Syrian Woodpecker Dendrocopus syriacus pic courtesy of Ruti Schueler (British birders will recognise that this species is almost identical to the Great- Spotted Woodpecker found over much of the U.K. ) Sunny, pleasantly warm, mid 20 degrees C, over 60% humidity, mostly clear skies and pleasant breeze. We went out a little earlier than usual.. before 4 p.m.
House sparrows.. scrap the 'house', call them 'ubiquitous' sparrows!... they were active pretty much everywhere we went, foraging all over the woods, some of them in a glade pecking at the charred ground where a small fire had spread a little. Always a hazard in these woods in summer. Fortunately the forest regenerates well
Senegal Dove couple heard from my window early morning, probably same two I saw before.. on the street as usual.. Family on the creek path where we'd seen a pair before, quite well grown chick almost indistinguishable from his parents.
Sunbirds Garden, along valley road.. male singing and calling 'SVEEET st st st very top of a tree and flew, his feathers shining iridescent green in the sun as I followed him with the field glasses. Yet more active in the eucalyptus along the creek road where we'd seen them last.
Hooded Crows active all over as usual, one intensely harassing a Buteo, probably another common buzzard on passage migration, over the north valley. Such xenophobes those crows can be!
Blackbirds, In song in many localities
Collared doves, some cooing.. seems their breeding season fervour is winding down now
Turtle doves, plenty cooing in quite a number of places in the woods.
Jays. Active, busy foraging all over the woods, some vocal.
Greenfinches. Much singing and cheee calls, especially in the younger pines.
Jackdaw calls and activity around.
Feral pigeons, in small flocks overhead.
Song of something different, hard to know what for sure, sounded like one of the Sylvia warblers. They tend to sing from deep cover.
Chukars, small family on creek trail, Mom, dad, scrawny chick.. I believe it was the family we saw a few days ago though it was several hundred feet away from where we saw them last. I thought it too much of a coincidence that two families should have one chick same age.
Another single chukar was seen up near the end of the valley road, near the pumping station.
Masked Shrike, Yet another shrike sighting for hubby, he is so good at that! It was perched on a low tree not far from where the creek trail loops around to the pumping station, wagging its tail up and down rhythmically but not quickly.. beautiful adult male this time. Then it flew up to a descending branch of a eucalyptus where it had a good view of the undergrowth and ground around him.
At the orchard we heard the calls of a hobby over to the east.
Cicadas were buzzing away all over the orchard, sounding like a system of high tension power wires. Most I've heard them buzz this season yet. Intense!
Great tits foraging in a cypress. Otherwise quite quiet today.
Bulbuls active, foraging and vocal along the valley road.
I've been meaning to say a little about the plants and wildflowers in the area. Most spring flowers are past now.. even most of the thistles have gone to seed (good time to watch for goldfinches). We found a stand of Globe thistles are just about to bloom.
Poppies are just finishing and there are still a lot of mustard flowers all over the place, but it is something of a relief to my ticklish senses that the burden of pollen has declined a lot lately. When we remember to bring out the camera.. (we often remember when we're already ten minutes out of the house lol) I want to get some nice pics of the vegetation for you. I did notice some beautiful caper flowers a few days ago and some interesting purple jobs that perhaps the readers can identify for me. The air on the creek path had a wonderful fragrance of pine today, perhaps with a touch of eucalyptus scent. Must have been a combination of the sun and humidity bringing it out, it smelled wonderful.
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