September 6, 2006
Birds, bats and bugs
Yesterday evening Romain, Sandrine and I headed to the Etangs de Saint-Hubert in light of some good birds reported there recently. On first sight, the lake appeared to be empty! However, once we found the right vantage point, the good birds started to appear, if a little distantly. I can probably convince you that the birds under the left hand arrow are two Great White Egrets (Grande Aigrette), though you may find it harder to believe that under the right arrow is an Osprey (Balbuzard pecheur)!
We drove around to another vantage point where the birds were much closer but in awful light.
During this visit we picked up a number of other interesting species, including Common and Green Sandpipers (Chevaliers guignette et culblanc), Hobby (Faucon hobereau), Marsh Harrier (Busard des roseaux) and heard only Cetti's Warbler (Bouscarle de Cetti) and Water Rail (Rale d'eau). An insistent chipping, reminiscent of a Black Phoebe or Evening Grosbeak, alerted me to the presence of two Kingfishers (Martin-pecheur) - perhaps this was the begging call of a youngster! This grainy picture was taken at dusk and a loooong way away, but just to show American readers what a REAL Kingfisher looks like!
We stayed around just long enough to admire the sunset before hunger got the better of us.
After a sumptuous dinner chez Romain, he pointed out a Grey Long-eared Bat that had taken to roosting outside his door.
Back at mine, a bug that looked suspiciously like a cockroach ran in front of me. Fortunately on closer inspection it turned out to be a much more innocuous House Cricket.
The recent spell of sunny weather has resulted in a surge of bird (and birder!) activity. I finally added Black Woodpecker (Pic noir) to my garden list, and Lesser Spotted Woodpecker (Pic epeichette) seems to be calling again.
Posted by rjhall at September 6, 2006 11:46 PM