Day 3: Another lifer dans Les Jouandis
Villarreal, France
Thursday 23 June 2022
92 °F
JUNE 8:
My third day at the beautiful Château Jouandis near Bergerac, France brought me more birds including WHITE WAGTAIL:
COMMON CHAFFINCH:
COMMON SWIFT:
A highly-cooperative young BLACK REDSTART:
And one posing in front of the Château:
Male EURASIAN BLACKBIRD:
EURASIAN HOOPOES were nesting in a tree cavity near the pool! So cool to observe this species up close.
Nice to see a HOUSE SPARROW in its native range — this might be my first photo of this species on here a they are trash birds back home.
My one life bird was a RED KITE which used to be an endangered species in Europe — super cool as like the Bald Eagle in America, this is a species that has made a resounding comeback due to concerted conservation efforts. This species was even still uncommon when I visited Europe in 2014, and this time around I soon realized they were fairly abundant!
I was even able to do a little herping as European Toads emerged at night with their resonant calls:
All of this not even to mention all the wonderful French music making that was going on! Bird-of-the-day to my lifer Red Kite with runner-up to the Eurasian Hoopoe!
Good birding,
Henry
World Life List: 1135 Species (1 life bird: Red Kite)
Tres Drole! And those hoopoes would fit right into a costume drama.
by Susan Subak