Birdwatching – Page 8 – The Bald Heretic – Short, bald dude with a goofy beard

Yellow-Bellied Sapsucker

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I’m home today waiting on a plumber to come and fix a leaking pipe in the ceiling. Since I am home in the daylight I took the opportunity to break out the 300mm telephoto lens and see if I could catch the Sapsucker in action.

He’s losing his fear of me and tends to just go to the other side of the tree trunk as I circle him. I backed off and was able to squeeze off a few shots.

Look how his markings blend with the tree!

And in this next picture notice how the red on his head mimics the redness of the holes he’s pecked in the tree trunk…

Birdage

This guy’s been hanging around the front yard, diggin’ at our pear tree. Judging by the uniform rows of “sap” holes in the trunk of the tree and the muted markings on the bird I am fairly certain it’s a female Yellow-Bellied Sapsucker which winter here in Texas between October and March.

Barcelona – Wild Parrots

We were walking toward the Sagrada Familia doing some sightseeing when I heard a VERY familiar bird squawk.

It was the squawk of the Quaker Parrot (aka Monk Parrot) which is the type of bird Cynthia owns, the one that hates me.

We walked into the park and sure enough, up in the tree was a Quaker Parrot

As we looked around we saw more and more of them in the park.

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They were EVERYWHERE! All up in the trees and waddling along the ground competing with the pigeons for food.

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And I am sure they all hated me, just like Mr. Zippers. Just look at them…

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Apparently there’s a very large colony of them in that park. I saw at least 4 or 5 dozen birds and one giant communal nest.

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*pictures 1, 2 & 3 courtesy of Cynthia and her excellent telephoto lens.

Mucky Duck

A black swan (also known as a “mucky duck”) gives me the evil eye in Madrid…

Retiro Park

Check out this page for all my photos of Retiro Park.

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Yesterday afternoon we decided to head over to Retiro Park. It was threatening rain but we wanted to see it while we had the chance.

Retiro Park is is to Madrid what Central Park is to New York.

Even on an overcast day this place is spectacular. Sculpted gardens and magnificent fountains adorn this 350 acre park in the city center of Madrid.

We didn’t see much wildlife. No obvious squirrels or other critters. We did see many Magpies, though

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I wish we had Magpies back home.

As the weather began to get worse we made our way to the one “must see” attraction in the park, and that’s the Fountain of the Fallen Angel.

The sculpture at the top is a work by Ricardo Bellver (1845″“1924) which represents Lucifer falling from Heaven.

I’m certainly no devil-worshipper, but how can one resist going to see a statue of the devil in a public park?

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You lookin’ at me?

Wrens

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I have, on and off for the last several years, noticed a pair of Wrens in our backyard. They have always been very elusive, flying away before I can grab my camera or before Cynthia could make it to the window to see them for herself.

They’re hard to spot unless you know what you’re looking for. They share many of the markings and coloration of the common sparrow which are in great abundance in our yard.

Today as I was walking through the living room I noticed a bit of activity outside the window and looked out to find both Wrens engaged in a flurry of activity. I went to grab my camera and was sure they would be gone by the time I got back but they weren’t.

One was hopping all around one of the potted plants

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As the other cleaned itself up after taking a bath

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They didn’t seem to notice me for about 5 minutes so I was able to shoot quite a few pics finally!

Dove

70-300mm lens; fully extended.
100% crop and then reduced by 50%