July 9, 2007
Midsummer blues
There are many reasons for my lack of birding at this time of year. Birds are usually pretty discreet right now as most have stopped singing and are feeding young, and I'm usually making up for lost work time before the return migration starts. However, my main reason for not going birding is this:
Thanks to La Nina, much of northwestern Europe is 'enjoying' its wettest summer since records began, and Paris is no exception. It's rained to some extent every day for the last 2 weeks, and I even managed to catch a cold at the end of June - madness! Having a cold provided a good chance to work on the 'garden list' - a fruiting tree by the railway has been hopping with birds, including enormous numbers of young Blue Tits (Mesange bleue).
These were joined by a Crested Tit (Mesange huppee) at one point, but I wasn't fast enough with the camera to catch it. The local Carrion Crows (Corneille noire) had to perform acrobatics to get to the dwindling fruit supplies...
A family of Blackcaps (Fauvette a tete noire) has fledged here too.
Last Friday the rain eased off in the afternoon, so I took the bus to the Etangs de Saclay in the hope of seeing Little Bittern (Blongios nain). After maybe an hour on site, a male flew across the lake, but in spite of pinpointing exactly where it landed, I didn't manage to re-find it. I passed the time getting photos of an obliging family of Great Crested Grebes (Grebe huppe), the adult's plumage already showing lots of wear.
The Little Grebes (Grebe castagneux) were typically keeping very much to the vegetation.
This young Coot was happily minding its own business...
... until this menacing adult forced it on its way.
I walked back to mine, picking up some decent farmland birds. Had it not called, I'd have struggled to ID this young Yellow Wagtail (Bergeronnette printaniere).
This male Linnet (Linotte melodieuse) was hiding out in the wheat fields.
Scattered clouds made for a pretty sunset.
Grey Partridge (Perdrix grise) taken just after 10pm!
On Sunday a walk around campus produced pretty much no birds, but a flowering Broomrape sp.
and several Broad-leaved Helleborines.
Roll on August!
Posted by rjhall at July 9, 2007 10:17 PM