Exploring Extremadura: Day 3 pm - An Evening on the Tiles

After waking from the afternoon siesta, I stepped out of the darkness into the brilliant sunshine bathing the small balcony of my room. It did not look promising for our planned evening session. The sun was drifting slowly and downwards to the right and a strong breeze was blowing from the left. With wind and light coming from opposite directions we were going to struggle in the hide as the birds would be landing or tending to face away from us.

We were collected outside the hotel and a after a short journey, we head down a rough farm track to an abandoned and derelict building with a partially collapsed roof which was being used a nest site by a colony of Lesser Kestrel.  A small hide, raised up on scaffolding had been constructed alongside of the building providing a birds eye view over the roof area. As predicted the light and wind were in completed opposite directions and the first kestrel there came into the land came in from behind us to land facing away from us and sat on the sloping tiles looking in the opposite direction. We were going to struggle for photos a little here. The photograph below gives a view from the hide to give you some idea of the scene before us.

Two things to note from this photograph. Firstly in the centre of the image is a male Lesser Kestrel facing away from us. The second is the Spotless Starling on the crest of the roof to the left. The Spotless Starling was very entertaining, as we sat in the hide waiting for the kestrels to appear, as it was singing continuously in winging fluttering full volume throughout our visit. It was also imitating the calls and songs of around a dozen different bird species and including Golden Oriole.

After the small disturbance of our arrival at the hide, the Lesser Kestrels quickly started to return. My estimate there was probably around 4 pairs nesting under the tiles on the side of the roof we could see and probably others on the other side of the roof.

Over the next 3 hours as the sun slowly dipped behind us, there was a steady stream of kestrels appearing in front of the elevated hide. Males would frequently arrive with giant centipedes to present to the female that would usually appear from under one of the terracotta roof tiles. It is obvious why these warmer areas are so productive for birds with the abundance of large insect prey. A feature that is notably absent from the cooler climate and more intensively farmed lands of the UK.

The wind being in the wrong direction was annoying as it not only prevented any flight photos but also on a few occasions we had pairs of kestrel mating on the tiles in front of us. However, it was always with their backs to the hide. 

Given that we had plenty of time left on the trip, we decided we would book another evening session in the hide when the wind would be in a more favourable direction.

As the light became low behind thin hazy clouds, we heard the rattling engine of the car approaching up the farm track to collect us. It has been enjoyable session watching the Lesser Kestrel and their interactions at close quarters but at the same slightly frustrating as a much greater variety of images could have be achieved if the wind had been in a more favourable direction.

Back hotel we went straight into the evening meal which was particularly unmemorable and not great at all, before going through the evening ritual of sorting kit and images out. The alarm clock was set to stun for another early start in the morning.

Exploring Extremadura: Day 3 am - Azure Wings

The phone alarm vibrated into life on the side cabinet beside the bed to announce the start of another day in Spain. It was still dark outside, as I rolled out of the bed into my clothes and downstairs to the bar for a quick coffee before we departed to our hide for the morning. This morning's session was to concentrate on Azure-winged Magpies. Regular readers will know I am a big corvid fan and was looking forward to seeing some of these birds having only previously seen them in my local zoo.

The weather was not looking typically 'Spanish' with thick grey clouds above with the occasional light shower but it appeared likely that the clouds would break during our session and let some light through. It was around a twenty minute drive to the magpie site and which ended in the usual long winding farm track into a lovely looking area of rough grassland interspersed with clumps of mature trees.

It looked like we would be in for another cramped hide session given the size of the hide, which was also fitted at the front with glass to photograph through. I am not a big fan of glass fronted hides but I understand why hide operators use them. To get the best quality images requires the lens hood to be removed and the front of the lens placed as close and square to the glass as possible. It also seems to help if the lens aperture is stopped down a little rather than using a wide open lens.

In front of the hide there was a large table structure which had a lined shallow pool of water on top, a grassed area at the back and a number of perches strategically placed around it. Before our hosts left some peanuts were scattered strategically around the drinking pool and perches. We did not have long to wait before the first birds arrived, in the shape of Spotless Starlings, although the light was still fairly low with the dense cloud cover above.

These birds have a very glossy feathers with an attractive iridescent sheen and almost look like they have been dipped in oil.

They were also being very vocal and had a wide repertoire of calls and songs that included mimicking some other birds.

Behind the pool and perches we could see a pair of Woodchat Shrike and the female paid a brief visit to one of the perches.

The first of the Azure Winged Magpies started to arrive. The light was still poor so the most of the early images ended up getting deleted. These are such beautiful birds and easy to see where they got their name. This species of magpies appeared slightly smaller and milder in manner than the European Magpie than I am accustomed to.

The clouds above were starting to break letting some soft warm early morning light through as the numbers of magpies arriving increased.

 At one point the magpies all disappeared for some unknown reasons resulting in some the appearance of some other species. Such as Spotless Starling and a Corn Bunting in 'key jangling' song.

A cuckoo was also moving around and perched on a branch above the water pool but we frustratingly could not take photographs of the bird due to the confines of the cramped hide and problems with shooting up through the glass at an angle. Whatever had put the magpies off from visiting had obviously now passed and they soon started to return once more. This gave plenty of opportunities for some additional photographs of the birds.

I suppose my main disappointment was the hide didn't really offer any good opportunities for any flight images, particularly with the glass. I was looking forward to getting some flight images having spent hours photographing the European magpie in flight.

All too soon the familiar rattle of a the car engine was approaching and the session was over. It was time to return to the hotel, find some lunch, sort out the camera gear and morning's images and hopefully fit in a a quick siesta before leaving for the evening hide session.