This morning, I saw the Moon setting between two Oak Trees on a nearby ridge and thought it was framed quite nicely.
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Morning Dog Walk: Rock Bunting On “The Rock”
I take a camera along on my Dog Walks to bring you some of the sightings that I see on my morning walks, these photos are rarely going to be great quality as its hard enough keeping an energetic Dog entertained and get close enough to anything. They also help me identify where species are so that I can plan to return.
This morning, although I saw a lot of birds, I didn’t manage to photograph anything, probably down to the after effects of the local Labour Day (1st May) celebrations yesterday!
However, on the way back past “A Rocha” I saw a pair of birds hopping along the exposed rock almost perfectly blending in. I managed to quickly get a shot of this one before it took cover in the Esteva plants. It was a Rock Bunting, this is a new sighting for me, first time I’ve seen one. They are resident all year round here in the Algarve and as the name suggests prefer the rocky terrain that the Algarve Serra has to offer. Difficult to tell from the photo, but I suspect this is a male due to the black definition on the head. The females are usually a litter duller.
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Morning Dog Walk: A Few Small Birds And A Lot Of Turtles
I take a camera along on my Dog Walks to bring you some of the sightings that I see on my morning walks, these photos are rarely going to be great quality as its hard enough keeping an energetic Dog entertained and get close enough to anything. They also help me identify where species are so that I can plan to return.
Firstly, happy May Day to everyone that celebrates it, here in Portugal, it’s a big day and we’ll be off to the local Barragem for a day of food and drink with the locals!
This morning, there was an unmistakable bird song coming from high up in a tree, a Melodious Warbler was singing it’s heart out.
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Morning Dog Walk: A Lesser Spotted Woodpecker And Yet Again, That Duck!
I take a camera along on my Dog Walks to bring you some of the sightings that I see on my morning walks, these photos are rarely going to be great quality as its hard enough keeping an energetic Dog entertained and get close enough to anything. They also help me identify where species are so that I can plan to return.
The Bee Eaters were flying around this morning, very close too, however, it was a really grey and dark overcast start to the day as I walked around just before 8am, so didn’t even point the camera at them. But hey, at least it’s not raining! I stood and watched them acrobatically flying to catch their breakfast when I heard a very soft-sounding Woodpecker call which I knew immediately that it was a Lesser Spotted Woodpecker. It was in a nearby tree, but still too far away for a decent shot. I managed to get this terrible one. Due to the lack of a red cap, this appears to be a female.
Morning Dog Walk: Exotics, Swarms and That Duck!
I take a camera along on my Dog Walks to bring you some of the sightings that I see on my morning walks, these photos are rarely going to be great quality as its hard enough keeping an energetic Dog entertained and get close enough to anything. They also help me identify where species are so that I can plan to return.
As I was heading down past “A Rocha” this morning, I heard a flock of Common Waxbills. As soon as they saw an energetic Dog running towards them, they took cover but I did manage to snap these two in our Pear Trees.
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Nice Weather For Du……What The Duck?
The camera got left behind on this morning’s Wally Walk as the rain has yet again returned.
I was just approaching the river and Wally looked up and I actually said to him “Nice weather for ducks!”, just 10 seconds later I arrive at the river to find……a Duck!
Just standing there in a shallow part of the river was a Muscovy Duck. This is not a native species to Portugal, it’s roots are South America. However, it is a common Duck here in Portugal as an Egg layer and perhaps meat. The fact that this particular Duck was almost completely White puts it in the “Domestic” category, although there are many Feral species in Portugal too. At some stage they would of escaped captivity.
As I didn’t have a camera, I did my best to snap a photo from a distance on my phone. It eventually flew thanks to Wally, although he was actually scared of it, but it soon turned around and came back to land in the same spot.
The photos don’t show what one looks like, so here is a photo from Wikipedia, as you can see, a strange-looking Duck! This photo is a Drake where as the female doesn’t grow such a substantial Caruncle (The red warty thing on their face).
