Finally back, and as usual, at the deadline! But since some of my latest photos fit perfectly in this week's SMAP theme, I had to join the fun!
Besides revisiting a nature heaven I've been wanting to visit for quite some time, I spent the last couple of my vacation days in a coastal city called Figueira da Foz. Foz is the portuguese word for river mouth, and Foz, in this case, relates the fact that it's here that river Mondego, the biggest portuguese river, meets the sea.
Why the geography explanation? Well, it turns out that I learned that Mondego's foz is also a very nice place to see some birds! I wasen't exactly looking for this particular species, but there they were, populating the electricity wires.
And this first species actually got me confused for a few seconds.
The front looked like a barn swallow, but the tail feathers not really!
The explanation is very simple, though: they're all juveniles! Adult barn swallows have very long outer tail feathers, and that's a very noticeable charateristic, perched or in flight. But juveniles tail feathers are short. Adults also have a reddish face, while juveniles ahve a pale face, with yellowish tones.
I wasn't expecting to see that many juveniles together, and I didn't noticed any adult; either I was really distracted, or they were hiding among the kids!
This next species was a loner. I had seen her fly by a few times, and I was already giving up on getting her on camera, but she finally chose a nearby tree to rest for a little.
What a beautiful yellow breast, isn't it? Grey wagtails are normally found near water, and can sometimes be confused with the yellow ones. This one looks like a female, but the trouble with identifying birs in this time of the year is that juveniles are all over the place, and most of them have a colour pattern very similar to the adult female bird.
Males have a black throat, so this is either a juvenile male, or a female; given the amount of white, I would be more inclined for female... but it doesn't really matter! I'm glad I got to see her, because I don't see them that often and they're gorgeous.
There were a few other species around here, but they weren't perching on anything so... they will have to wait for a future post! 😁
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