May 30, 2006
Alps trip day 1: Haut Jura
Last week Davis birder Marcel Holyoak joined me for 3.5 days of manic birding in the French Alps and the Jura. Our first stop was a pre-dawn visit to the Foret de Risoux, accessed from the town of Bois d'Amont. Two of our target owls, Tengmalm's and Eurasian Pygmy (Chouette de Tengmalm et Chevechette d'Europe), as well as Hazel Grouse (Gelinotte des bois) are supposed to breed here, although we had no luck with any of these elusive species. Perhaps the commonest bird up here was Ring Ouzel (Merle a plastron), which appeared to be singing from every treetop at dawn.
The supporting cast of species included my first Treecreeper (Grimpereau des bois) in France, Crested and Willow Tits (Mesanges huppee et boreale) and Tree Pipit (Pipit des arbres). After a minor skirmish with some customs officers we hopped over the border to Switzerland to bird around the Lac des Joux.
The wood at the end of the lake held a noisy breeding colony of Fieldfares (Grive litorne) and a heard-only Golden Oriole (Loriot d'Europe), while both Red and Black Kites (Milans royal et noir) soared overhead. The wet meadows in this area are supposed to hold Corncrake (Rale des genets) and Common Rosefinch (Roselin cramoisi), although we saw neither.
After a hearty breakfast we drove north to bird the Mont d'Or, where I encountered my first lifer of the trip - a Nutcracker (Cassenoix mouchete)!
We had decent scope views of a half-dozen of these birds during the afternoon, though none of them stayed put for very long. A decent supporting cast of forest birds included Firecrest (Roitelet a triple bandeau), and many more Tree Pipits and Ring Ouzels - this shot shows the extent of the white crescents on the underparts of the alpestris subspecies.
The flowers were pretty impressive too.
At the summit we spent at least an hour scanning the cliffs for Wallcreeper (Tichodrome echelette) without success - as you can see, there was no shortage of habitat!
Black Redstarts (Rougequeue noir), Skylark (Alouette des champs), Meadow Pipits (Pipit farlouse) and Crag Martins (Hirondelle de rochers) kept us entertained.
After a brief baguette stop we decided to break up the forest birding with a visit to the nearby Lac de Bouverons, in the hope of picking up a few waterbirds, but instead found perhaps the most exceptional bird of the trip. A persistent high-pitched yapping alerted us to the presence of a raptor - an Osprey perhaps? Soon the culprit emerged with a Red Kite in hot pursuit. The bird was clearly an eagle, though a bit smaller, lacking in white tones and shorter-winged than Golden Eagle, the most likely candidate. The bird obligingly flew directly overhead a few times before heading off over the lake, and thanks to these outstanding photos that Marcel managed with his digital SLR, we were able to confirm its ID as a Lesser Spotted Eagle (Aigle pomarin) - a lifer for both of us and an excellent find in France! These two photos show the darker flight feathers and double commas at the bend of the wing. When viewed flying away from us, a harrier-like white rump patch was visible.
This shot gives a good size comparison with the a Red Kite.
After a day of pleasant, if uneventful, birding, this bird gave us a much-needed adrenalin rush!
Posted by rjhall at May 30, 2006 1:38 PMAs always I enjoyed your trip and photography.
Do you and Marcel speck English with each other?
This afternoon Chit and Fleur,(older woman from Kenya, daughter works at UCD,you may have met her when she was here before) are going to Meiss road to see if we can locate reported Lesser Nighthawks and Grasshopper Sparrow. I have a few good photos which I'll sen on to you this week. Ciao, Sami