Author Archives: Richard

A Few More Birder Plates

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After a nice trip to Spain, probably our last, we are back in Vermont and well into “Stick Season. Most of the birds are gone. Unfortunately, my camera also is missing. I left it along with the Swarovski binoculars at our apartment. They should be back here soon. So, that’s why I haven’t posted in a while.

I have been taking photos of birder license plates for over a decade. Recently, I saw a couple of Vermont plates so here they are.

We are now entertained by many “we’re sticking around” birds at our feeders. We also see migrants like Redpolls and Pine Siskins. And there’s always the possible arrival of a Snowy Owl.

Have a good November.

Visiting La Caleta Once More

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La Caleta, seen here from our apartment. It is of our favorite walks here.

Perhaps you can see the autobus in the lower right.

It’s about a mile walk with a steep downhill. Our plan today was to return on the local bus, avoiding a tough climb.

Along the way, there are lots of flowers on vacant lots and buildings.

Mangos here are tasty and cheap.

We saw a few birds along the way including these two Western Cattle Egrets.

La Caleta was home to the only sugar mill in Europe making sugar, honey, and molasses for 150 years. Now its smokestack and buildings remain and we love to have breakfast outside at a little bar in Lavadero Square.

And a historical note: A local fiesta is held each in honour of the Virgen del Carmen (the patron saint of fishermen) and is celebrated in a special way. A procession of small boats devorated with garlands set sail from La Caleta with cheers and fireworks. Here is one of the prints on the walls of the square.

After tostados and coffee/tea, we caught the bus, paid 60 centavos each, and ended our last visit to a special place.

Last Charca Birds This Trip

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One of the neat aspects of our Charca outing was seeing dozens of Glossy Ibises.

Ibeses are distinctive in flight
One of many with poor lighting

Several Gray Herons, similar to but smaller than our Great Blue Herons, were on the far bank nearly out of camera range.

One of the prettiest birds we see here is the Little Egret, similar to our Snowy Egret. Stealthy, striking with power, posing handsomely – enjoy.

Patient and alert.
Action!
Success?
Pose for the camera time.

In a few months, when it’s snowing in Vermont, I need to remember these hot dayss and cooperative birds.

Big and Little Charca Birds

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Here are two birds that are a challenge to photograph. Greater Flamingos are always moving, feeding, or tucked into a resting pose. We saw three at Charca but there are many larger colonies in souther Spain.

Little Grebes are tiny, always moving, and constantly diving.

So, a trivia fact: flamingos weigh 2-4 kg and grebes weigh about 110 g so the Little Grebe is around 1/25th the size of the big bird. They are both wonderful to watch.

Visiting Charca Again

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Every trip to Spain, we bird at the wonderful little preserve in Motril – Carcha de Suárez.

Tucked in between high-rises and businesses, it’s a treasure with lots of birds. Here are a few we saw the other morning, starting with a couple of Western Swamphens.

In the same family, Eurasion Moorhens add noise and color to the lagoons.

We saw 31 species including the Red-gnobbed Coot which is endangered. Stay tuned for a another nice mix in the next post.

Buena observación de aves, dondequiera que estés.

Watching Kestrels

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Every evening we can see Eurasion Kestrels out hunting. They live in the cliffs and castle walls behind us, putting on a great show that is tough to photograph with my point & shoot. Let me share some shots from our deck

Notice the teepees for pole beans

As a pilot, I love to watch these aerial marvels.

Dropping a Travel Bug

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As I noted in a post last year and another further back, I am a on and off geocacher. However, prior to this trip to Spain, I decided to initiate a travel bug and place it somewhere Salobreña, the town where we stay.

I named it “Fanática del fútbol” and the objective is to visit mant places and give the team names and favorite “equipos.”

My soccer fan travel bug.

Once we were here, I needed to find a cache big enough to hold it and be one that is visited regularly. I selected one and a couple of mornings ago, Sally and I went looking for it. Geocaching’s tracking system is awesome worldwide and we found it easy. I retrieved it, inserted the TB, and replaced it.

Photo by Sally Cargill
Here it is, a easy find. Photo by Sally Cargill

So, with its trip from Vermont, the TB has already logged 3,638 miles. Hopefully, folks will move it around Spain and Europe. I get a notice if and when it moves.

Que comiencen los juegos!

So, I just got a message “Du kommst jetzt erstmal mit uns mit… 💪🌸” which means, “You’re coming with us now” so the TB is on its way!

A Couple of Gulls from Spain

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It’s been very hot and aside from birding from the apartment in early morning, I haven’t been seeing a lot of birds. Here is a shot from our casa.

Looking west from our terrace. We often walk to the village (La Caleta) but the walk back into the sun is challenging.

One of the common gulls here is the Yellow-footed Gull. This one was just floating off the beach this morning.

Another gull we see is the Audoin’s Gull. Full confession, this may be a European Herring Gull. Comments are welcomed.

Of topic, here’s a little spanish lesson I learned today. At the supermercado, I bought some eggs, onion, and tomatoes for an omelet for supper. I just took the carton out of the fridge to start and noticed “huevos cocidos”, cooked eggs. So, we are having egg salad for dinner. No hay problema, esa es mi nueva palabra de hoy.

More Local Birds

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These days on outings, I’m carrying just my camera, not my binos. It’s easier and I can use the telephoto on the Canon for bird spotting.

Here’s a Chipping Sparrow at the ball field.

The other day, I heard a constant cheeping sound and came upon this fledgling on our back deck.

After ten minutes or so, I approached to see if it was tangled and off it flew to the nearby bushes. I trust it will grow up to be a catbird, sparrow, or whatever.

The other morning, a flock of young Cedar Waxwings were foraging.

And then, on our path to the river, a couple of Common Yellowthroats were chipping away at us.

Have a good September of walks and birds.

Testing the iPad

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We are traveling to Europe soon and since I won’t be bringing my laptop, I have been practicing with my phone and tablet. Hummingbirds are also heading out soon and have been hitting the feeder and flowers pretty hard. Here are some photos I took this morning where I used the camera and iPad.

I saw my first hummer here on May 12th this year so it’ll be eight months to wait. Viajes seguros mis amigos.