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Friday 2 December 2016

Purple Herons nesting at the Laguna de Pitallas.

With perfect spring weather in late March, we visited the Laguna de Pitallas. This time, our hope is to see Eurasian Bitterns. A few years before, Pitallas had produced two flying Bitterns on a stopby.
Alas, there would be no sightings for us, but we were treated to the spectacle of Purple Herons building nests in the extensive reed beds.
Here are a few photographs of that day.
  

Corn Buntings were singing in the warm sun.


Migrating Marsh Harriers searching for a meal.


The graceful Purple Herons.



Their striking colour gave camouflage as they landed back at the nesting sites, crashing into the reeds!



Going down.



 Already starting to disappear into the reed cover.

  
Further out, on the reeds, a fourth pair are busy constructing their nest.


Black Necked Grebes in silhouette.


Yellow Wagtails search for food as they pass north during their migration.
This Male bird is a variant from Central Europe, a Flava, but could be a Bemma from the Northern Kirghiz steppe. It is challenging to determine.


This one is a Lutea from the Southwest of Siberia.


They are, however, all Yellow Wagtails.

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