Gallery 2

Welsh Red Kites at Gigrin Farm, Powys, Central Wales
Rhayader March 2008 05205

Red Kites seen at Gigrin Farm, Rhayader in March 2008. The aberrant Kite pictured right displays unusual white plumage but is not an albino as it has dark eyes.
White Kite04

New Jersey USA October 2009
Laughing Gull
American Herring Gull (Larus argentatus) AC Oct 2009

Four pictures taken fron the ‘boardwalk’ at Atlantic City. Above left: American Herring Gull (Larus argentatus) Above right: Laughing Gull. Below left: Forster’s Terns  . . . . . . . . Below right: part of a flock of 50 Black Skimmers (Rynchops niger)
Foster's Tern New Jersey October 2009 090 Black Skimmers New Jersey October 2009 078

Below: More ‘Shore Birds’ . . . . Ring-billed Gull and Semipalmated Plover make use of the beach to rest
Ring-billed Gull (Larus delawarensis)New Jersey October 2009 175 Semi-palmated Plover, Brigantine Beach Oct 2009-1

 . . . . . .and some of the hundreds of Sanderling at Stone Harbor, Cape May and they were joined by a Caspian Tern
Sanderling Stone Harbor New Jersey October 2009 139 Caspian Tern Stone Harbor New Jersey October 2009 142

Some wetland birds: Juvenile Black-crowned Night-Heron and Roseate Spoonbill at the Edwin B Forsythe Refuge . . .

Juv Black-crowned Night-Heron 117 Roseate Spoonbill

 . . . . and a rather poorly Tree Swallow and part of the large flocks of Snowy Egret and Great Egret
Tree Swallow Ed B Forsythe Refuge
there's a Spoonbill there somewhere

Below left: One of several Osprey that shared the refuge with Northern (Marsh) Harrier and Peregrine Falcon - and (right) one of severn Peregrines that were around the seafront hotels and casinos
Ed B Forsyth Osprey
Perigine passing the hotel room AC 2009

Some common birds of New Jersey: Common Yellowthroat, Fish Crow and Eastern Phoebe
Female Common Yellowthroat AC New Jersey October 2009 202
Fish Crow New Jersey October 2009 126
New Jersey October 2009 030
Back Skimmers New Jersey October 2009 08202

The Algarve, Portugal: February 2011
Portugal Feb 2011 015
Portugal Feb 2011 041
Portugal Feb 2011 016

Spoonbills were fairly common around the Algarve and often were in family groups: here a juvenile sleeps by an adult. The juv. has rings on its legs.
Portugal Feb 2011 039

Flocks of Azure-winged magpie are common around the golf courses and coastal farmland. Up to fourteen were seen together at our Quinta Do Largo villa.
Portugal Feb 2011 097
Portugal Feb 2011 148

Wetland areas of the Ria Formoso Reserve held many waders: Greenshank (left) were fairly common.  Black-winged Stilt (above) were more difficult to find but were often quite close enough to photograph without the telescope.  Dunlin and Grey Plover were common and there were Little Stint at Ludo near Faro airport and we found Red Knot on the Alvor Estuary. Common Sandpiper (below) were on almost every wetland bank and even in Faro city on the grass around the marina.

Portugal Feb 2011 176
Portugal Feb 2011 116

Purple Gallinule (Swamphen) were easy to see (but not so easy to photo due to the reeds) at the birdhide by the golf course at Quinta Do Largo. The view from the hide (below) included a Stork nest atop an imitation tree for mobile phone antenna.

Portugal Feb 2011 139
Portugal Feb 2011 142

White Stork (below) are everywhere: nesting on buildings like this one in Faro, on telegraph poles, and in tree colonies (below left)
Portugal Feb 2011 219
Portugal Feb 2011 237
Portugal Feb 2011 159
Portugal Feb 2011 140
Portugal Feb 2011 23803

The highlight of our trip was finding Great Bustard AND getting close enough to photograph them . . .