October 1, 2007
Storks and stuff
I headed down south this weekend in the hope of escaping the endless Parisian rain. The first surprise of the journey was 2 White Storks (Cigogne blanche) in a field, barely 15 minutes outside of Gare de Lyon - a TGV tick! Unfortunately the bad weather followed me down, culminating in a huge rainstorm and a sleepless Saturday night. Sunday dawned cloudy but dry, so I headed down to the Camargue. The best bird of the day was seen before we even reached the Etang de Vaccares - a migrating Black Stork (Cigogne noire).
The rain held off but it was extremely windy, so I didn't waste too much time searching for the Lanner which had been reported loafing around pylons at Le Grenouillet. Grilling the shorebirds at the Baisse de 500 Francs yielded a few Curlew Sands (Becasseau cocorli) and Little Stints (Becasseau minute).
The most numerous birds were probably Kentish Plovers (Gravelot a collier interrompu)...
... followed by Ringed Plovers (Grand Gravelot) and Dunlin (Becasseau variable), many of which were still retaining a vestige of breeding plumage.
A brief seawatch from the Plage de Piemanson produced several Gannets (Fou de bassan) and several Sandwich Terns (Sterne caugek) came into bathe. Unfortunately, I didn't find out about the 2 Pectoral Sandpipers about 10km from this site until I got home that evening. Oh well...
In the afternoon I birded a couple of sites around the Crau, but found few birds. At Mas Chauvet, 5 Northern Wheatears (Traquet motteux) and 2 Whinchats (Tarier des pres) were the only signs of passerine activity.
Mewing Common Buzzard (Buse variable) digibinned through the car window.
