La Ensenada red critters

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NF Photo 110203, La Ensenada and salines

NF Photo 110203, La Ensenada on a country road

Ett par av de små jag såg i Costa Rica när jag var där.
Two of the small ones I spotted in Costa Rica when I was there.

If anyone know the names I´d like to know it. :)
.NF Winged 25
Camera Critters 193

Mer om CR här:

Costa Rica på NF Photo 2

Costa Rica Birdblogg
Labels: Resor, travel, trip, journey, vacation,  Costa Rica, Sverige, Sweden, airplane,  photo, photography, Monica Johansson, NatureFootstep, nfphoto, NF_photo, nature, natur, fågelskådning, birding,  ,La Ensenada, butterfly, dragonfly, fjäril, trollslända

111005 Falsterbo, wednesday

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111005 Falsterbo, wednesday.  Going home day. :(

Breakfast at 7 as usual. But no lunch to collect today. But I did take some coffee and juice. We will be birding our way back to Lund and the central station. We left Falsterbo at 8 as usual and headed in north east direction. Our first stop at "Gröna Lund" close to a well known area for raptors called Börringe. We have a We have a very bright buzzard named after that area. But we did not see it today.

But we did see 7 sea eagles when we were birding at Havgårdssjön. Not bad. Some Red Kites also presented themselves. A lot of geeze of course. At  place called Punkten ( the point) we had aRough-legged Buzzard showing off it´s beauty for a long while. And, then, for the first time some cranes.

There was not much today and I guess we felt low as we were actually on our way home.

In Lund, as we reached about 11.30 we went to the station and a luchbar. Some paople was hungry and wanted food. We also went through the last birds on the list today. Then we separated.

I had 3 h to my train so I walked around Lund for a while. It is an old college town so lots of it remides of school and libraries. Not really my kind of town. But found a store for magazines where they had a lot of photo mags so I spent some time in there. And then I had some fun photographing a womens hairdo throu some bush. :)

The last shot, a Rough-legged Buzzard

Then almost 4h on the train before I was home again.

Avslutningsdagen blåser det ytterligare något och vi lägger vår sista förmiddag i Börringeområdet. Häftigaste obs är 7 havsörnar som kretsar tillsammans över Havgårdssjön. Ett gäng med 16 glador vid Näsbyholm är heller inte fy skam. Nya resarter är bl.a. duvhök, korp, sädgås och gråsiska. Dessutom 2000 vitkindade gäss även här, denna extrema gåshöst. Thaimat + artgenomgång på centralstationen i Lund innan vi kl 1300 far var och en åt sitt håll. Magnus Ullman More on Falsterbo here: NatureFootstep Bird blog / Fågel blogg Labels: Resor, travel, trip, journey, vacation, Sverige, Sweden, airplane, flygplan, sky, photo, photography, Monica Johansson, NatureFootstep,  nfphoto, NF_photo, nature, natur, fågelskådning, birding, Avi Fauna, Falsterbo, Lund, Börringe, fjällvråk, Rough-legged Buzzard

111004 Falsterbo, tuesday

S O O C Sunday  Except for the frame they are all SOOC shots. Enjoy!

World Bird Wednesday LV
Watery Wednesday
NF Waters 8

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Tuesday oct 4th
Breakfast at 7 as usual. Crossing the lawn on my way to the restaurant I saw some wood pigeons that I took some shots of. It is a  misty morning as usual and my shoes get wet. Everyone was there already so I had to hurry a bit. I could not eat all that great stuff on the buffé as I am allergic to milk. To bad as the youghurt was very good. :(

We left at 8 to go to the lighthouse again. We spent good time to study the Common Kestrels (tornfalk) that surrounded the tower. They  had a nest there so it was great to see them.

Then we headed for Nabben and spotted some different ducks along the way. Among them there was two Common Shelducks (gravand). But I wonder, why  is it so impossible to get a shot of them with the heads up?? At that place we also spotted one Dunnock (järnsparv). It was nice to see one free. Maybe the one we studied two days ago.

At 10.30 the sun came out. I took my camera and went for a stroll alongside the shoreto Måkläppen. I wanted to come closer to the ocean. There were lots of ducks and some swans. And beautiful sand banks to take good shots at. :)

 Bläsand - Eurasian Wigeon, Måkläppen

At lunch time we headed back to the car and Kolabacken. We went the other way along the sanddunes and we were lucky to see a Short-eared Owl (jorduggla) passing above our heads. That´s a treat. :) A couple of butterflies, storfläckig pärlemorfjäril,  also liked the warm, white sand. A new species for me too. And again we could enjoy some raptors when we had our lunch-picnic at Kolabacken.

At 13.15h it is time for our second guiding by Karin in the lighthouse and birding center. Our guide was not aware of the fact that Karin was about to let us up in the lihgthouse tower so that was a pleasent surprise for all of us. We learned some of ut´s history of course and Karin  pointed out some spots of interest. For me, as a photographer, I was intrigued of all refltected rainbows in it. Not to mention the view when we went out to the balcony on the top. In the sunshine it was gorgeous. I could have stayed there all day. Karin told us a bit of their plans for a system to alert birders of interesting birds coming in. They will try to get monitors at the birding places like Nabben so they can tell people whats going on with a system of Live TV.

After the session on the lighthouse we went down to the building beside it. That is where they band (or ring) the birds. The garden is filled with nets among the trees so the first thing we did was to go a rond to catch whatever bird was in the nets. That is being done every 30 minutes during the day. We had to wait a little while so we were invited to coffe and "kanelbulle" as somebody call this day "Kanelbullens dag". Then we took the tour to see what was in the nets. We got a few birds and went inside to see what was done to them. They were checked for health, fat and weight beside gender and species. If they had no ring they were ringed as well. And everything recorded in books and then filed in the computersystem. To finish of the visit we had a shorter lecture about the migration pattern of some birds.

Now it was time for Annas bakery. And then north to Hammarsnäs where we were yesterday but to the far end of the peninsula. It is lowland and rather wet. The place was fenced and a lot of cattle were in there. As yesterday it was a lot of geeze around. We did not stay that long as dinner was coming up.

After dinner and the general birdtalk and spieces count I went for a walk. Hoping the stomach would keep quiet. (They used some spice I am not costumed to.) Well, I went in the other direction today as I wanted to see the canal when it darkened. And the old ship that is docked there. It was beautiful and I had a great time.

Getting back I took a shower, was online for a while and uploaded all the shots for today and then got to sleep.

More on Falsterbo here:

NatureFootstep
Bird blog / Fågel blogg

Links/Länkar 

Falsterbo Bird observatory

Från kortrapporten:
Blåsigare idag, mulet men betydligt klarare luft. Sikten förbättras dessutom under dagen samtidigt som vinden tilltar något från väster.

Vi startar på Nabben och med de förutsättningar som råder hoppas vi på ett bra finksträck. Några rekordnivåer uppnås inte, men den officiella siffran slutar på 14 200 bo/bergfink så vi är inte missnöjda. Inte särskilt många bergfinkar involverade utan, det är mest bofink idag. Dessutom ovanligt gott om hämpling, samt diverse grönsiskor, steglitser och annat. En hel sparvhök idag också men knappast några vråkar eller glador. En brun kärrhök och en blå kärrhök snurrar över västsidan.

En jorduggla flyger ett varv runt oss och försvinner ut i riktning Måkläppen. Fin obs!
Kl 1315 är det dags för nästa muntration, dvs. guidning nr 2 av Karin på fågelstationen. Det börjar med att hon berättar om fyren, dess historia, funktion i gångna tider etc. Därefter får vi klättra upp allra högst upp, där vi fascineras av utsikten åt alla håll. Här kan man verkligen tala om fågelperspektiv på tillvaron.

Efter kaffe och Karins goda kanelbullar (det är trots allt 4 oktober, kanelbullens dag) får vi gå med en av de yngre ringmärkarna på dagens sista runda i fyrträdgården för att vittja näten. Det resulterar i summa tre fåglar, alla redan märkta.

Karin avslutar så med att visa diagram över olika arters trender innan vi tar adjö och tackar för två urtrevliga guidningar.

Till sist går vi en runda längst ute på Hammarsnäs och förbluffas över den kopiösa mängden vitkindade gäss överallt – på själva näset, i Inre Foteviken, på Vellinge ängar, överallt gäss på marken tätt, tätt som packade sillar eller i böljande moln som drar fram över himlen. Vi gör inget seriöst försök att räkna, men det kan mycket väl röra sig om 25 000 vitkindade gäss. En stenfalk jagar länge efter en ängspiplärka men tvingas ge upp. Och vi åker hem för middag.
Nabben 4 oktober.
Magnus Ullman
Labels: Resor, travel, trip, journey, vacation, Venedig, Venice, Camargue, Frankrike, France, Costa Rica, Öland, Sverige, Sweden, airplane, flygplan, sky, photo, photography, Monica Johansson, NatureFootstep, nfphoto, NF_photo, nature, natur, fågelskådning, birding,   Falsterbo, Falsterbo fyr, Måkläppen, sooc, lighthouse, Common Shelduck, gravand, Common Kestrel, tornfalk, Bläsand, Eurasian Wigeon, Måkläppen, Hammarsnäs, reflex, reflection, ship, båt

Vattenfallet i Handöl - Waterfall in Handöl

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NF Photo 110614 at Handöl, Värmland

Ett fint minne från fågelskådarresan till Storulvån jag var med på i juni.
A nice memory from the birding trip to Storulvån I attended last June.

NF Waters #6
Watery Wednesday

Mer om Storulvån/ More on Storulvån :

Storulvån on Birdblog
Storulvån on Photoblog

Labels: Resor, travel, trip, journey, vacation,  Sverige, Sweden, sky, photo, photography, Monica Johansson, NatureFootstep, nfphoto, NF_photo, nature, natur, fågelskådning, birding,   Handöl, vattenfall, fors, waterfall, regnbåge, rainbow, NF Waters, Storulvån, Jämtland, hike

111003 Falsterbo monday

Sky watch friday   Himmelsk 60

World Bird Wednesday LIII

Click to enlarge All photos NF Photo 111003 Falsterbo

Falsterbo 111003 Monday

Woke up at 6.40 to have breakfast at 7.00h.

We left at 8.00 to go to Nabben at the south point of Falsterbo. We passed the lighthouse and walked down to the point. We stayed there for most of the morning. It was a misty morning again but a bit better then yesterday. And it cleared up around 10.30. A lot of small birds took off for crossing the water to Germany. One group after another headed south. The water fowl was still out on the shallow banks. Vaders and ducks mostly. A few gulls, cormorants and sparrowhawks. (photo)

At 11 aclock it was sunshine and starting to get warm. Then we had an appointment with mr Nils Kjellén who is responible for the bird counts at Nabben. They have been doing that for about 40 years. Using a special rutine. That is quite unique and can be used for scientific research.

For lunch we went back to the car and Kolabacken. We ate our lunch sitting on the old hillock where they in old times used to burn the lighthouses light. Kol means coal. :) During our meal we were entertained by rather many birds of prey. Hawks, Buzzards, Harrires and Red Kite were quite common. But they did not really go out. Most of them turned around and flew back inlands. Acc to our guide the yneed very clear weather to start the migration. They don´t like to fly over water. Most of them also needed warm upwinds to sail on. I learned a lot. :)  (Common Kestrel to the left)

Later in the afternoon it is time again for Annas bakery and the coffe everyone was longing for.

After the coffe break we headed a bit north. Passed the location of our lounge and took to the left later on. We parked hth car at a farm and went down to n inlet of the Baltic Sea. Here at the parking place I finally could get some shots of the, for the area common bird, Rook. I had been afraid that I would have to go home without getting a shot at them. That would have pissed me off. Really! Rook on the Birdblog (Rödglada - Red kite)

We walked along a field of corn to get down at the little Gröna Boden (Green barn). There were a lot of geese and a lot of vaders and ducks. But, as usual, you could not get close to them. The field-scope was needed. And then it is hard to shot also. At least closeups. Some harriers were also sailing the skies. It was a nice afternoon. One real treat is to see the huge flocks take off and fill the skies with waves after waves with birds. Mixed flocks of geeze, ducks and vaders. It is amazing.

We estimated a no of at least 5000 Barncle goose alone.

Dinner at 17.00 and then we looked at some of the shots taken by our guide. He is also a good teacher. And we went thro the birds we seen today.

After that I went to the beach on the other side of the road. But not for a long time as my stomach was telling me to go back. Uploaded my shots for today and took a shower and was online for a while before hitting the sack.

The Golf club at Nabben in the misty morning

And close to the club at the shore was these

We were also introduced to the Migration counts that are performed at Falsterbo. You can find  the link on this URL:
MIGRATION COUNTS - DAILY TOTALS


Links/Länkar 

Falsterbo Bird observatory

Falsterbo kortrapport

Från kortrapporten:

Disigt idag också, men betydligt bättre väder – och dessutom kommer vinden just från sydväst, vilket är idealiskt.

Vi startar på Nabben och kan direkt konstatera att det är mer fågel i luften idag: grönsiskor, bofinkar, hämplingar och dessutom en del bergfinkar och steglitsar samt enstaka trädlärkor, skärpiplärkor och inte minst en varfågel. Sparvhökar piper dessutom förbi hela tiden.

Vi går ut till vindskyddet längst ut på Nabben där Naturvårdsverkets sträckräknare Nils Kjellén ger oss en intressant introduktion i sträckräknandets konst och de resultat som en snart 40 år gammal Falsterboserie renderat. Uppåt för många dagsträckande småfåglar och rovfåglar – det är kul. Samtidigt pekar Nils ut höstens första större korsnäbb för oss – det är också kul.

Enstaka ormvråkar dyker upp på himlen trots diset och sparvhökarna matar ju på, så lunch intages på Kolabacken där vi får en hel del fina obsar, inte minst av ett antal juvenila röda glador samt en d:o blå kärrhök.

När det blir för glest mellan fåglarna intar vi Annas Bageri för varsin latte med blåbärsbröd. Osannolikt att man kan sitta utomhus och gotta sig på detta vis i oktober.

Dagen avslutas vid Gröna boden med utsikt över Foteviken och tusentals fåglar. Överallt gäss, änder, vadare, och en och annan brun kärrhök som stirrar upp krickor, ljungpipare och annat. Fint eftermiddagsljus, behagliga näravstånd och ett kontinuerligt liv och kiv bidrar till att göra Gröna boden till en härlig lokal så här års. Vi räknar inte gässen noggrant men gör bedömningen att även här finns över 5 000 vitkindade gäss.
Magnus Ullman

More on Falsterbo here:

NatureFootstep
Bird blog / Fågel blogg
Labels: Resor, travel, trip, journey, vacation, Venedig, Venice, Camargue, Frankrike, France, Costa Rica, Öland, Sverige, Sweden, airplane, flygplan, sky, photo, photography, Monica Johansson, NatureFootstep, nfphoto, NF_photo, nature, natur, fågelskådning, birding,sparvhök, sparrowhawk, Tornfalk, Common Kestrel, Rödglada, Red Kite, Falsterbo, Nabben, Gröna boden, Foteviken

111002 Falsterbo sunday

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A post for
 Our World Tuesday ,  World Bird Wednesday L ,  Watery Wednesday 160

Click to enlarge  All photos, Falsterbo 111002

111002 Falsterbo sunday

I woke up at 6.30 and ready for breakfast at 7.00h.

It was a very misty morning and becuse of that we did not really hurry. At 8.00 we left for Falsterbo. Close to the Lighthouse we parked the car. Because of the weather we walked among the old houses in the area. Some was abandoned with a lot of spiderwebs and a bit spooky. The mist made them full of waterdroplets. And quite beautiful. There was not many birds.

Spidernet with droplets in the mist.

We passed the old ruin of Falsterbohus on our walk. Heard a few birds in the mist but didn´t really see them. But a lone gull was standing at the shore looking out to the misty ocean.

At 10 we was welcomed to a presentation of Falsterbo Lighthouse and the Bird Observatory situated there. It was very interesting and we was also shown a few birds that had been caught in the nets for banding. A lot of research is done at the Observatory and Karin Persson, one of the management, explained a lot. We are coming back tomorrow for another session. Some birds are HERE

Karin Demonstrated that the beak is not that sharp as one can think. And, this is probably the closest to a Sparvhök / Sparrowhawk I will ever come.

We had our picnic lunch at a small hillock, close to the observatory, that normally was a great spot for watching migrating raptors and other birds. But not today.

As it was still foggy and no weather for birding we left to see a museum in Kämpinge. A lot of the areas marine history was displayed and also a lot of amber products. It was quite interesting. Outside of the building I spotted a few pheasants and some Rooks. The Rook was new to me as they only live in that southern part of Sweden.

In the afternoon the others decided that a visit to a local café was in order. And the, finally, the sun came out. We left the café and went to a place called Knävången. We walked along a dirtroad and saw a huge amount of Barnacle Goose.  And a couple of raptors too.

At 17.00h we were back at our Falsterbo Kursgård i Höllviken for dinner. Followed by checking the birdlist for today.

Gluttsnäppa - Common Greenshank

After dinner I took a walk along the coast as it was just on the other side of the road and easy to go to. There was some vaders and some ducks. And also a few illuminated statues I wanted to see.  

Then I got the computer online and wrote a bit and checked my mail. And then....sleep!

More on Falsterbo here:

NatureFootstep
Bird blog / Fågel blogg

Links/Länkar

Falsterbo Bird observatory

Falsterbo kortrapport

Från Kortrapporten:

Frukost kl 0700, avfärd 0750. I total dimma. Det är så dålig sikt att vi över huvud taget inte bryr oss om att gå ut på Nabben. I stället går vi en runda vid Falsterbohus – och noterar att det är överraskande fågeltomt. Så småningom lyckas vi få kontakt med några gransångare och kungsfåglar.

Vid Falsterbo fyr hälsas välkomna av Karin Persson som ger oss en mäkta intressant tvåtimmars föredragning om fågelevolution, flyttning, ringmärkning och allt vad där till hör. Illustrerat med kartor, fågelbilder, diagram, spybollar, fågelbon, ringar och inte minst fåglar som ringmärks framför våra uppspärrade ögon. Rödhake, järnsparv, kungsfågel, gransångare och sparvhök är bland de fåglar Karin plockar ur sina påsar och visar oss. Suverän fågelpedagogik! Dessutom osedvanligt välplanerat i den täta dimman!

I dimman passar vi så på att göra bärnstensmuseet i Kämpinge, en naturaliesamling av guds nåde och en klart udda institution. Vackra bärnstenar finns det hur som helst och en gammal totalblekt skrattmås får stå för fågelpedagogiken.

Kaffe på Annas bageri och nu börjar solen titta fram från en allt blåare himmel. Vi kör ut på Knävången och tröskar igenom 5 000 vitkindade gäss utan att hitta någon med röd hals. Vi deppar inte för det utan njuter i fulla drag av de svartvita, vackra gässen framför oss. Några unga och gamla prutgäss ingår i flockarna.
Magnus Ullman
Labels: Resor, travel, trip, journey, vacation, Venedig, Venice, Camargue, Frankrike, France, Costa Rica, Öland, Sverige, Sweden, airplane, flygplan, sky, photo, photography, Monica Johansson, NatureFootstep, nfphoto, NF_photo, nature, natur, fågelskådning, birding, Falsterbo, Falsterbo hus, sparvhök, sparrowhawk, Falsterbo fyr, spindelnät, spidernet, mist, dimma, gluttsnäppa, common greenskhank,

Dragonfly in Costa Rica 110202

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NF Photo 100202 In Solimar, Costa Rica
.

I have no idéa what dragonfly this is, but it was large and I found it in the kitchen, where the lunch was served, of the ranch Solimar.
Jag har ingen aning om vad detta är för trollslända. Men den var stor. Jag hittade den i serveringsrummet för vår lunch i Solimar.
.
NF Winged #18

Mer om CR här:

Costa Rica på NF Photo 2

Costa Rica Birdblogg
Labels: Resor, travel, trip, journey, vacation, Venedig, Venice, Camargue, Frankrike, France, Costa Rica, Sverige, Sweden, airplane, flygplan, sky, photo, photography, Monica Johansson, NatureFootstep, nfphoto, NF_photo, nature, natur, fågelskådning, birding,   trollslända, dragonfly, Solimar

My Watery World - Falsterbo

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NF Photo 111003, Falsterbo Lighthouse in morning mist

NF Photo 111004 view from the Lighthouse Tower

NF Photo 111004 Ducks at the sand-reef
Det här var min lilla värld för några dagar i början av oktober. Allt från kall dimma till solsken fick vi uppleva.
This was my world for a few days in the beginning of oct. We had everything from cold heavy mist to summer sunshine.

More about Falsterbo  here:

Falsterbo on NF Photo

NF Waters #1
Watery Wednesday

Our World Tuesday

Labels: Resor, travel, trip, journey, vacation, Venedig, Venice, Camargue, Frankrike, France, Costa Rica, Öland, Sverige, Sweden, airplane, flygplan, sky, photo, photography, Monica Johansson, NatureFootstep, nfphoto, NF_photo, nature, natur, fågelskådning, birding,   Falsterbo, NF Waters,

111001 Falsterbo, Saturday

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Falsterbo kortrapport på Svenska
Bird Photography Weekly 163

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111001 Traveling day - Resan ner

I am tired after yesterdays work with my daughters move. But I woke up at 5.50 instead of 7.00. So, I turned the computer on and posted a bird on the Costa Rican blog.

As there are no busses at that time on a saturday morning I had to walk to the station. So I left at 8.00. I got some cash at ICA supermarket and then went down town. I was down in good time so I had time to check on some people sitting in the square.

The train arrived as sceduled. I had met one of the ladies on the platform. She was coming from Karlstad and should go on the same trip as I. We made company to Norrköping where we had to change train and then had different seats the rest of the way to Lund. There were a lot of mist along the way but as we arrived at Lund it cleared up and became a summers day so I was too warm clothed.

We all met and it turned out that my roomate was not coming so I got a single room. I don´t mind about that.  So, we was only 5 persons with the guide. M Ullman. We headed south and stoped at a parking lot at Skanörs Ljung. It was still not clear but there was raptors in the sky. We found some rare ones and everyone was happy. Soon after we went out of the car we spotted a Greater Spotted Eagle (större skrikörn). I can´t say I really saw it because it was too far away. A Short-toed Eagle (Ormörn) was also in the air as was Red Kite (rödglada).  Not a bad start  for the trip.

Ormörn - Circaetus gallicus - Short-toed eagle

NF Photo 111001 at Skanörs Ljung and I really wished I had a lens with stabilizer. Our guide had one and I was envious of him. Well, at least I got a shot of  the bird.

Around 15.00 some of us were thinking a lot about a coffee break so we went looking for some place to get it. We found Annas bakery and everyone was happy. Then we headed for the ocean at Ängsnäset. We birded for a while and then strolled back. A Common Kestrel (tornfalk)sat in a treetop far away. Looking great in the light of the setting sun.  There was a lot of birches with peculiar shapes and then sand dunes. The sun was setting as we headed back it had become misty here and there. Quite beautiful.

Then we went to Falsterbo conference center to get  the rooms. As it was saturday the staff was not there so we had to find the rooms and install ourselves. At 17.00 we headed for the restaurant and was served a good dinner. Then we did the first bird list for this trip. When we left the restaurant it was getting dark but I took a walk at the beach. There was some lighted statues I wanted to check out.

Back to my room I connected to Internet with my laptop, there was no problem doing that, but it is slow.

Went to bed at 23.00h and have to go up at 6.40 for breakfast at 7.00.

Links/Länkar 

Falsterbo Bird observatory

Falsterbo kortrapport på Svenska
NatureFootstep Photo 2

Labels: Resor, travel, trip, journey, vacation, Venedig, Venice, Camargue, Frankrike, France, Costa Rica, Öland, Sverige, Sweden, airplane, flygplan, sky, photo, photography, Monica Johansson, NatureFootstep, nfphoto, NF_photo, nature, natur, fågelskådning, birding,   Falsterbo, Skanörs ljung, Ängsnäset, Ormörn, Tornfalk,