Endangered species

I know virtually nothing about birds.  Growing up in New England, our garden was always riddled with robins and an odd blue jay or cardinal, but that's about it.  I never even paid attention to birds of prey until I met my husband.  He's the type of person who will stop the car in the middle of nowhere and whip out the binoculars, sticking his head out the window to gaze upwards as other vehicles speed by.  When we were dating, he took me on a trip to Spain's Monfragüe National Park to go vulture watching.  Hundreds of buitres leonados (griffon vultures) flying overhead... every girl's dream.

Since we moved to LaMancha, however, I've become increasingly interested in the local flora and fauna, and our living room balcony is often the perfect perch (the kestrel living there thinks so, too).  While I have come to appreciate these creatures, I still have a hard time identifying them.  I rely on a Spanish gardening website for identifications, and today I've had quite a surprise.

The photos are not the best quality as it was not a clear day, but here we have two endangered species!

Águila Real (left) and Águila Imperial (right)

Love this photo of the Imperial eagle.  There are some 280 pairs left on the Iberian peninsula.

Have you identified any endangered species in your neck of the woods?

Fauna of La Mancha

While not much is happening in the garden during winter, I thought it would be a good time to upload some photos of the local fauna.  All these photos were taken from our living room.

This Golden Eagle (Águila Real, Aquila chrysaetos) doesn't come around much, but when he does he just takes your breath away.

 

 

My friend, the hawk (Buteo buteo), felt daring one day and decided to perch on the mulberry tree in our garden instead of down by the stream.

I had never seen this little guy before.  Turns out he's a Green Woodpecker (Picus viridis),

but I haven't seen him since. 

This is a Red Kite (Milvus milvus), which is aptly named because they love windy days. 

Here he is at the start of a snow flurry...

... and with a friend a few minutes later.

 

 

 

Not exactly wild animals (but still very much a part of our local fauna) are these soldiers from the Infantry Academy in Toledo.  In our rural area, you can often come across them loaded down with packs and carrying rifles on training missions, trying to get from point A to point B with maps and compasses in hand.  O's cousin, a military helicopter pilot who trained in Toledo, says it's not unusual for them to be dropped off some 70k (around 40 miles) away and be expected to find their way back.

 

Although I'm used to them by now, let's just say that the first time I came across a soldier, at night, jogging down a back road with rifle in hand in the middle of winter and wearing a ski mask, it took me a moment to decide whether to scream!       

The neighbors

What we find most interesting about living out here in the middle of nowhere are our neighbors. Not of the human variety, mind you, but of the wilder type. I can't even count the number of times that someone yells "Look, look, look!", dashing over to the window with camera in hand. Well, the one with the camera in hand is usually me, of course, and since I work at home alone I often times yell only to my inner self, but you get the idea.

This blog will more than likely be dotted with frequent entries about our neighbors, but I cannot imagine that any will be more impressive than this: an águila real (Aquila chrysaetos). Believe it or not, the thing was so big that I thought it was a man sitting on the rocks out there. I've found photos online of an eagle with similar markings and have been able to identify it as a 3-year-old male.

You don't need to say it - I know I need to get a better lens. Any ideas for a Canon PowerShot S3?