a hundred Greylag geese, a couple cormorants, heron, a swan family and a ringed plover.

We saw many dragon flies and hawkers but are not knowledgeable enough to identify them, easily 4 - 5 different species spotted though.  We also saw a vole running along the footpath in front of us which quickly dove into the undergrowth and proceeded to swim away through the reeds.  Was this a water vole? 

Shawnna

Summer bird watching

The past two months have been really busy and so our bird watching endeavors have been pretty low key.  But we've been practicing to spot birds amongst the dense leaves of summer and enjoying all the baby birds spotted on the water.

Today was a short trip to Thorpe Perrow where we saw 2 clutches of young Little Grebes, a dozen juvenile mallards and a group of baby Tufted ducks.

Yesterday we stopped in at Fountains Abbey at the large pond nearest the deer park.  Not as many birds here now as there usually is but a selection of the typical residents with juvenile Black Headed Gulls, Tufted Ducks, Moor Hens, Greylag and Canada Geese and a few Mallards.  And the Jack Daws were braving the busy cafe eating area to scrounge for crumbs.

Last weekend we stopped in at Marshfields Reserve, just in passing, not expecting the size of the place once we got out and started walking around.  There were loads of birds and young on all the ponds.  Definitely a place we'll go back to and spend more time.  Spotted maybe a hundred Mallards, a pair of Great Crested Grebe, Swans, Greylags, Moor Hens... we didn't get to all the ponds though.  We also saw Chiff Chaff zipping about in the hedgerows.

On the weekend before this (June 29th) we stopped by Nosterfield late in the day and though the water line was low there were plenty of birds.  Nothing new for us but we did get some really good close views of sedge warblers along the path and the baby Great Tits were out and flitting from bush to bush.

Shawnna

Le Camargue

African Sacred Ibis

A holiday to the south of France this past week gave us just one day of bird watching and we opted for the Parc Ornithologique just outside Avignon and recommended to us by local friends.

The inner estuary is a haven for flamingos and we saw plenty of those along with several types of heron nesting on small islands.  Smaller birds were harder to spot but we identified a Cetti's Warbler among all the sparrows.

And lastly, just before leaving while sitting at the cafe overlooking the water we spotted an African Sacred Ibis.

Shawnna