Dog Walk Archives - Page 16 of 16 - Craig Rogers Photography

Morning Dog Walk: A Lesser Spotted Woodpecker And Yet Again, That Duck!

24th April 20186th May 2018Craig Rogers

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!

22nd April 20186th May 2018Craig Rogers

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.

Nice Weather For Du……What The Duck?

21st April 201821st April 2018Craig Rogers

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).

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Morning Dog Walk

19th April 20186th May 2018Craig Rogers

Every morning (unless I’m out photographing) I take Wally for his morning walk, we usually head down to the river to look for anything interesting and then play in an open area. Now that spring is most definitely under way, I’ve decided to take a camera. It’s difficult to juggle the attentions of a mad dog and carry a camera, therefore, I use my crop camera (Nikon D7100) fitted with the Nikon AF-S 80-400 VRII for size and weight. The idea of the photos is not great quality, but just to report back on sightings in the area.

Today was a pleasant surprise all happening within 500 meters of the house! European Bee Eaters, Short Toed Eagles and I could also hear a Golden Oriole (unless it was a Starling which has been mimicking one all winter!)

First up, the European Bee Eaters. The local colony returned yesterday and are now busy flying around catching food, they will be selecting a nesting site soon and I am monitoring their movements closely. Expect many Bee Eater posts this summer.

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