Tuesday 30 September 2014

19 September 2014: Salt marsh and pools near Cagliari, Sardinia.

Day 4 was a trip into Cagliari, the Sardinian capital, to soak up as much of its history and culture as possible. However, the drive in does involve passing large salt flats, lagoons and marshland so a couple of hours was allocated for some birding. First bird of the day was a Little Egret.
Then we came across this Kestrel on the ground
whuch then flew up into a bush



and kept its eye on us.
Eventually it flew off past a juvenile Greater Flamingo.

Next over was a a Little Tern?

A pair of juvenile Greater Flamingo, preening and feeding.
A Greater Flingo in flight.
This Ant was determined to get this seed up the hill, but failed sadly.
Yet another of the many juveniles - lots of which were quite separate from the adults.
Another Little Tern?

There were lots of dragonflies/chasers about but O don't know which ones.


Yet another juvenile strolled by.
A Greenshank flew noisily by
as di the Kestrel
though it was soon obvious why the Kestrel was travelling at speed.

At last a reasobably close adult Greater Flaming came into view.
Then we came across a selection of smaller waders - a Ringed Plover

Slavonian or Black Necked Grebes waiting for Flamingo to stir up a meal.
Possible Kentish Plover and Dunlin.
Unidentified Gull
Plover and Dunlin


I would be gratefulfor any help with the idents.

4 comments:

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  2. Sticking my neck out here , the unidentified gull looks like it may be Audouin's gull.
    Not sure your Little Tern ID is correct. Little Tern has yellow bill. Possibly Whiskered tern or something similar ?
    The fish in your other post looks like a Mullet

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    Replies
    1. Cheers, Dave. I was wondering if the Tern might be a Gul Billed Tern - they get them in Sardinia I believe. I have some pics in other places so am hoping for a couple more suggestions(-:). Otherwise I'll have to go back(-:).

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  3. I've never knowingly seen a Gull-billed Tern. Photos on the web do look similar to your bird.
    I hope someone else identifies it for you. It would be terrible having to go all the way back to Sardinia.
    Tony and I have to drag ourselves back to Spain in March all because he missed getting a shot of the Black-bellied Sandgrouse that I got last year.
    Making the most of a bad situation by looking for them in Extremedura where we should pick up a few new species while we are at it.

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