Europe

Quick shoutout to Birding Languedoc who run great birding tours in the South of France. I’ve gone to a couple outings with them and it’s always heaps of fun (and birds).

Album 1: the miscellaneous album

I moved to France in 2019, and am still trying to memorize the common birds around here. I haven’t done too much birding in Europe, but have found a little time here and there. The first album is a collection from a few different places, mostly just lucky shots of things from times when I happened to have my camera on me.

1. Griffon vulture (Gyps fulvus) - Rodellar, Spain; 2. Red-legged partridge (Alectoris rufa) - Madeira, Portugal; 3. Common blackbird (Turdus merula) - Madeira, Portugal; 4. Barn swallow (Hirundo rustica) - Le Queyras; 5 & 6. Wallcreeper (Tichodroma muraria) - Saint Leger du Ventoux; 7. Mute swan (Cygnus olor) - Lyon; 8. Carrion crow (Corvus corone); 9. Great egrets (Ardea alba) in migration - Lyon; 10 & 11. Eurasian jackdaw (Coloeus monedula) - Narbonne, Lyon; 12. White stork (Ciconia ciconia) - Narbonne; 13. Eurasian/Common kingfisher (Alcedo atthis) - Gruissan; 14 & 15. Greater flamingo (Phoenicopterus roseus) – Narbonne

Birding mini trip, part 1: Les camargues

In late February of 2021, I spent a long weekend in the Camargues and La Teich, two of France’s top birding sites. Migration season was still a couple of weeks out, but there were still a lot of resident birds and a couple of early arrivals to appreciate.

The first stop was Pont de Gau, a nature reserve in les Camargues where the Rhône meets the Mediterranean. The mix of fresh and saltwater, reeds, grass, and warm weather make it a fun place to see wading birds and some elusive warblers - not to mention flamingos. So many flamingos. The mosquitos love the climate as well, and it was a pleasure to share the experience with them.

Highlights: One beautiful bearded reedling (I only got bad pictures of this one, unfortunately), greater flamingos (obviously), snipes, avocets, and ducks galore.

1. White stork (Ciconia ciconia); 2. Little egret (Egretta garzetta) and Grey heron (Ardea cinerea); 3. Mallard (Anas platyrhynchos); 4. Glossy ibis (Plegadis falcinellus); 5 - 10. Greater flamingo (Phoenicopterus roseus)

Mini trip, part 2: Le teich

Between Bordeaux and Arcachon is a nature reserve called le Teich, where lots of migrating birds make pit stops and many other residents make nests. My timing was off, seasonally and tidally speaking, but I still saw some neat stuff.

1 & 2. Common redshank (Tringa totanus); 3. Eurasian spoonbill (Platalea leucorodia); 4. Shelduck (Tadorna tadorna); 5. Great crested grebe (Podiceps cristatus); 6. Little grebe (Tachybaptus ruficollis) and the invasive coypu (Myocastor coypus); 7. Mallard (Anas platyrhynchos); 8 & 9. Northern shoveler (Spatula clypeata); 10. Little egret (Egretta garzetta); 11. Yellow-legged gull (Larus michahellis); 12. Water rail (Rallus aquaticus)