Morning Dog Walk: Males Singing and Drumming For Females…..And, Of Course, Bluey!

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’s walk was full of a few surprises, first, I narrowly missed an opportunity to photograph an Egyptian Mongoose as it scurried away for cover. This is the 2nd time I’ve seen them in the same location in the morning, so I will have to do a stake-out soon.

The Woodpeckers are drumming like crazy today, it is like a building site with all the knocking. I noticed a Lesser Spotted Woodpecker tapping a metal strip on an electricity pole, it was a fair distance away, but took a snap anyway. Notice his red cap, this is how you tell the males and females apart as the females don’t have one. Of course, the females will not be drumming either as the males perform this to attract a mate.


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A Little Closer To The Blue Rock Thrushes

Yesterday afternoon I dressed up in my Army clothing, took my camo-bag and tried to sneak close to the ruin that the pair of Blue Rock Thrushes are nesting in. It didn’t go well, the male was sitting at the location I was trying to get to and even though he moved away I think he was watching me and seemed uncomfortable so I abandoned the idea. Back at the house it got me thinking, earlier in the day he was less worried when I walked through with the dog in normal clothing. So this morning, I tried something different, I put a 1.4x teleconverter on my 500mm lens (which gives me a 700mm with minimal quality loss on such a great lens) and took it out using a Monopod rather than a Tripod for ease of carrying.

I walked my usual route and the female was sitting on a nearby telephone pole and I could see the male on the roof of the ruin. I positioned myself near to the ruin in full visibility of the birds. They seemed far more relaxed with my presence, the male even more so as he came to the roof top. Although not the perfection I’m looking for I did come away with some nice photos.

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

Male Blue Rock Thrush - Melro-azul - Monticola solitarius
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