Stone Chats galore

I have just gotten back from an awesome 6 days in Extremadura (western Spain), a bird-lovers paradise. It was wonderful to be in the sun again (it was snowing at home and in Extremadura we were sitting in shorts, baking in the sun).

One of the things we did a few times while we were in Extremadura is to drive out on the road through the steppes from Belen (near Trujillo). In the afternoon, the sun is directly behind you and the light on two of the afternoons was absolutely spectacular. Jörg and I had a lot of fun digiscoping all the little passerines that lines the road and buzzed around in the steppes.

Here are some of the stonchats I digiscoped there:

playing with the blue sky as a background

the wonderfully golden browns of the steppes also made for some interesting, rich backgrounds

Besides the stonechats, we also saw tons of larks: Thekla Lark, Crested Lark, Skylark, Short-toed Lark, Calandra Lark and a few Wood Larks (I'll post some pics when I have time).

Oh, and how could one forget the Great Bustards and Little Bustards.

Ghastly photos (huge distances), but if you use your imagination, you can figure it out ;-)

All photos digiscoped with a Swarovski STM80HD scope, TLS800 adapter and Canon 7D

Happy digiscoping,

Dale Forbes

Redfooted Falcons, Stonechats and others...

On Saturday afternoon I really needed to get out of the house - just too many days wedged in behind my laptop!

So I took the bicycle out to Telfs and cycled along the track back through the fields home (about 15km). The wind was really really blowing in my face, so it made for some great exercise.

But besides that, I picked up some nice birds along the way:

This great juv Red-footed Falcon was taken by my Flickr friend Sergey Yeliseev - check out his photostream, pay him a compliment ;-).

My first Redfooted Falcon of the year in Tirol (a single juvenile in Oberhofen)

A Black Kite (almost certainly another individual to the pair breeding in Pettnau), also in Oberhofen.

And a wonderful surprise in picking up a singing male Stonechat in Flaurling.

What a wonderfully rewarding cycle home!

Happy birding
Dale Forbes