March 5, 2007
Camargue clean-up
At the end of February I headed south again, where I was joined by Neil, with whom I've been birding for the last 18 years (ugh, that makes me feel old). Just before Neil's arrival I went ostracod-hunting in the Aude, where a brief seawatch from Cap Leucate produced a few offshore Razorbills (Pingouin torda) and 3 Black-throated Divers (Plongeon arctique).
Even better, I had the good fortune to chance upon a singing Thekla Lark (Cochevis de thekla) inland of Fitou. I didn't mark the exact location, but here's a photo taken near where I saw the bird, giving a general idea of the habitat it was in.
Neil arrived at Nimes airport Saturday mid-afternoon, and things got off to a great start when his hold luggage (containing his scope and tripod) failed to appear. While trying to trace it at the Ryanair desk, the Europcar rep decided to head home early, leaving us with no way of retrieving our rental car! Fortunately the nice man at the Budget desk took pity on us and managed to get hold of a Europcar employee at Nimes TGV station, who drove out and got our car to us 1.5 hours after Neil's arrival. We headed straight up to Les Baux, where (you guessed it) we dipped Wallcreeper (Tichodrome echelette), but at least Neil got great views of his second (and third, and fourth....) Alpine Accentors (Accenteur alpin).
Our luck improved considerably when we arrived at Le Destet at dusk to a chorus of 3 Eagle Owls (Grand-Duc d'Europe). The first was easy to spot against the skyline...
... but this second bird really tested the low light performance of the scope.
We decided to start off Sunday morning at Les Baux again where finally - hallelujah! - I located a Wallcreeper feeding on the southern rock face I'd scanned so many times without success. We both had decent scope views of the bird until strong wind and heavy rain forced us to take shelter in a cave! After what seemed like an age, a break in the cloud allowed us to head off to nearby La Caume. The hike up to the radio station is extremely scenic, enlivened by great views of an adult Bonelli's Eagle and a singing Dartford Warbler.
Having seen our target birds for the Alpilles, we headed down into the Crau to bird around Eyguieres airfield.
This yielded many Red-legged Partridges (Perdrix rouge) and my first Little Bustards (Outarde canepetiere) for several years.
Neil obliged my whim to twitch the long-staying Green Heron (Heron vert) at Berre L'Etang. The bird showed extremely well in the ditch next to the water treatment works, and in fact seemed a little too tame in comparison to birds I saw in the US...
Whether or not the bird is plastic is debatable, but its surroundings most certainly are!
Other birdy bonuses here were a smart Red-necked Grebe (Grebe jougris) almost in full summer plumage...
... and oodles of Black-necked Grebes (Grebe a cou noir). This is the first time I've seen this species out of the water, and this pair provided great amusement as they jostled for space on a slippery rock.
Black-necked Grebe or Rockhopper Penguin?
And the winner is....
We ended the day with a series of stops in the southern part of the Crau, picking up a Southern Grey Shrike (Pie-grieche meridionale) and best of all, a flyover flock of 23 Pin-tailed Sandgrouse (Ganga cata).
In the last of the light a few Stone Curlew (Oedicneme criard) got up and flew around, but were surprisingly cryptic on the ground.
Saturday morning dawned bright and sunny, and we headed over to the Petite Camargue in search of Moustached Warbler (Lusciniole a moustaches). Our chances were scuppered by an strong gusts of wind and the appearance of this noisy reed-cutter, which was attracting a mixed flock of egrets and a few Water Pipits (Pipit spioncelle) in its wake.
In consolation we saw a whole lot of Little Gulls (Mouette pygmee) and had great roadside looks at Penduline and Bearded Tits (Remiz penduline; Panure a moustaches).
Driving south via Syvereal we had the good fortune to come across a pale adult Booted Eagle (Aigle botte) flying across the road. We arrived at Consecaniere in search of raptors, but the wind and heat haze meant that most soaring birds were way out of ID-able range. Two Lesser Flamingos (Flamant nain) stood out like sore thumbs amongst the Greaters. It seems that a few have been present in the Camargue for many years (and have even attempted to breed), but no-one seems to know where they came from.
And the more regular variety.
Driving north we had distant perched views of the wintering Long-legged Buzzard (Buse feroce) from Mas Neuf, but soon after had really great flight views of this attractive bird at Mas d'Agon.
In ever-increasing wind we dipped Lanner and Moustached Warbler near Le Sambuc. Rather optimistically we decided to seawatch from the Plage de Piemanson, but left after five minutes of being blasted with stinging sand, with nothing more than a few distant Gannets (Fou de Bassan) for our efforts. My time in California taught me that when the wind starts blowing, it's best to forget about birding for the next few days, or if that's not an option, head to the hills in the hope of finding shelter in a canyon. Following this logic, I persuaded Neil to head back to Les Baux, where indeed the southern rock face was entirely sheltered and sure enough, we got second helpings of Wallcreeper. While a little more distant than the day before, we both got prolonged scope views and were able to fully appreciate those fabulous butterfly wings.
On our last morning Neil's scope finally arrived! A return visit to the Petite Camargue paid off, with adequate views of song-flighting Moustached Warblers and a heard-only Purple Gallinule (Taleve sultane) tooting from the reeds. With less than an hour's birding time left the birding gods smiled on us again, and we finished a phenomenally successful weekend with a soaring Spotted Eagle (Aigle criard) at Consecaniere, seen here dwarfing the harrier that repeatedly mobbed it.
