January 13, 2006
Grey Paris
Last week I headed off to France to explore Paris, find somewhere to live, open a bank account etc etc. I didn't expect to have any spare time for birding, so didn't pack my bins... so of course I run into a flock of 6 (Bohemian) Waxwings in Putney on my way to the Eurostar! Being optics-free, my bird photography was limited to birds within about arms reach, which included this Black-headed Gull apparently trying to eat the Eiffel Tower,
and this Grey Wagtail, the first I've seen in quite a while.
For reasons unknown to me, the Eiffel Tower seemed to be competing with Blackpool and Las Vegas in terms of outrageous illuminations.
It even fired out a 'death ray' over the city at night!
My future home town of Orsay is set in a river valley, surrounded by wooded hills. During my visit I came across a fairly standard set of European woodland birds (Siskin, Green Woodpecker, etc) - though one of my colleagues informs me that Black Woodpeckers are on campus so will be keeping my eyes peeled! I found an apartment with a great hill-top vista over the town and surrounding woodland...
... but which unfortunately involves a marathon hike up a 350-step stairway from the station - at least I should get in shape!
During my brief visit, the most exciting visitor to the yard was a Jay, but I have visions of adding Hawfinch and Goshawk to the yard list when I move in in February - watch this space!
Posted by rjhall at January 13, 2006 12:28 PM