(Some) Birds of S ́albufera

This last spring i have been several times to this natural park. Mostly this has been at night time for bugs, but also to see birds.  

crested coot, knoppsothøne, Fulica cristata A bird quite distinctive with its two red protrutions in the top of the head

Triel, Eurasian Stone-curlew, Burhinus oedicnemus This is a somewhat large nocturnal bird with large eyes and a loud screaching sound. Photo was taken at dusk on the last rays of the sun for that day.

Gråfluesnapper, Spotted flycatcher, Muscicapa striata

rødhodevarsler, woodchat Shrike,cfemale This is a female because of its small white patch right above the beak. Cool little bird that eats everything from lizzards to larger insects and even other birds.

These three great photos were taken by Cecilia and are posted here with her permission.

On the top photo we see the grey heron Ardea cinerea who just caught a huge fish. Were were watching this for a long time, while the heron was trying to figure out how to devour its slightly oversized meal. 

The next photo is of a Eurasian coot Fulica atra searching for a meal below.

The last photo is of the Sardinian warbler sylvia melanocephala (Svarthodesanger) Singing high and mighty at that time of the year to attract a mate.

OK that is it for this time. Today..or more correctly tonight i am off to S ́albufera once again. This time to look for Melolontha melolontha.

(some) Birds of Mallorca

BIRDS

Here are some of the birds i have seen this spring. After several trips arround the Island of Mallorca.  I wanted to show them before i go over to show pictures of my trip to Morroco, which will be uploaded shortly bit by bit.

Blåtrost Monticola solitariussence, Or in spanish Rockero solitario which sounds pretty cool. This one was flying near the top of the mountain Galatzo, one of the higher mountains on the island.

Bokfink Fringilla coelebs male taken near the two lakes on the island. One of the most common birds and also a beautiful one at that.

Middelhavsmåke Larus audouinii A different species of seagull than what i am used to from Norway with a red beak and black and white tail. This is taken in the village of St Elm.  

Munk female and male Sylvia atricapilla taken from the the base of mountain Tossals Verds Also a common bird, The top picture is the female and the bottom one is the male.

Stylteløper Himantopus himantopus from a secret location of mine. It is a great little place of small ponds of salty water. However it is close to tourism hotspots and i would like to keep this gem hidden/protected. This bird is great to watch as it scans the water for food. 

Chalcophora mariana

Chalcophora mariana

This is the first Buprestidae i have encountered this year. A sunny day in April i was in the countryside when i heard a loud buzzing sound. After a bit of a game i often play called "find the bug" I got this magnificent buprestidae in view, Chalophora mariana. I already have a hasty photo of this species a year ago but then it flew away after a only two snapshots. So this was my chance to improve.  

There are much more beetles to come in the comming days.

Thomisidae

Thomisidae is a great family of spiders that have usually a very distinct look and behavior. They are recognized by their elongated 1 and 2 walking legs and their direction, earning them the name crab spiders. A lot of them also have a lie and wait strategy often on plants and flowers to catch their pray. They do not spin webs as traps, but rely on their front legs and often powerful venom to subdue their prey.

Can you spot the Thomisidae in this photo?

Here is a slight enhancement to show where it is. I beleeve it to be Thomisus onustus

Now I confess my large self scared the spider mid feast so the dipteral in the photo is already paralyzed. And only after a long wait it came back to collect the meal albeit aware and wary of my presence.

Synema globosum

Xysticus sp.

So it pays off to keep a good eye out for these beautiful spiders the next time you visit the flowerbed.
They are also highly camera friendly if you tread slowly and carefully.

Untill next time

Hey! Just a quick update. Sorry for things taking so long. For about a month ago we had a wicked ammount of fogg for two days strait. Hard to take good photos but it made a really cool light with the streetlights, and i tried to capture it.

First picture is taken from my flat. The otherone is taken in Parc de mar here in Palma. It is the cathedral here. You need a tripod to get these photos to work, and i used a timer to keep it still. It was not raining, the droplets on the first photo is just condensation.

I am back

Hey, I am as the title shows back in the game after a way to long leave of absence. There are several reasons for this but the largest part was that my camera (Canon 400d) died. Turns out the electronics and circuits inside does not like saltwater, even less when the water is the Mediterranean. After saving up and with the help of friends and family, I was able to invest in a new camera. I am now packing a Canon 550d camera. And I have already been out having fun.  Believe it or not but winter decided to visit Mallorca. So that has naturally decreased my chances of bug encounters.

I did however encounter this Salticidae here the other day. It does not show in the photos but it was living on a fireplace, I guess that is not the worst place to live when the temperature is dropping.

In the same day I took the photo of the Salticidae I had the great pleasure to visit a cave on the Island. Now I work with animals that never see the light of day and sometimes we use caves to get to them. And in this occasion I was fortunate to see the bat before it saw me. So I could get some photos of him before he flew. I think there is between 11-15 species of bats here on the Island.  Maybe someone could help me with an ID? Fufact: Bat is Murciélago in Spanish.

The other day I saw that there were a lot of red robins (Erithacus rubecul) about, and I got the idea of getting some good photos of them. This is one of the easier birds to get good photos of. They are highly territorial and quite defensive of their area, so they will not go far away. Also they like to be in open spaces to promote their presence to other males. So they have a tendency to perch and to use the same areas making it easier for you to be ready. This and realizing that I do not have any good photos of this bird before made it my mission of the day. Here are some of the photos I took.

Cormorant Phalacrocorax sp. A group of Cormorants normaly sitting on this small molo in the Paseo Maritimo.

Look they can sing.

Egretta garzetta Silkehegre, garceta común

Egretta garzetta Silkehegre, garceta común

Playing around with my macro lens.

Ok, that is it for this day, but I am now often out with my camera so posts will become more frequent.

Hey all,

 It has been a while since I updated, I have been busy collecting amphipods for my project. And I had one photo trip before this but I never got the time to upload the photos. I was with a friend In the S’albufera. We were looking for a swarm of a specific type of beetle Polyphylla fullo. Sadly I think I was a bit too late for this event this year and so I found none of these beetles. On the other hand the trip was not a waste, for I found a lot of other great beetles

Coptocephala scopolina

Hydrophilidae: Possibly Hydrophilus piceus soely based on size, but absolutely not a ceartainty.  

Chantaridae: Ancictronycha sp.

Curculionidae

I know that this is faar from sufficient determined, but curculionidae although cool as hell are numerous and difficult to determine without the proper keys to do so.

Zygoptera

Maybe someone can help with determening here.

Zygoptera

Ephemeroptera. But i dont know more about this species and i havent found a good key for this area of europe. The name ephemeroptera always remind me of the girl group ephemera, with this horrible song. And in norwegian ephemeroptera are "døynfluer" or "one day flies" (In real english, mayflies). Hapiily so the band lives up to its name. Happily for me that is. 

Pyrogomrpha coinica or Euchorthippus sp. Not easy to determine from my photos.

Iberellus sp.

Then I came across this juvenile mantis to my great joy. It is the first mantoidea I have found here in Mallorca and it was quite cool to see. It was fairly quick as well. It is however juvenile and this makes it hard to determine. As far as I have found out there are 5 species found here on the Island

Ameles decolor, Ameles picteti, Amleles spallanzania, Mantis religiosa and Iris oratoria.
And I think it can be either one of them. This is not my expertise and hence I would love some help. It was quite happy being photographed and followed me with his eyes all over the place.

So that is what I have from that trip. Soon I can post photos from my trip collecting amphipods as well.