Raptors... Flying south!

For this post we have a few photos of some Raptors that are now flying south on their migration over Gibraltar. There are of course the smaller birds that are moving south too, but these are a lot harder to spot, and to be able take photo of them in flight is an arduous task.

Honey Buzzard

Honey Buzzard

Honey Buzzard

Black Kite

Sparrowhawk

Sparrowhawk

Sparrowhawk

Honey Buzzard

Honey Buzzard

Honey Buzzard

Honey Buzzard

We hope you enjoy these photos!

It is most certainly a privilege for us to be able to observe them flying overhead, and by mid October it will all come to an end. Nevertheless by that time we will have seen thousands of Raptors, and that is just fantastic. 

We will update on the migration as soon as we can spend a few hours on the Upper Rock and capture some new photos.

Whimbrel

Numenius phaeopus

The Whimbrel is superficially like the closely related Curlew, which  is a more familiar bird all year round in Europe. The Whimbrel is generally a northerly breeder and only migrates elsewhere during spring and autumn.

This large wader would often be overlooked were it not for its call, although in fact its compact, dark and chunky form is quite distinct from the lankier and paler Curlew.

It is rather more squat and smaller than the Straight Billed Godwits. As with most "streaky brown birds" a close view reveals an exquisite pattern of fine streaks, bars, and spots.

In Europe it is very much a ground or waterside bird but in winter in Africa it often perches up on trees. For much of the summer, Whimbrels are on dry ground but migrants may be seen wading at the edges of pools, or along the shore.

Its nest is a simple shallow scrape on the ground, 4 eggs, 1 brood - May-July.

Whimbrels will feed on insects, snails, earthworms, crabs, and marine worms.

Overall we spent couple of hours observing this bird and it was a great morning.

Gulls in Gibraltar

As you can see we couldn't quite wait until September to go bird watching again, so here's another post on Gulls spotted around Gibraltar.

Audouin Gull

Audouin Gull

Audouin Gull

We were dying to use our new camera equipment, and fortunately we were able to spend a pleasant afternoon at Europa Point. 

Mediterranean Gull

Mediterranean Gull

Mediterranean Gull

Thank you so much for visiting our blog www.bird-nerds.blogspot.com today! We hope you've enjoyed this particular post, and the photographs that we've added. 

Audouin Gull JUV

Audouin Gull JUV

If you're new to our blog and you're a keen bird watcher, then please take the time to view some of our other posts, especially those concerning birds found around Gibraltar, Portugal, and southern Spain.

Audouin Gull

Until September... Bye for now!