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Morning Dog Walk: Busy Great Tit Parents

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 time of year, if you stop and watch for a few minutes you soon realise how busy life is around you. This morning, I stopped because I could hear 4 or 5 Golden Orioles singing and calling unfortunately they were at a section of the river that I can’t get to when I’m with Wally. The Bee-Eaters were busy building their nest holes and I watched a pair of Great Tits busy feeding their young inside a rotten tree trunk. Incredibly this Pear (I think) Tree is still alive and has some blossom.

The rain clouds are taking a while to clear today, it is forecast to start clearing up now! It was terrible light so although I had to shoot at very high ISOs and the shots are not great, I couldn’t resist such an easy target. I will be revisiting in a few days to take some shots in better light.

As you can see in the photos, not only were the parents bringing food, but they were also removing the Fecal (or Faecal) sacks. These are a membrane sack that most baby birds excrete almost immediately after being fed which ensures the parent will then take it away.


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Lesser Spotted Woodpeckers

Yesterday I saw a pair of Lesser Spotted Woodpeckers preparing their Nest Hole in preparation for egg laying. The male seemed to be doing all the duties whilst the female kept leaving and returning. I only managed to get shots of the male.

Our local area has a large number of Lesser Spotted Woodpeckers probably the most commonly seen Woodpecker here. This is interesting because every resource I read about their presence in Portugal states that they are uncommon. I will be keeping an eye on this nest site and hope to grab some feeding photos if they are successful at breeding. The Lesser Spotted Woodpeckers seem to be less bothered about my presence than any of the other Woodpecker species which means they tolerate me getting quite close.

Here’s a few photos I snapped of him.

Male Lesser Spotted Woodpecker
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Red-Rumped Swallows

To be honest, they have been back a while and it seems that all around the Algarve they appeared much earlier than their usually late Spring arrival.

We’ve been lucky locally as while a lot of the Algarve is having rain, we’ve had a patch of clear blue sky above the Quinta most of the day. The Red-Rumped Swallows are of course out hunting on the wing and I took a break from gardening duties to capture some with the camera.

{Click image(s) to view on Flickr - opens in new tab}

Red-Rumped Swallow - Andorinha-dáurica - Cecropis daurica

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This Week’s Featured Print: White Stork Silhouette At Sunset

Every week I choose one of my favorite images available to purchase in the Shop and feature it, this week is a photograph of a White Stork silhouetted by an amazing orange sunset.

This photograph was taken in January 2018. Silhouette photos really work when you can instantly recognise the subject.

This photo is iconic Algarve. It features the amazing backdrop of a colourful sunset with an easily recognisable Algarve bird, the White Stork standing on its nest on an electricity post.

It was taken in my local village of São Marcos da Serra using a long focal length to highlight the effect of the bright orange sky. The huge contrast between the orange and black makes it look amazing in print.

Click image to view in the shop

White Stork Silhouette At Sunset
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Space Is Getting Tight In The Well Nest

Originally, I thought there were just 3 Barn Swallow Hatchlings in the Well Nest (See Blog Post), and then I counted 5.

This morning, I took a look to see how things are going and there’s 6 of them in there! As you can imagine, light is a bit rubbish down inside the Well which makes it difficult to photograph the parents feeding them. However, the construction of the Well and the pump house makes a perfect hide. I am able to sit lower down in the pump house and use a small window to look directly at the nest without being seen or disturb them. The Well is owned by my neighbour and I will be asking him for the key to the pump house to try to bring you some shots of them being fed!


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