February 29, 2008
A tour of the Camargue
I again joined Romain for a grand birding tour of the Camargue, starting in the Camargue Gardoise searching for Purple Gallinule (Taleve sultane). After hearing several, we had decent scope views of a couple of birds, though they never quite made it out into the open...
An amazing number of Chiffchaffs (Pouillot veloce) were singing - their migration certainly seems to be in full swing in the south of France. Driving the road that divides the Etangs de Scamandre and Charnier, we heard one singing Moustached Warbler (Lusciniole a moustaches), plus several Bearded Tits (Panure a moustaches) and Penduline Tits (Remiz penduline), though we didn't see any of them.
Just south of the lakes we had the very good fortune of running into a flock of about 150 Common Cranes (Grue cendree).
The birds 'bugled' frequently and a couple were seen to dance - they will surely be heading north in the near future.
The first of a handful of (migrant?) Red Kites (Milan royal) glided over with prey in is talons.
Our visit to Consecaniere to look for Spotted Eagles was a shade too early - it was still too cold for raptors to be up and thermalling. We had to content ourselves with my first Sand Martin (Hirondelle des rivages) of the year and some close fly-bys of Greater Flamingos (Flamant rose).
By the time we arrived at Mas d'Agon it was much warmer, but we still drew a blank on our target species (Bewick's Swan and Glossy Ibis). Nice views of a hunting Hen Harrier (Busard Saint-Martin) was some compensation.
After a much-needed coffee we decided to return to Les Baux. We did a little better than last week, finding Romain his second lifer of the day, a female Blue Rock Thrush (Monticole bleu), plus a few Crag Martins (Hirondelle de rochers).
