Black-winged Stilts

A few Black-winged Stilt images from my trip to Spain in April. The low sun and camera angle made for some great light and we were lucky enough to have a mating pair, right in front of us.

Mallorcan Waders

Back in April I spent a week on the island of Mallorca in Spain. Having been there quite a few times, I had a few species that I wanted to get better shots of. At that time of year you never know what you could find, with migration in full swing from Africa.
I spent quite a bit of time at the S'Albufera Marsh, in the north east of the island. It's a very large reserve with a great amount of birds. No two days are ever the same here, with something different to see on each visit. This post will show some of the wading birds I saw at the reserve.

Little Ringed Plover

Little Ringed Plover

Black-winged Silt

Black-winged Stilt

Green Sandpiper

Greenshank

Purple Gallinule

Purple Gallinule

Common Snipe

Spotted Redshank

Holidaying in France (Part 2)

My trips to the park would vary from day to day, no two being the same.  Different species would come and go, from small waders such as Green and Wood Sandpipers to large Herons and Egrets. The lake was too deep for waders, so they would circle around and then fly off again. I never knew what would turn up next.
I had hoped to photograph Purple Heron, as I had seen some good shots of one taken here earlier this year.  Speaking to a local, he told me that May and June was the best time to see them, although I did briefly see one but wasn't able to photograph it. Here are a few shots of some of the species that were photographable.

Great White Egret

Great White Egret

Grey Heron

Grey Heron

Grey Heron

Black-winged Stilt

Little Egret

Little Egret

Holidaying in France

I have just returned from a two week holiday in Southern France, staying near Nice.  Before the trip I was debating whether to take my camera equipment, as having spent a good number of hours on the internet, trying to find local sites for photography I hadn't really come up with much.  The Carmargue would have been ideal, but was about two and a half hours drive away.

Anyway, I did take the camera and after a few days there I discovered a large park only five miles from our apartment.  What a contrast to the surrounding towns and resorts, packed with holiday makers.  There was a small lake surrounded by reed beds, which had a screen hide and a raised viewing platform.

I would spend many hours here over the two weeks, arriving at first light each day.  The two main species that I concentrated on were Night Heron and Little Bittern.  I'm very pleased with the results and will do more posts to show these and other species. To start with, here's a Black-winged Stilt that flew in.

Black-winged Stilts

I have finally got round to sorting through the 800 Black-winged Stilt images I took last year in Mallorca. It was the most photographed species of the week, as almost everywhere we went, they would be posing for the camera. From flying, wading in flat calm water, mating and even sitting on the nest, just about every possible shot was covered. Here are some of the first I have edited.